Top Gear’s Richard Hammond in the Daily Mirror kindly described me as ‘mad?’, but it seemed a good idea at the time. Take Ford’s acclaimed Focus RS and pitch up to a fuel economy challenge to demonstrate that not all 160 mph motors are petroholics. The results on the recent Coventry-based 2009 MPG Marathon were beyond our wildest expectations.

Pre-event support from the Mirror and the Sun

Acknowledged as “The new benchmark hot hatch,” by Autocar magazine for its astounding handling and road rocket acceleration (0-60 mph in 5.7 seconds), the Focus RS entered with the ambition of returning 35 mpg versus an official Combined consumption figure of 30.1 mpg.

In the 2-day/360 mile event, established co-driver Alyson Marlow and I returned 38.52 mpg, a massive 28.02% improvement over the manufacturer’s figure. And how much you improve over that official statistic decides the winners in this unique event, organised for the seventh time by Fleet World’s Ross Durkin.

Two others did better in the hotly contested over 161 g/km CO2 emission class, but my first attempt at an economy run netted third in our category. The epitome of a Fast Ford with its outrageous appearance defeated BMW’s M3, Jaguar’s XF diesel, Land Rover’s Stop Start Freelander; Renault’s diesel Laguna V6 and a Police-modified Audi A6.

The field The car

I picked the unlikely RS because this MPG Marathon is not just about minimalist economy cars and vans, although they do hit the headlines with a best figure of 96.81 mpg for a Smart.

This Marathon had everything from a Subaru towing a horse box to a Sky installation van, fully loaded! Our Focus RS, actually a former long loan vehicle for Car magazine carrying the appropriate CAR 1 registration, offered an efficient turbocharged motor, allied to a 6-speed gearbox. Roadholding, handling and braking are legendary. So good that excellent mpg was a reality through the twisty, downhill, sections of the route and we never dawdled elsewhere, either!

Walton’s thanks go to Alyson Marlow for coolly running our wheeled office through some stressful navigational and time challenges.

Respect to Ford Public Relations personnel Tim Holmes and Paul Wilson, who stood by the project even when quality magazines and newspaper staff sneered at the idea of a Fast Ford in an economy drive. A welcome surprise was the pre-event support of The Mirror, Sun and Autocar, even though they honestly expressed doubts over our chances.

Applause too for Gary Cuthbert and the press garage team who turned the hard-worked RS round for the event so rapidly.
Not such a bad idea after all!

More details - www.mpgmarathon.com

Final fill-up