Attending SEMA is a bucket list item for me. I love everything about it; finding out what companies have been up to, witnessing new ideas and trends start and grow, and seeing what the builders I follow have to offer up for the new show. Each year I pour over any content that I can find from the event and I try to add a little bit to the masses of articles and the like covering it as well. Because I am never personally at the grounds however, for that I need assistance from others. Fortunately I have friends who are willing to help with that, for which I am very grateful.
Last year Mike from RDC was at SEMA and sent some photos over my way, but this year he wouldn’t be attending. I put out a call and in almost no time I had some responses.
This year the thanks for the photos goes to two of my friends – Colin Kristensen and Tyler Burnham. They were both at SEMA and sent me some photos they captured as per my requests. These are pictures from phones just to be clear but I’m appreciative that they both provided me with these to share here today. Because much of this site revolves around them, I specifically asked for pictures of the various Foci on display, but also of modified Fords in general. The guys delivered with Mk3.5 Focus STs and RSs, a Fiesta ST, and even some Mustangs.
One of these years I will go to SEMA and I will bring my cameras and I’ll probably run around like a kid in a candy store and fill up an excessive amount of memory cards as I try to take it all in. Until then, I have great friends I can ask to send some pictures my way to share with you all here. I hope you enjoy!
All of the photos have been watermarked with their respective photographer’s name and are generally untouched save for a few small tweaks here and there. Thank you Colin and Tyler!
I’ll start things off with the Cinemotive Media ST. This was one of my favourites from the show this year but unfortunately I only have the one photo of it to share here. The spec list of parts under the skin was pretty impressive with Mountune’s MR300 performance upgrade, BC Racing Coilovers, Baer brakes, and Cinemotive Garage rear camber arms.
To my knowledge this was the only widebody Focus (excluding Ken Block’s race car which is further on in this post), featuring SS Tuning’s flares as well as their front lip, side splitters, diffuser, steering wheel, and shift knob.
Next up is Blood & Grease’s ST, finished in “Hot Rod Black” paint. The stance was taken care of with Konig wheels, Continental tires, and BC Racing coilovers.
Mishimoto provided an air intake, oil cooler, and intercooler, while a Flowmaster exhaust sits underneath. The interior received new upholstery from Katzkin and the factory steering wheel was replaced with a GripRoyal x Blood & Grease unit.
With the RS now on the scene, it was no surprise that a few were built for SEMA as well. First up here is Anderson Composites’ example with plenty of carbon fiber being shown off, and would you look at that – white Tarmacs! The front splitter looks incredible but I can only imagine how stressful it’d be driving around with that much CF that low to the ground. Air – or at least a cup kit – would be something to consider. The hood meanwhile is easily the best-looking I’ve seen for the Mk3/3.5 Foci. Want!
H&R and StanceWorks collaborated on this RS which was inspired by the rally racing of yesteryear. O.Z. Racing’s newest wheel debuted on the car while H&R used their coilovers and spacers to get it sitting just right.
Maxton’s front splitter and side skirt extensions were fitted (among other pieces) and some OEM+ touches came in the form of Mk2 RS hood vents and a European spec Mk3 RS rear diffuser, featuring the rear fog light which we sadly don’t get here.
ROUSH also joined the RS party and brought out a lot of possible new offerings for the community. The exterior of their car wore their front splitter, side splitters, diffuser, graphics, front tow hook, rear wing, and hood vents. Inside their shift knob and pedals could be found.
Of course they didn’t overlook performance; this RS received a Ford Performance shortblock assembly, ROUSH tune, new slotted rotors, and sat on ROUSH’s adjustable suspension. For shoes they opted for their own TrakPak pieces wrapped in Continental tires.
Full-Race certainly didn’t mess around either with their RS, and the orange accents made it hard to miss. Under the hood the car received their twin scroll turbo kit, intercooler, charge pipes, intake, and catch can, and their turbo back dual exhaust finished things off.
The increase in power was met with upgrades to help put it all to the ground. A Wavetrac front LSD was fitted as were axles and a one piece carbon fiber driveshaft from The DriveShaft Shop.
A front splitter, side splitters and rear diffuser from Velox Motorsports added some aggression to the body, which was coated in a combination of BASF Stealth Grey and Fire Orange paints. Lastly, KW coilovers replaced the stock suspension and 19″ F110 wheels filled the wheel wells.
Tucci Hot Rods brought out a fairly wild Fiesta ST with a clear empasis on performance. Full-Race parts can also be found here in the form of their turbo kit, which was accompanied by Mountune’s LSD and lower chassis brace, Wilwood brakes, a COBB Accessport, Eibach sway bars, and a custom 5-lug conversion.
The custom widebody was impossible to miss and made room for 18×10″ Forgeline CF1 wheels. JRI coilovers closed the gap and brought those fenders down to the Falken RT615K tires.
The interior received a lot of attention as well with a cage, Sparco seats, Racepak dash, and even audio upgrades.
The last “Focus” for this post is actually Ken Block’s RSRX test car; I wasn’t not going to post these photos when Colin sent them over.
He also provided this snap of the Le Mans winning 2016 GT. I know it’ll possibly sound biased coming from a Ford owner but it’s awesome that they were able to win again on the 50th anniversary of the famous 1-2-3 GT placement in 1966. Go Ford!
Another race car on display was Vaughn Gittin’s RTR drift Mustang. It’s crazy how wide the front tracks are getting on drift cars these days – even with flares the front wheels had a ton of poke!
Mustang by Classic Design Concepts and Sparco. That’s all I know about it I’m afraid…
SpeedKore Performance Group brought out a real head-turner in the form of this carbon fiber (!) Mustang. The DO NOT TOUCH signs were necessary I’m sure as this would likely be a finger print magnet otherwise.
Beyond the impressive exterior the car also received a Whipple supercharger, Eibach coilovers and sway bars, and HRE P1 wheels in massive 20×10″ and 20×12″ sizing.
Finished in what I believe was Avalanche Grey was this GT from VMP Performance, making a reported 851 hp and 703 lb-ft of torque with their supercharger. ROUSH coilovers lowered the center of gravity and Forgestar F10Ds were chosen to replace the original wheels.
To go with the increased performance, styling changes came courtesy of Cervini with their hood, splitter, side skirts, wing, and more. Inside, the rear seat was deleted and a harness bar, harnesses, and a GT350R wheel were fitted.
When I first saw this photo it actually took me a minute to figure out that it was a Mustang! Dubbed the GTT, it was built by Zero to 60 Designs and in case you haven’t figured it out yet by the name or photo, featured styling cues from the GT. While it caught me totally off-gaurd at first, I’m actually really intrigued by it now and I think I’ll be doing some searching later to learn more about it and hopefully find some build photos.
Last but not least today in this post of Fords is not a Ford at all, but there was no way I was going to leave this out – it’s Mighty Car Mods’ Subarute! This will be featured in their upcoming videos with Roadkill and I can’t wait to see them!
As a final note regarding SEMA before I close today; the show of course is a huge deal and an enormous amount of work goes into everything SEMA-related prior to the opening day. The team at fifteen52 were among those working like mad in preparation and of course had to prioritize their time to make sure they were ready for the show, but now that the show is over Project-ST.com will be receiving some updates such as those on Sriracha and Mustard – the first of which is up now! Whenever an article goes live over there I’ll provide a link here on the site, the first of which will be in a short post following this one.
-Bill