Get Ready! The January 2013 ST of the Month contest is starting RIGHT NOW! This month we are looking for the best photo that features your 2013 Ford Focus ST in a Winter setting. So get out there, enjoy some safe driving, use your imagination and take some cool photos! We welcome everyone including vendors to participate, however we will not pick the same winner within a 3 month period. The winner of the contest will be decided by you, the FocusST.org community. We'll leave this thread open until January 25th and then voting will began!

• The photo must be attached to a post in this thread
• Only one picture will be allowed, so make it your best! (do not submit multiple photos)
• You must be the owner of the ST.
• Please include a description of your vehicle with a list of all modifications and enhancements.
• Theme for the month of January is "Winter"

The Winner!
This month's winner will receive a $100 Gift Certificate to use with any FocusST.org supporting vendor. For a list of our sponsors, please visit: ST Supporting Vendors

Vote now! http://www.focusst.org/forum/st-mont...ting-poll.html

For more pics check out AutoBlog: - Shelby unveils tuned Ford Focus ST, widebody GT500 Super Snake

DETROIT – Jan. 15, 2013 – Shelby American, Inc., a division of Carroll Shelby International (CSBI.PK), unveiled today its new 850 horsepower 2013 Shelby GT500 Super Snake "Wide Body" as well as the new performance tuned Shelby Focus ST at the North American International Auto Show. The two cars represent bookends in the lineup of high performance vehicles available from Shelby American.

"Carroll Shelby's innovative and aggressive hot-rodder spirit lives on at Shelby American today. " said John Luft, president of Shelby American. "His Cobra redefined the sports car genre and then Shelby turned what some called a 'secretary's car', the Mustang, into the fire-breathing GT350. A few years later, Shelby practically invented the American 'pocket-rocket' with the four-cylinder turbocharged, front wheel drive Shelby GLH. This year, we're returning to our roots with a pair of game-changing cars that will rewrite the rules for American performance."

Shelby American takes the stock 662 horsepower 2013 GT500 and boosts its performance to a street-legal 850 horsepower while keeping it 50 state emissions legal and tuned on 91 octane pump gas. Adding Shelby's new Wide Body option puts all that power to the pavement, and the rest is history.

"Now with 13 inch rear and 10 inch front wheels that are wrapped in serious rubber, the car launches and handles like the super car it is," added Gary Davis, vice president of production at Shelby American. The optional wide body package isn't just a cosmetic change, it now gives the Super Snake much more traction and makes it easy to exploit the Shelby's potential right past the... [Read More]

Auto shows are rarely surprising anymore. We typically know what every single car is that's coming out well before the show. But then again, there are some surprises. Shelby had a still covered one when we arrived in Detroit this morning: A Ford Focus ST. Interesting.

Continue Reading @ Shelby's Ford Focus ST Is A Covered Up Detroit Surprise

Just search for focus st sessions on YouTube.. Here's one: http://m.youtube.com/watch?v=9jwTWjh...feature=relmfu

LAS VEGAS , Jan. 10, 2013 /PRNewswire/ --
•Open-source hardware and software toolkits are now available at OpenXC for developers and researchers who want to explore what can be done with vehicle data
•Ford is encouraging developers, researchers and hackers to focus on using big data and open-source innovations using OpenXC
•The launch of OpenXC marks the second developer platform to be offered by Ford

On the heels of launching its first software developer program, Ford is now turning its attention to the growing trend in hardware hacking by transforming vehicles into an experimental development environment. The OpenXC research platform from Ford is now out of beta and available to all "makers" and do-it-yourselfers at OpenXC.

Earlier this week at the 2013 International CES the Ford Developer Program was launched making the SYNC® AppLinkTM application programming interface (API) available for the creation of smartphone apps that can be controlled inside the car using your voice.

While AppLink is available in Ford vehicles now, OpenXC is focused on the future as an open-source hardware and software platform developed by Ford Research and Innovation to unleash the power of the open-source hacker community to explore what can be done with vehicle data.

"Ford is committed to innovating with the help of software and now hardware developers," said Paul Mascarenas , Ford vice president and chief technical officer. "By connecting cars and trucks to wireless networks, and giving unheard-of access to vehicle data, entirely new application categories and hardware modules can be explored - safety, energy efficiency, sharing, health; the list goes on. OpenXC gives developers and researchers the tools they need to get involved."

The OpenXC kit includes a vehicle interface module based on the popular Arduino platform developers can use to read data from the vehicle's internal communications network. The hardware module provides real-time access to parameters like the vehicle sensors, GPS receiver and vehicle speed. The hardware module is connected to a smartphone or tablet on which apps can be written to consume and use these data.

The read-only system is designed to keep everything isolated from the vehicle... [Read More]

Review from Bloomberg News that puts Focus ST on top. A video by the same reviewer said that the Focus gave you more bang for your buck. Rock

Autoblog is reporting that Mastretta released the MXT which is apparently powered by the same engine that is in the ST.