Design A Hot Hatchback For The Future And Win A Drive In The New Ford Focus RS

AUTO CENTRAL – December 22, 2008: Would-be car designers are being offered a unique and exciting challenge in this week’s special issue of Autocar magazine: to design a sustainable hot hatchback for the year 2020, in the Autocar Hot Hatch 2020 Design Competition in association with Ford and Hot Wheels.

The competition comprises two categories: ‘Junior’ for those under 17, and ‘Senior’ for 17s and over. Junior entrants are challenged to make a 3D scale model of their hot hatch using a set of low-profile wheels from leading die-cast vehicle brand, Hot Wheels. Senior entrants will sketch their design or use CAD software to visualise it. And the category winners will receive prizes galore, invitations to the Autocar Awards 2009, and in the Senior winner’s case, will see a professional quality scale model of their design built by Ford.

“To be in with a chance of winning the competition, the hot hatch design must be original, imaginative, fit-for-purpose and sustainable. It must emit no more than 120g/km of CO2, seat four occupants, and still be capable of the kind of performance and driver thrills that customers expect. We are really looking forward to seeing some original thinking,” said Chas Hallett, editor of Autocar.

Prizes will be given to runners-up and the overall winners in both competition categories. Runners up in the ‘under 17s’ will receive £100 of Hot Wheels cars and track-sets each. The winner will get two tickets to the Autocar Awards 2009, two tickets to a Silverstone race meeting plus a VIP tour of the circuit, and a boot-load of Hot Wheels toys, replica vehicles and track-sets (up to a maximum value of £650).

Senior runners-up will each win a track drive in the new Ford Focus RS. In addition to that drive, the winner will get a money-can’t-buy prize of the kind that budding designers dream of; the chance to meet a Ford Design Executive, to visit the Ford Technical Centre at Dunton and see a scale model of their hot hatch created, and to come to the Autocar Awards 2009 to see it unveiled.

Stefan Lamm, the man behind the look of the new Focus RS, provided the following wise words for entrants: “Be brave. Remember that form follows function. Think hard about making good use of materials and making those materials a feature of your design. And make sure your hot hatchback design is thorough and holistic.”

Further details of the competition, including how to apply for a starter kit, can be found at http://competitions.autocar.co.uk or in the Jan 7th issue of Autocar.

Autocar will also be displaying a number of historic Ford RS models, as well as the production version of the new Focus RS, from its stand at PistonHeads: The Performance Car Show 2009, running January 8th to 11th at the NEC Birmingham.