Wow, what was that?

You mean that only slightly visible blur of gaffer tape and bin bags?

Yes, that exactly. What was it?

That, my friend, was our first almost-but-not-quite sighting of the new Ford Focus RS. It's been out testing, covered in camouflage wrap, at Ford's semi-legendary Lommel testing grounds in Belgium (yes, exciting things happen in Belgium) and Ford has decided to ramp up the excitement ahead of the Feb 3rd reveal by showing us this teaser vid.

How did they get a front-drive hatch to go that sideways?

Simple really - by stuffing north of 300hp through the front wheels and giving it a trick differential. Like the first and second generations of Focus RS, (both of which have gone into the Living Legend category when it comes to hot hatches) the new RS will be strictly front-driven. It will use both Ford's clever 'Revo Knuckle' front suspension design and a tricky diff to try to keep the power flowing smoothly and the steering from ripping your hands from their wrist sockets.

The engine is a 2.3-litre EcoBoost four-cylinder unit, closely related to that found in the new Mustang. However, while the Mustang gets 315hp, the Focus RS is likely to get 330hp, possibly a bit more. Fruity.

Beyond that, we can just about see from the video that there's a bigger, squarer, more aggressive front end than even that of the recently-fettled Focus ST. Plus, unlike the first two Focus RS models, this one will strictly be a five-door only. There's unlikely to be an estate version to match the ST wagon - just think of all the Labrador sick...