Tickford has made a faster Ford Mustang

Remember the Ford RS200 and Sierra RS500? Well if you don't, they were spectacular. And now the team behind them - Tickford - has got its hands on the new Mustang.

It might even have made the Ecoboost four-cylinder a legitimately desirable engine choice. Yes, really. The standard 2.3-litre four – essentially a Focus RS engine with a smaller turbocharger and without a few go-faster bits – is rated at 317bhp.

But, thanks to a new intake and exhaust, and some fettling of the ECU, Tickford’s managed to extract 362bhp. That's almost as much as you'll find in the Mountune Focus RS, which we’re pretty big fans of. That’s lovely, but it’s the torque where the real difference manifests itself, with a hike from 319lb ft to 398lb ft – more than a standard Mustang GT V8.  

Of course, if you ponied up for the full-fat V8, Tickford hasn’t left you in the cold. The GT’s naturally aspirated 5.0-litre gets a bump from 416bhp to 483bhp, and from 391lb ft to 431lb ft, using the same intake-ECU-exhaust tune-up as its little brother. 

And, if you really want to clear the air between your V8 Stang and the smaller four-pots, Tickford will fit a Ford Performance supercharger kit that’ll be good for 670bhp and 545lb ft. 

Tickford has a bit of history when it comes to highly tuned Fords, helping to create the Sierra RS500 Cosworth and the road-going version of the RS200. They even made the Racing Puma. Phwoar. 

Tickford was then chosen by Ford Australia to build cars that’d have the measure of Holden’s Special Vehicle division. And, for our Antipodean cousins, that’s likely where they’ll have first heard of the Tickford name. Tickford’s Australian swan song was a massive Ford Falcon with a stroked, 5.6-litre version of Ford’s Windsor block, which was good for 335bhp and 369lb ft. 

It was then bought out by speed merchants Prodrive, creating a new performance arm for Australian muscle called Ford Performance Vehicles. Not the catchiest name, but one that produced some of the best Falcons ever, on a shoestring budget. One particularly good example is the FPV F6, a Falcon with a turbocharged, four-litre straight six that was good for 416bhp and 421lb ft. 

But now that the Falcon is dead and gone, Tickford's put its mind back to tuning Ford’s international heroes. So, Tickford, how about a 400bhp-plus Focus RS? Or a homologated Fiesta WRC car to rekindle the RS200 legend...