So how much power is in there? Luxon claims no more than 400kW at the crankshaft, a figure he backs up with a 340kW rear wheel dyno sheet. Factor in the 17 percent drive train loss (apparently ideal for the T5 manual behind the XR6T engine) and that’s about spot-on. But to prove a point, Luxon offers to dyno the car and three full-power runs range between 345 and 355kW at the treads. A little high, and Luxon comments, “Looks like a decent top-speed run blew the cobwebs out and did it some good.”

Forget about stripping the engine down, changing turbochargers or upgrading manifolds. The APS Phase III kit requires none of this. The focus is on extracting the best possible performance from the factory parts. “These Fords have an extremely strong engine with good-looking, specially designed turbo pistons and a high-flowing cylinder head. We haven’t broken one of these engines in testing and we have genuinely tried to find the limit.”

APS’s power secret is improved engine airflow. “There are some fairly substantial changes over the Phase II kit, which makes about 270 to 280kW at the wheels,” says Luxon. “We change the factory intercooler (at its limit in Phase II applications) to a larger air-to-air front mount, and change the plumbing across the top of the engine.

“The fuel injectors and fuel pump are larger, but the key to it all is in the tuning. Our programmable Unichip controls the 1.2 bar of boost pressure (17 psi in the old money) and gives the engine precise fuel quantity and ignition timing.”