The phrases “Quick Ford” can conjure a wide range of opinions from the automotive fanatic, each good and dangerous. You both assume they’re the salt of the earth—a efficiency automotive for the widespread man—or a thug’s automotive for performing unimpressive stunts in your native McDonald’s automotive park.

It’s truthful to say I may very well be accused of leaning towards the latter, being a totally paid-up member of the Golf GTI membership. So maybe the Ford Efficiency division can forgive me after I say that, at first look, I used to be slightly sceptical of this Focus ST, and notably the suggestion of a “Observe Pack”.

Anybody who has had a observe automotive or taken their automotive on a observe day will simply get sucked into the world of aftermarket upgrades. Wheels, tyres, brakes, and suspension are the components mostly swapped first. The difficulty is, 99% of us aren’t F1 engineers. We haven’t the foggiest thought what to purchase and, extra importantly, set it up. It’s a recurring theme on observe day boards and social media teams, the place individuals ask questions like, “Which coilovers are one of the best?” or “What ought to I do about tyre pressures?”. As you will have already gathered, the plethora of solutions solely compounds the confusion.

This brings us again to the Focus ST’s “Observe Pack”. It seems that Ford has been keeping track of these teams as a result of the contents of the £3,000 Observe Pack learn straight from the playbook: wheels, tyres, brakes, and suspension, all upgraded for circuit use. The car sits on a set of 19-inch Ford Efficiency wheels shod in Pirelli P Zeros. Brembo has created a bigger entrance brake setup, with 363mm discs and gargantuan calipers. And the suspension is a full-height, two-way damping adjustable coilover system developed by KW.

Blimey, it’s a severe little bit of equipment. And it solely will get extra spectacular when you open the glove field—actually! As a result of in there you’ll discover the suspension device equipment, full with Ford’s cheat sheet to essentially maximise all that adjustment. Not solely does it enable you to arrange the shock absorbers and journey top for various situations—akin to highway, bumpy highway, GP observe, Nürburgring, and so forth.—but it surely even lists optimum tyre pressures, each cold and warm, together with set them.

All very spectacular, however this automotive isn’t an all-out observe particular, and historical past reveals that tuning a automotive to such excessive lengths can spoil its day-to-day usability. Simply ask anybody who’s fitted coilovers to their day by day driver in pursuit of faster lap instances. If you wish to spend £40,000 on a observe automotive, you’ve gotten different choices; in the event you’re spending it on this, you’ll need it to be a jack-of-all-trades.

Leaping into the recent seat, preliminary impressions are beneficial. The seats, the identical ones discovered within the Puma ST and different efficiency Fords, present consolation and assist in a means few different OEM seats do. The driving place is sweet too, providing a broad vary of changes, and the cabin feels notably spacious in comparison with a few of its rivals. The centre of the sprint is dominated by a 13.2-inch touchscreen, which, annoyingly, controls practically the whole lot. Fortunately, Ford has retained bodily buttons elsewhere, together with on the chunky (a tad too chunky, for my part) ST steering wheel. Some glimmers of widespread sense, like a bodily button for parking that instantly prompts the navigation system to seek out you a close-by automotive park, are welcome. The cup holders’ seemingly infinite adjustment and depth imply that spillage while hot-lapping Silverstone is lastly a factor of the previous.

The push-button begin brings a relatively angry-sounding 2.3 Ecoboost engine to life, accompanied by a flash of the ST brand on the all-digital dashboard and a notification confirming you’ve gotten a seatbelt on, which you could clear to see the total show. That slight annoyance is definitely forgiven, nevertheless. One factor Ford does higher than every other model is lane steering. That’s to not say the system itself is stellar, but it surely remembers that you just turned it off as soon as and doesn’t require you to take action each time you begin the automotive. Thanks!

Exiting onto my pothole-ridden village highway, the Focus hints at its observe roots with a slightly stiffer journey. But, it doesn’t sacrifice consolation. Because the 30 mph restrict provides option to a 60, accelerating permits the adjustable suspension to actually showcase its value, preserving all 4 corners involved with the highway, even on essentially the most quintessentially British of roads.

The Focus continues to impress. The ability supply is VW-level easy, and whereas the engine’s sound may not be essentially the most inspiring, the pops and crackles on the overrun amuse my interior little one. However there’s nothing infantile about its composure; the chassis shows unbelievable depth in its skills. I’ll say, nevertheless, that I’m not an enormous fan of the Pirellis it comes with. I believe this specific set of P Zeros has been heat-cycled by many an excited journalist, so I received’t be too harsh. But, I sensed the tyres tapping out lengthy earlier than the Focus may show its full dynamic vary.

As scorching hatches evolve into “hyper-hatches,” the added lap-time prowess can typically take away a number of the enjoyable. It’s a tough balancing act for any producer, as slower Nürburgring lap instances may very well be perceived as detrimental press. Nonetheless, the Observe Pack manages to mature the automotive’s chassis with out dropping the enjoyable issue. Mid-corner lift-off oversteer is aplenty, but superior damping and the LSD present sufficient grip and composure to problem vehicles properly above its worth level.

In conclusion, the “Quick Ford” mantra has at all times been about delivering extraordinary worth by way of efficiency, a real ‘energy to the individuals’ ethos. As Ford and different producers ramp up their EV manufacturing, one can’t assist however ponder whether Quick Fords will ever be as compelling as this once more. If that is certainly the final hurrah for the ICE-powered, everyman efficiency automotive, it’s a becoming swansong.