Fun at the track !!

[fast95pony]

Last Sunday the local SVT club were invited to Calgary's Raceway track for a afternoon of lapping. This was the first time I've driven the full road course with the SVT Focus.Man, it was fun ! Not a quick as my Mustang , but more fun in the corners. The Focus reached 180 k/ph at the end of the straight. There were about 30 cars at the event .We were split into two groups. Included in my group were a 2003 Viper , a Porsche 911 GT3 ,a Boxter S, a Cobra kit car, , an NSX, an older supercharged M3 , several twin-turbo 300ZX's , a supercharged Focus , an another stock Focus. The Focii were the slowest, but we had lots of fun chasing each other an an older Civic Type R . The weather was warm and everyone behaved themselves. I went through 7/8's of a tank of gas in just over 200 kms ,and the Viper had to leave twice to fill up. There were a few agricultural adventures and a few mechanical breakdowns to liven up the day.
Today it's -10C and snowing, so I suppose I'll have to wait til May the next one. That was so much fun !

[fast95pony]

Here's some pics....

http://www.virgeweb.com/Ben/psylence/TrackDay-102603/

[djb]

as always, am green........

here too, its cold and we had our first snow and freezing rain-yuck, have to get new snow tires for yea old Mazda-and soon.

off the topic, but how has the Focus been in terms of build quaality etc for you? My dads Ford minivan has had stupid stuff go wrong (gas tank and guage) same the Windstar someone my wife knows-same problem as my dad; and a neighbor with a Taurus station wagon has had a bunch of problems with it, as did my sister-in-law with her older Taurus wagon she had a number of years ago.

I have always bought older used cars, and from my old Escort problems (computer crapped out) I hesitate in ever getting another Ford....

cheerio, David

[fast95pony]

I've had a few minor problems : Several heat shields on the exhaust system coming loose , heated driver's seat stopped "heating" , but that's it. Everything else has been fine. (knocks on wood...)

[djb]

I'll do some knocking for you as well. Everything I've read about the car seems to confirm what you've mentioned, fun to drive etc, I just hope Ford (N.America anyway) has sorted out the quality control aspect that tends to affect sods like me who buy used cars well out of warranty.