awesome! i look forward to it!

 

A Focus that handles better than a 944? I can't believe that this is the same Focus that we get here in the U.K.? I think that once you get used to driving a rwd car you'll agree that a rwd car (the 944 especially) will out perform a frontwd anyday (especially in the wet).

And you say you got the 944 through a hard turn @ 80mph or so? What speed were you doing the same turn in a Focus?

I know that the U.S.A. is a big place with many different types of roads and weather conditions, but here in the U.K. we have lots and lots of twisty, country lanes that exploit the 944's handling. Straight roads are boring!

[sm=gears.gif]

 

That same turn wasn't really that hard but most people can only get up to about 65-70 before their car starts sliding. I had the Focus at 105 mph on the same turn and it wasn't sliding at all. People didn't believe me until I took them through there but with most people I'd only do about 95 (I know its only 10 mph slower but it made me feel like I wasn't putting their life in danger....). The 944, which I picked up cheap so its probably got something broken in the suspension, tries to slide out from under me sometimes. As long as it doesn't try to oversteer it handles beautifully but there's that few times that it slides without warning. Its never done it so extreme that I haven't been able to counter it, it just startled me when tried to drift out.

I'm in the Black Hills of SD, where Mount Rushmore is, and we've got alot of curvey roads. I agree with the straight roads being boring but I really don't drive insanely any more. I usually just do about the speed limit unless I'm blowing off steam. If I'm especially stressed I take my ATV out and launch myself off jumps for a day. The cops can't get me in trouble if I speed in the dirt!

 

isnt there also a very high performance focus in england? or is it an escort?

 

There's a Roush and an SVT but they aren't that much better than the ZX3's. At least not enough to justify spending another 10-15 thousand on a focus. Mine had 150 HP and I don't know what it was about the car but it was slow as hell and the SVT was only 20 HP more. I had lost interest in the Focus when Roush came out with theirs but I don't think it was much, if any, faster than the SVT. Really the things I liked best about the SVT and the Roush were the appearance packages they had. I don't know if they had the same upgrade for the suspension that mine did or not though.

 

The highest performance Ford Focus in the U.K. is the R.S. (see pic's).

They no longer make the Escort.



[IMG]local://upfiles/1465/2377B515010245B388D8DB7508151C39.jpg[/IMG]

[IMG]local://upfiles/1465/EC022D8686AD4258B00247D34FDA58F4.jpg[/IMG]

 

Whoa, I think what you class as a "hard turn" isn't the same as what I class a hard turn! If you are going around a turn at 105mph (In any car) it's a very long sweeping bend, not hard turn! See the photo below for what I would class as a typical U.K. hard turn. You wouldn't get around that at 105mph!





[IMG]local://upfiles/1465/FB0BF5415FBB41FA88ED039BB429663A.jpg[/IMG]

 

yeah..i classify a hard turn as a 90+ that is no more than 3 lanes wide...

 

Sorry it took so long to get back to you guys, I got in trouble. That turn is what I call a hairpin and I have no idea what I could take that at. Probably wouldn't try to much, theres alot of trees around that area.... I played around on that same turn I was talking about earlier and I got up to about 90 on it. The car didn't complain at all but I was just a bit skiddish of pushing it any harder. The turn is for an interstate on ramp around here and is kinda swooping but I still call it a hard turn. I did do about 75 coming up a mountain last week and the 944 did about the same as the focus did but I still feel alot more comfortable with the Focus on the turns. Of course I drove it for 3 years and have had the 944 for 4 months now so I may feel differently in the future. How fast have you taken that turn CTigger?

 

I've never gone around the turn in the picture of the 911 going around a turn, but I would say that in a 944 S2 you could get around it at about 40 or 50mph MAX! That turn is very tight and not much more than two cars wide.

I think I know the sort of U.S. turn that you are on about. The only place in the U.S. that I have been to is Florida and they had these sort of bends coming of the interstates. Yes I can imagine that in a well set up car you could get around these types of bends at 100mph+