ANDREW JOHNS FOCUS ST
Looking at it now, pampered, polished, and boasting loads of upgrades, you would never believe that Andrew stumbled into ST ownership almost by accident. “I had an Alfa Romeo that proved too expensive to put through another MoT, so I decided to buy another car rather than try and repair it,” Andrew remembers, “the missus told me that we needed a sensible ‘family’ car, so I found this Focus ST. When she saw the twin exhausts she knew something was up!”
You see, if Andrew had to admit defeat and concede to owning a ‘family’ wagon, he at least wanted something that would offer a rewarding drive. A quick test drive of the ST on local country roads later, and Andrew was hooked.
The deal was done, and for two years things plodded along nice and sensibly… until the thirst for more power became too much. A quick upgrade to around 340bhp, didn’t quench things for long, and soon Andrew found himself ordering all the parts for a full Stage 4, 420bhp package. Then disaster. “The radiator outlet snapped, and it dropped all of its coolant… then quickly went bang,” sighs the Welshman, “but that gave me the perfect opportunity to forge the bottom end and build a really strong unit.”
That meant the ST was back at BD Performance for a full engine build and Revo Stage 4 kit to take power well into 400bhp range. At the same time Andrew wisely opted to fit a Quaife ATB to make sure he can use all of that power too.
With everything up and running, the most recent changes have seen the ST gain a little girth at each corner, in the shape of an Auto Specialists wide-arch kit, with some funky new 20in alloys on order to fit very soon.