Ford Focus ST Track Pack
Can some trackday-style upgrades transform the Focus ST into the car we’ve always wanted it to be?
THERE’S A NEW TRACK PACK OPTION available for the Focus ST, a welcome introduction for a car that has, it’s fair to say, underachieved over recent years. Ford’s all-rounder should be at the core of any hot hatch market, but it’s the smaller Fiesta ST that has been far more convincing overall in recent times. Perhaps the Track Pack, available only on the five-door manual Focus ST, not the auto or the estate, can redress the balance.
Excitement for the Track Pack may initially be tempered by learning that what you’re really seeing here is, in effect, the upgrades from 2021’s ‘ST Edition’ applied to the facelifted Focus that was unveiled last year, including the Edition’s KW coilovers and cosmetic enhancements. But it doesn’t quite stop there, because Ford Performance has now also incorporated some larger brakes (four-pot, 363mm Brembos for the front, up from the standard 330mm discs) and a bespoke Pirelli P Zero Corsa tyre, both items that should significantly enhance the ST’S abilities around a circuit and make the Track Pack moniker feel suitably authentic.
Visually, the Track Pack benefits from the same 19-inch flow-formed wheels – lighter by 10 per cent than the regular ST items, apparently – as the ST Edition. These are once again finished in gloss black, along with the roof, rear spoiler, diffuser and mirror caps. That all sounds as though 2008 just called, but the Track Pack ST gets its fair share of admiring glances and petrol station conversations while looking more tasteful than the previousgeneration Civic Type R. A 10mm ride height drop with the factory set-up on the KWS, which can be lowered by a further 15mm if you so choose, makes it look suitably aggressive. The KWS also offer 12 and 16 clicks of manual adjustment for bump and rebound respectively, for further finetuning/ruination (delete as applicable).
The 50-metre test with the ST Track Pack suggests this is going to be a somewhat uncompromising experience, its limbs feeling stiff over urban lumps and bumps. It certainly doesn’t have the everyday ease of something like a Golf GTI on adaptive dampers, but you sense that’s not what this Ford is about.
It’s not crashy, however, and as the speed rises above 30mph so a lot of jiggly commotion seems to melt away, leaving a much more tied-down but precise driving experience than the standard car. Here at last is a Focus ST that seems to have a real enthusiast bent to its personality, turning into corners vivaciously and feeling adjustable on the throttle. In fact, the problem is it turns in all too keenly, because what the Track Pack hasn’t tackled is the ST’S far too ‘fast’ steering rack, at just two turns lock-to-lock.
With less-than-convincing feedback too,
particularly in the stodgy Track mode, the car can feel overly nervous when it doesn’t need to. That alone can be frustrating when you want to connect corners smoothly, but it’s a bad bedfellow for an engine that majors on instant shove with little in the way of subtlety. The truth is in the numbers: 276bhp is merely competitive rather than outstanding in this class, but the fact it’s dwarfed by the torque output of 310lb ft is a clue that this engine prefers to lug rather than sing.
That torque peak is delivered between 3000 and 4000rpm, and the natural inclination is to shift up not long after that, falling back once again into the meat of the four-cylinder engine’s considerable urge as you might with a performance turbodiesel hatch (remember those?). The calibration is such that it can feel very on/off in its delivery, so when combined with the hyper-sensitive steering, any torque steer – the Focus ST has an electronically controlled LSD, remember – always seems to be exaggerated.
This can make for a frantic drive at times, but one lacking real depth – an initial hit of turbofed torque and darty inputs, but no real flow. We didn’t have the opportunity to try the car on a circuit, and to be fair it may well perform better there: the brake-pedal feel is still very sensitive, but there’s no quibbling with either braking performance or outright grip.
Other appealing factors are the recently introduced Ford Performance sports seats, which are both supportive and very comfortable for long periods, and the redesigned dashboard with far fewer buttons but a giant, and easy to use, 13.2-inch touchscreen.
So it’s a package with considerable appeal, yet it cannot be overlooked that adding the £3000 Track Pack to the price of the ST takes
Top left: lighter wheels are carried over from the ST Edition, while larger brakes are specific to the Track Pack. Above: interior benefits from recent updates, including excellent seats and a new touchscreen it to just a bullseye short of £40,000, when one of our perennial favourites, the Hyundai i30 N is £35,410 with equivalent spec. Hyundai has had some dreadful post-covid supply headaches, which has affected i30 N availability, but without wishing to sound too much like the A-team, if you can find one, then… well, you know the rest.
Engine In-line 4-cyl, 2261cc, turbocharged
Power 276bhp @ 5500rpm Torque 310lb ft @ 3000-4000rpm Weight 1433kg (196bhp/ton) 0-62mph 5.7sec
Top speed 155mph Basic price £36,950
+ An appealing package of upgrades - Overexcitable steering and power delivery; price evo rating