Originally Posted by
dombloke
There are several reasons why I'm considering the Focus's. I've owned them in the past as a part time trader and have found them to be quite reliable and also parts are fairly cheap.
The car when it was developed was aimed at the 'drivers' market. Ford sucessfully built a car that went well round corners which a class leading ride.
The other reason for the Focus is that there are loads to choose from and 'cos it's a Ford, you can pick them up quite cheap.
I was reading the other week that modern Ford engines are designed not to lose their power for 150,000 miles, I don't know if this includes late 90's cars but it inspires confidence.
Anyway Vroomtshh what would you recommend, you may as well open the can of worms fully
. I'm open to suggestions
Focus is a perfectly good basis for a track car. The Zetec engine is perfect, it's a good chassis and they handle very nicely. All improved when weight is shed from them accompanied with a few choice mods, especially on the handling side.
The Clio 172 is probably the most popular choice of track car right now as it's cheap and goes and handles well as standard. It's a smaller, lighter car and you'll get about 40bhp more as standard over a 2.0 Focus, but as said previously it's best not to chase figures, just build something that you're happy with. A lightened, sorted 140bhp 2.0 Focus (allowing for a few basic, cheap mods) will go really nicely on track and can be evolved from there.