We took the Focus to a SCCA rallycross last weekend and ended up not doing too bad. I entered in the Production class as the car is stock except for the intake and cat back exhaust. My son wouldn't let me use his new tires and wheels so i used the half worn out 16" stock P6's.

I finished 19th out of 38 cars. Doesn't sound good unless you know that 19 of those cars were 4wds including over 12 WRX's, a audi quattro, 323 gtx and Eclipse GTX (both prepared rally cars) and several more Subi's. I ended up 3rd in class. The cars that beat me (a Sentra SER and Neon ACR pro solo car) both had limited slip diffs and a few more ponies than the Focus. All in all I was pretty happy especially beating many of the 4wd's including several WRX's. Many of the kids have not grasped how to steer a car with the right foot.

The first three rounds I ran at stock tire pressure. The last three I lowered it 4 PSI and dropped my times 3 to 4 seconds per round. Had I done that sooner I would have had a solid second place and would have been knocking on the door for a class win and a top ten finish.

I do see a limited slip in the future and a set of snow tires for more traction. If there's a rallycross in your neck of the woods I encourage you to go out an give it a try. It's really no harder on your car than a Solo...but in my opinion a whole lot more fun

[thumb] Chalk one up for ford

Very cool. I so bad want to try rallycross, but I can't afford to do that to the Focus yet because it needs to stay a reliable comuter car. I bought it with the intention of rallying it out after it's comuting days are over anyways...

Does your Focus has skid plates underneath or do you run it without? If you do it without it must dirty up your engine compartment?

Sorry for the typo's. I'm doing this as I work...

No skid plates, no nothing, pure stock except as mentioned above. A rallycross set up per SCCA rules is designed to accomodate all street driven vehicles. The idea is to give the "taste" of rallying without destroying cars or requiring extensive car preparation. Jumps are not permitted in rallycross. If a car leaves the ground the safety steward must immediately adjust the course so it doesn't happen again. The entry fee was 25.00 for SCCA members and 30.00 for non members. The car gets a little dusty but nothing that can't be cleaned.

Dang, good job![thumb]
We've got a couple "dirt-o-cross" as they call them, sheduled for later in the year.
Was your course dirt or gravel or a combination of both?
Dude, I DON'T want to hurt my paint with only 2,300 miles on the vehicle.[mad]
But, I suppose it's kind of like a new pair of skis....
Once you get the first few rock hits, who cares anymore?[:D]

sounds like a blast...
i shall have to try that someday.

Sounds like a good time!

The attached site has several photos of the old Focus doing its thing.

http://www.hugheshometheater.com/Photos/Rallycross

(case sensitive to caps as shown)

Those are GREAT pics!
Dang that looks like fun!

OK. Can I say 1 thing? Too much steering input!
Try to have all your braking done before you enter the turn.
You'll be able to get on the gas much sooner which will help exit speed,
and you won't be pushing out so far at the entrance to the turn.[;)]