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For some of us it was quite a chore to rise at five a.m. on a lazy, drizzly morning to go on a two hour bus ride to Subic International Raceway, more so being it all happening on a Sunday. But as the very accommodating Mr. Glenn Dasig of Ford Group Philippines, assisted by Tuason Racing School Director JP Tuason, promised us first crack at bastardizing the Focus Turbo Hatch, then that's a different story. A really different one, especially for a bunch of privileged Ford Club Philippines members whose passion for driving hard comes from more than just X-Box or Playstation experience. The invitation from FGP came quick, the Ford Club website came abuzz, and the list crammed sooner than your could type "the quick brown fox…". Unfortunately, not all members were able to indulge in this event because of the limited slots awarded to the club. So for the eighteen gearheads that went on with the trip, there was this sense of royalty, a scent of self importance and pride, particularly after knowing that it was "only" the Motoring Press (and a small contingent, at that –ed) that did the same exercises the day before.
The departure from Fort Bonifacio at seven a.m. was swell. Thankfully, our friends from Ford Global provided us with some snacks and refreshments all trip long as the different FCP members had different agendas for the long ride. The young ones, recovering from a taxing Saturday night, converted the back of the bus into a midday slumber party. The "young once", who'd had their regular 6 hours of sleep, eagerly chatted and daydreamed of the moment to come, solidified by the animated stories of their latest conquests, modifications, and
tuning ideas.
And then the magic began. There, under a tent at our final destination, rested eight new Ford Focus Hatch 6 speed manual transmission 2.0 diesel cars. Yes, diesel engines slapped with the innovative Variable Geometry Turbos (VGT) that are supposed to, in street terms, lessen the lag found in earlier turbo charged applications. Beside them was a rival Japanese manufactured car with plastered decals so as not to give away the brand of car they were using to test against this Ford novelty. Their efforts were done in vain for it was as easy as identifying Shaquille O'neal without the Miami jersey on. But to give more clues on what car was tested against this Diesel Focus, it was no less than the "2006 Car of the Year" (which will be known as "Brand X" for the rest of this article), top of the line (2 liter manual transmission), so when compared to this "new kid on the block", it's "Apples versus Apples".
The numbers on the TDCi Focus are amazing. 0 to 100kph in 9.3 seconds, 320 Nm of torque, 20.5 km/l on the highway, 13.5 km/l in the city, etc, etc. Not to mention the deliberate stopping power of the 4 wheel ABS-assisted brakes. There were some interesting tests conducted, starting with a blindfolded diesel to gas comparo. Half of us weren't able to crack the code, interchanging the gas with the diesel cars and vice versa. Very notable in this exercise was the reduced engine vibration associated with cars that run on "crudo" (so to speak). Another experiment was the fuel economy run which had the Focus TDCi and Brand X go around the SIR track. Eight kilometers later, Brand X's mileage was a dismal 6.31 kilometers to a litre of gasoline, while the Focus Hatch registered a respectable 16.4 km/l of diesel in simulated city driving. Surely this impressed fuel economy advocate Pocholo Ramirez, who wasn't out to set a new mileage record but to test his 50 years of driving experience on the autocross track.
Although it was obvious that the main event was the autocross, we were first teased with a drag race that pitted the closely knit Ford Club people against each other. Two things made this drag race unusual for us test-driver wannabes, first: we weren't really used to racing a diesel car, and second: drag racing a noiseless vehicle was weird. All we heard from a distance was the screech of the tires, no exhaust growl, not a hum from the intake. And though some of us in our excitement lost track of time, all of us took note of the time on the track, since prizes were at stake for the best performers of the day.
The autocross, as expected, was a blast. Seldom does one get to manipulate a practically brand new vehicle and push it to its limits on a relatively safe track. What distinguished this Focus Hatchback from its predecessors was its 320 Nm of available torque at the low end, evident in acceleration out of sharp turns, but on a more significant scale, it is very cooperative in overtaking that modified lowered vehicle in front of you in a stoplight to stoplight scenario.
At the end of the day our views on this particular diesel speedster were transformed. It didn't take much effort as our group already pledges its allegiance to the Blue Oval. A TRS instructor joked that this was the SIR killer. But what we failed to ask was if it was the car or the track he was referring to. Nonetheless, the overall performance of this gem is first rate. And though we weren't able to try shifting into 6th gear because of time constraints, we were thankful that no one had to test the dual airbags.
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