Musings of a Grey-Haired Boy Racer:
Over a few glasses of Shiraz, I thought I’d share with you a recent encounter I had with a guy distinguished cloyingly by his aviator Raybans and aquamarine Polo shirt, driving a late model Porsche 911S. Provoked by my smirk, this dude would set about demonstrating that his ride was on a far higher plane than I could experience in my white Ford Focus Mk3RS hot hatch selecting first gear alongside him at the lights.
‘Track mode’ button stabbed, within frantic seconds I was in the dust and exhaust haze of a full-throttle Porsche. Pushing him into a corner at a speed beyond his comfort level, my RS surprised me by the extent of oversteer shifting from second to third with light flashing.
Well, I’m sure many RS owners will appreciate my need to report that I deflated his show of superiority. Unable to summarily dispatch a nuisance hot hatch he went on to vent his frustration by running a red light as the opportunity for another spat loomed.
On reflection, I like the ‘change now’ flashing light catching peripheral vision when dealing with unfamiliar road topography .
Contemplating anyone’s need for high performance, It should be asked will local roads be the most frequent battleground? Or will that instead be the Nurburgring? On local roads the Focus RS is a hard act to follow especially on roundabouts, preferably wet, a condition that sees many a highly-rated performance car advancing scarily towards the Armco.
Another thing, even from this Porsche encounter, the jury is out is far as I’m concerned on Launch Control. Deft footwork and a feeling for torque gets a better result than sidestepping the clutch pedal – a brutal move that doesn’t sit well with my mechanical engineering background. Of course my opinion has no objective basis other than a recent thumbs up from a guy in 407 KW Holden who needed to reach 140 km/h before pulling alongside. His animated thumbs up said it all.
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