Anyone who's taken their focus ST on track?

[Mansell90]

Hi, following taking my 09 focus ST (with mountune upgrade) to a trackday for the second time on the weekend just passed, halfway through the day... on comes the abs warning light followed by the engine management light. Obviously i pulled in at this point, let everything cool down, check over the car, everything looks fine. So turn it on again, no lights on, so gently head out on to track, no going full pace but slowly building up, after 2/3 laps the lights come on again.

Just wondering if anyone else has experienced this? And how have other peoples focus ST's stood up to track use?

[4340BB]

Mine was fine.
Did not have mountune upgrade but did have bluefin remap.
I did Silverstone and the Ring. No hiccups.

Car is now sold though for new RS.
I would take it back to dealer but not mention trackday.

[Mansell90]

Yeah, its going into the dealer tomorrow morning, not mentioning the trackday, just a little annoyed as i wouldve expected it to be able to stand up to such use.

[HellDiver]

What aren't you mentioning the track day? Why not tell them what you're using the car for? Seems silly and pointless taking it to the dealer if you're not going to tell them what you were doing when it st it's pants.

[anonymous-user]

This is Ford, the company that will use anything to get out of a warranty claim.

[4340BB]

EXACTLY! ^^^^^^^^^^

[roscozs]

Was it the ABS warning light or traction contol light staying on? May be somthing to do with the Yaw sensor with all the hard cornering.

Edited by roscozs on Wednesday 23 June 21:11

[anonymous-user]

I have taken my 58 ST with mountune kit on several track days and have never experienced this problem. It sounds to me like the heat is effecting your brakes and making the light come on. Check that the Airflow to the brakes is clear and that there is nothing around the ABS sensors. On older cars I have had the problem of a loose connections in the ABS sensors, this could be the problem but your car sounds to new for that.

I have been straight up with Ford that my car see's the track regulary and they have not expressed any problems with waranty. Cars of this sort should be built to with stand track use and there is nothing in the warranty paper work that disallwows track days. IMHO if you don't tell them the probelm is happen whilst on the track then you are only going to make it harder for them to diagnose the fault if there it one.

How have you found the car on track? I am very happy with mine although think the shocks could do with be uprated to improve the handling. Good luck getting it sorted!!

[GR4]

I think that track day use invalidates warrantly for both Porsche and BMW, so if your GT3 or M3 breaks on track it's not covered. The argument is that almost no matter how hard you drive a car on road you are unlikely to impose the continuous extremes you get on track. Would seem reasonable for Ford to take the same line, unless they haven't thought of it. I wouldn't volunteer that information myself. It might come back to haunt you if something bigger goes wrong under warranty later on.

[Mansell90]

RS09 said:

I have taken my 58 ST with mountune kit on several track days and have never experienced this problem. It sounds to me like the heat is effecting your brakes and making the light come on. Check that the Airflow to the brakes is clear and that there is nothing around the ABS sensors. On older cars I have had the problem of a loose connections in the ABS sensors, this could be the problem but your car sounds to new for that.

I have been straight up with Ford that my car see's the track regulary and they have not expressed any problems with waranty. Cars of this sort should be built to with stand track use and there is nothing in the warranty paper work that disallwows track days. IMHO if you don't tell them the probelm is happen whilst on the track then you are only going to make it harder for them to diagnose the fault if there it one.

How have you found the car on track? I am very happy with mine although think the shocks could do with be uprated to improve the handling. Good luck getting it sorted!!

Hi, has been out with the ford technicians a couple of times now, and they have offered to reset the ecu (but they are worried thatd take the mountune map off it) so i declined. However something the chief tech mentioned was that the electronics dont like it if there are different sized/pressure tyres on either side of the car... and so after 2 trackdays on a heavily clockwise circuit, the left hand tyres have about 3mm of tread left whilst the right hand sides have about 7mm of tread left, enough for the electronics and abs system to have a bit of a paddy under hard cornering as it pics up the different rolling circumferences, so i am going to try a new set of tyres very soon, and hope this solves the problem, failing this, ill have to go back up to where I had my mountune kit done, so that they can reset the ecu, whilst retaining the map.

With regards to its handling on track, its not bad... its fun, but perhaps not best suited to it. Likes the high speed corners much more than the tight low speed stuff, where understeer and traction is a real problem with all the torque, and no lsd. Other than that, it is quite adjustable on the limit, and stonking on straights and in braking zones, defiantly a machine for a larger more flowing track i would say though. How about yourself?

[Funk]

The ST is a bit lardy for track work imo. Here's mine trying its hardest:









Some people spend loads trying to turn it into something it is never going to be. If you accept its limitations and the areas where it's very good (mainly fast, open, flowing A-roads and B-roads) then it's a great little car.

Edited by Funk on Monday 5th July 11:30

[Mansell90]

Yup, agree with you there, mines rather similar to yours actually dont see many other see grey ones! Mines just the facelift model, without the stripes... and black wheels makes it look a bit evil i think haha!

[anonymous-user]

I would agree on the tighter curcuits its bnot ideal, but I ran at Silverstone not long ago and it was great there. I am hoping to get another day in at Thruxton this summer, i think the car will be great there. I was at Lydenn Hill, not the ideal curcuit for the car at all, but still had lots of fun

After this weekend I have decided that a dedicate track car is the way to go. I couldn't afford another ST and would be heart broken if I did bend it. So now looking for something cheap light and small and get out there and play some more. Plenty out there I am sure.
A couple of pics of it out on track.

[Mansell90]

RS09 said:

I would agree on the tighter curcuits its bnot ideal, but I ran at Silverstone not long ago and it was great there. I am hoping to get another day in at Thruxton this summer, i think the car will be great there. I was at Lydenn Hill, not the ideal curcuit for the car at all, but still had lots of fun

After this weekend I have decided that a dedicate track car is the way to go. I couldn't afford another ST and would be heart broken if I did bend it. So now looking for something cheap light and small and get out there and play some more. Plenty out there I am sure.
A couple of pics of it out on track.

This is what i would have liked to have done, as i did love the ST as a daily driver, however lack of space has meant that i can only run one car... and so have just traded it in for a Mini cooper S works... Hope I dont live to regret it :/... I know already that ill miss the power!