At the race track, the second reason I want to retire in this community, the first being top-tier downhill skiing, Ford had

The nimble chassis and direct steering of the Focus made for an extremely tossable ride in the curves. (Photo: Trevor Hofmann, Canadian Auto Press)

included two examples of its compact model. The first was a ZX5 hatchback, and the second was an ST, seemingly identical to the ST sedan I drove the previous day. I immediately jumped in the 5-door and took to the track. Let's face it, while 151-horsepower might feel like its got game when coursing around town or through a winding highway, on a racetrack that's been designed to accommodate 300 km/h sports cars the Focus felt fairly anemic. Still, despite struggling to find pace on the straights, the car's nimble chassis and direct steering made for an extremely tossable ride in the curves. The handling was so good that I hardly needed to use the brakes at all, except for a quick right and left onto the first straightway,

At the end of the longest straight, speeds were approaching 160 km/h. (Photo: Trevor Hofmann, Canadian Auto Press)

and then one sharp right hand turn at the end of a long straight, plus another quick left after passing under the "bridge", and again one more right hander just before the pits. I'd ride into the track's right angle bends feathering the brakes, which added just enough front-wheel traction to bite into the tarmac, and then powered out with the rev-happy engine peaked at redline between shifts. At the end of the longest straight, speeds were approaching 160 km/h, when a little dab at the brake pedal was all that was needed prior to hopping a couple of curbs on my way through yet more sweeping curves. I ran the track a few times in both cars, feeling a little more confident with each pass, and increased my appreciation for the little Focus lap by lap.