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Kildwick to Richmond Run

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Kildwick to Richmond Run

Postby Megaman » Mon Feb 23, 2009 3:00 pm

Yesterday it was the Focus ST Owners Club run out in the dales. I took the WR1 along to show them which they were impressed at.

The subaru is an amazing car on the back roads and having got used to the car I was taking it for granted. I wasnt driving at the limits of the car or myself but still the guys behind me in the ST's were all over the place trying to keep up. The power is there when you need it if you keep it in the right gear. Many of the turbo conversion ST drivers said that by the time their turbos had kicked in, that I had gone and was already braking.

I had a play with a Cayman S that joined us which was a very nice car to look at. It wasnt quite as quick as the WR1 but held its own very well and was noticeably better than the focus's.

There was an Astra VXR that had been tweaked to 320bhp that looked and sounded okay compared to a standard one. Although it had quite major torque steer.

After lunch a guy joined in the rest of the run in an Audi. He was right behind me when we set off so I gave it some stick to see if he could keep up. On the straights the car was very quick and closed up on me quite quickly. On the corners it didnt do very well as it seemed to understeer quite a lot.

When we stopped i said tell me thats not a diesel quattro audi. He said no its an 07 RS4. I looked at the back and under the bonnet and sure enough it was an RS4. He said that subaru is bloody quick on these roads. He said like the others that his power came in too late. He had to ease off just as the power came in whilst i was gone and braking. The car apparently revs to 9k RPM and was standard. It has a second kick at 5k rpm which kept throwing the car out on country roads as when it came in he was having to slow down for the next corner.. Interesting to hear his views on it all. The car looks a lot heavier so might explain some of the understeer. All in all it was a nice car but sadly for a 4.2 V8 very quiet even at higher speeds. I was hoping to hear the roar of a V8 but it didnt happen.

Here are the pics from the day - enjoy.

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Megaman
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Postby John Mc » Mon Feb 23, 2009 3:33 pm

My Lap Top died trying to download all those photos Mart!!

The ones I did see looked great though !! Your AP's do look good, and bloody massive!! :shock:

I noticed some of the owners had brought their families.... :shock:
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Postby robwils » Mon Feb 23, 2009 7:52 pm

Do like the AP's too. 8)

starting to like the ST's too :shock:

Running costs are just as bad as scoob though aren't they ??
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Postby Megaman » Mon Feb 23, 2009 10:41 pm

Hi John,

Yer a lot of guys bring spouses and kids along to the events. On the Dales run I did, one guy that came in a UK ST300 drove like a nut case with kids in the back which upset a lot of people. Most of the focus guys with families in the car are more layed back and are just there to enjoy the day out. Its a social event as well as a drive around for a lot of people. Although as with any meet you get the ego dickheads who will drive like dicks. Somehow there is always one on any car run you do thats trying to prove a point...

Brakes - APs are well worth it - never faded whilst heavy braking on country roads where theres no chance for them to cool down unlike my cheap ebc solution that i had before them...

robwils - running costs are slightly better with the ST although it does depend on what you do with it. For example a simple remap improves standard economy of 25mpg to 27mpg combined. it will do just over 300 to a tank sat at 70 on the motorway as long as your not on boost so you have to time it right if you have had a remap.

When I had my GGR ST300 conversion which made the car breathe better ie air induction kit / bigger exhaust system / intercooler this shot the mpg up to 30mpg. This was running the car on standard turbo and 305bhp/420nm. The newer maps that came out later added top end boost so 5th/6th pull like a train and take the car to 165mph on the german autobahn. chipping seems to delimit them. speedo stops at 155/160 so speeds were obtained by gps. Anyway with top end boost you get more boost and torque all round so torque goes up from 420 to 500nm.. with this i now get about 18-20mpg with the car in rush hour traffic and 25mpg on the motorways.

Some have maps at the turbo limit getting over 500nm torque but this shoots the mpg down to 13-15mph daily drive and makes it not very "driveable"... i.e. its great for blasting around back roads with but if you are going round town you will notice the turbo kick in really early - 1k rpmish so you have to be careful.

one of the nice things is the noise the ST makes when its got a bigger exhaust and a remap on it. It cracks and bangs loudly inside the car like a rally car. You can pop the exhausts by revving it to 3k rpm and letting go in neutral. It does sound good from outside but the hatch seems to amplify the exhaust sound unlike the scoobys. On longer drives a very big exhaust which has been decated can get a bit droney..

One guy at the meet has had his 3yrs and stuck 84,000 miles on his. The lease company have said he can buy it off them for 5k lol. Still goes well with 80k miles on the clock having been moded since day 1.
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