TRACK HABIT

James Allen has an all-consuming addiction, measured not in tenths of an ounce but in tenths of a second…

Ben Birch

Hands up who’s done a track day, been hooked, and now counts down the days to their next outing? It’s a common story, especially in the world of fast Fords as with a bit of careful tweaking, our humble cars can push much more expensive machinery around the circuit.

James Allen’s Mk2 Focus RS has gone well beyond “a bit of careful tweaking” however. What you see before you is the result of a man and his friends’ OCD obsession around every minute detail, in the pursuit of quicker lap times and a growing trophy cabinet. We’ll let James begin the story with a confession. “I was a Vauxhall man”, he admits with a laugh, “I had a modified Astra VXR, a road / track day car that I had my heart set on competing with in some kind of motorsport.” A trip out in a friends Focus RS thankfully made him see the light, big time. “I went for a spirited drive in his car and I had to buy one – it felt so solid, had amazing road presence, and had tons more grip than the Astra despite the Astra having a diff and loads of chassis mods… it was simply night and day a better car.” An Ultimate Green model with 20k on the clock was purchased, and the plan was to keep it as a standard weekend road car, right James? “Erm, that was what I told myself,” he grins, “but by day one I’d already fitted an intercooler, and then I was introduced to Rob at SCC... the rest is history!”