2004 Ford Racing Focus RS8 vs. 2004 Lamborghini Gallardo - Race Track Performance - Road Test & Comparison

There is one rub: While our car was indeed fitted with high-flow metal-matrix catalysts, Ford hasn't attempted to certify the Cammer with the killjoys at CARB and the EPA, so it's technically for off-road use only. Check your state and local laws. Happily, just about any Ford mod-motor family V-8 will fit (some require hood bulges and/or moving the brake booster inside the cabin), so substituting a certified stock engine and exhaust (like the $12,000 390-horsepower supercharged 4.6) might stand you in better stead with your local smog station. Or not.

No amount of studying the above specs prepares one for the sensory experience of hearing a Can-Am racer's exhaust note emanating from an upright grocery-getter. Similarly satisfying, however, was the Gallardo's alto-tenor note. From inside and out, the sound is far more mellifluous than most five- or 10-cylinder exhaust notes, and its character is as Italian as Pavarotti.

Before we unleashed our incompatible competitors on the tight Streets of Willow Springs circuit, ace shoe Chris Walton warmed up with a familiarization session in our Subaru WRX STi one-year-test car. With the racing line freshly etched in his cranium, he set out in the Lamborghini for a warm-up, three hot laps, and a cool down. Walton found the car to be a gentle, benign understeerer that never threatened to swap ends. Phenomenal braking power helped bolster his confidence, but his best time was 1:35.33--a scant second quicker than his best Subie lap. This demonstrates that this track was tight for an autostrada gobbler like the Gallardo and also what a performance bargain the STi remains.

There's something wonderfully strange about hearing the whumping, thumping 5.0-liter crate V-8 fire up--then watching a little blue Focus back out of the garage. Believe it or not, weight balance is improved, as the engine is mounted relatively far back, and the transmission is now behind the motor instead of over the front axle.

The Focus proved to be an entirely different beast. The burly V-8 was easily able to spin the lightly loaded rear wheels in most corners, but the ultra-adhesive tires and astute suspension geometry made for gentle and controllable throttle-on oversteer. In a few laps, all editors who tried the Focus found themselves grinning, drifting, and pointing the car like native Finns. Performance was hobbled somewhat by a balky shifter (relocating the linkage six inches aft introduces some slop), but Walton's best lap in the first session was a 1:33.45.

We mounted the Racepak gear and sent him out for three more hot laps in each player. This time, he braked even later and threw the Lambo into corners like a rally car, relying on the all-wheel drive to scratch for traction. These tricks shaved almost two seconds off his morning-session times. Practice and familiarity trimmed a thinner slice off the Focus's time, but enough to maintain a narrow lead at 1:32.43 to 1:33.42. GPS readouts showed the Ford carrying more speed through the turns and exiting cleaner thanks to its more neutral handling, advantages that trumped the Lambo's higher straightway speeds and later, harder braking.