There are many reasons why I like the idea of visiting Australia: warm climates, beautiful beaches, plenty of prickly pears growing about so that I can have all of the fresh cactus fruit I can stand (heard you guys really like those things, don’t you?) and above all else, that thriving car culture that I get to experience via the magic of YouTube. But there is one issue that really sours the appeal of that last item for me: Australia’s hyper-paranoid hoon laws and the panic that they seem to go into over performance cars, with the flavor of the day for the media feeding frenzy being the Ford Focus RS.
If you don’t understand where I’m going with this, here’s the rundown: the Focus RS, that wicked little five-door hatch that has been a media darling ever since Ken Block slid one into view in front of executives and press early last year, has safety advocates, police, and newscasters in Australia in full distress signal mode. Why? The Focus RS’s party piece, the “Drift Button” (it’s actually “Drift Mode”, a setting that transfers up to 70% of the power out of the back wheels and lets the little pocket rocket slide around a bit) might encourage “hoon” behavior in drivers across the continent. Which they make sound to be as dangerous to society as any of the other (INSERT DAILY SOCIETAL HORROR HERE) stories that hit news feeds, but then again, in Australia, if your car spins a tire outside of a race track, Heaven help you if you’re caught by the officials.
This isn’t the first time that Aussie officials have influenced Ford’s incoming models. The Mustang’s Line Lock feature was removed for Australian import cars due to the country’s severe anti-hoon laws. This is the country that took the Falcon and turned it into an iconic car, the country that produced the Maloo, the Monaro, the Commodore, the Pursuit, the Hemi-6 Valiant…and, as we see here, the biggest fear-mongering over car enthusiasts and their rides since the early days of hot-rodding in the United States. And they’re serious about it, too…quoting news.com.au: “However, drifting is so dangerous that police in most states have the power to confiscate the car and instantly ban the driver for six to 12 months, depending on the jurisdiction.”
Ford has issued a statement on the subject: “Drift mode is targeted for track use only — a disclaimer appears on (the instrument) cluster when switching modes. We believe the drift and track modes are appropriate for racetracks, and that typical Focus RS customers will understand the need to deploy these features under controlled and safe conditions such as during a track day.”
Another quote from the same news.com.au story comes from Harold Scruby, the head of the Pedestrian Council of Australia, who took aim at the disclaimer:“A disclaimer is not going to stop an idiot from trying this on public roads. We urge Ford to reconsider its decision, recall these vehicles and disable this driving mode. Ford cannot absolve itself from its duty of care to road users and its customers with a disclaimer in the dashboard.”
So why bother selling the car in Australia, then, if the government so damned panicked over it? Because there’s a healthy market for fast cars, especially since Ford Australia and GM Holden have basically been forced to call it a day. You have V8 Supercars, which is the touring-car equivalent of a soccer riot. You have PowerCruise, Gazzanats, and at least a hundred other burnout-centric festivals across the lands. You even have 171 miles of the Stuart Highway where even the government’s take on the speed limit is pretty much “eh, whatever you feel like”. And it’s not like the UK, where you’re land restricted…you are only just a bit smaller than the continental United States. There’s plenty of open territory to cut loose and roam in! We get the idea of avoiding what we refer to as “reckless driving” and “reckless endangerment” here…driving like an ass on public roads obviously deserves police attention…but that isn’t what’s going on here. There is a months-long waiting list for this car, and police all over the country will be watching drivers like a hawk eyeing down prey.
“police in most states have the power to confiscate the car and instantly ban the driver for six to 12 months”
Say what you want, at least we still have due process here in the States.