Not as well known to most of the car community, Ford Sport Compact has been one of the original hot hatch groups stemming from the Fast and the Furious days. It had been a 4 years since the last Ford hot hatch meet back in 2013, Focus Beach Fiesta. Welcomed members include those with Mazdas, Volvos, and of course older Ford hot hatches such as the Merkur, Escort, Festiva, Fiesta, and Probe, just to name a few.
As performance hot hatches are growing in popularity (and thank goodness!,) Coastline Motorsport had to be there to see some of the fastest and most custom compact cars on the road. The event took place at Santa Paula Airport on a gorgeous Sunday morning. The airport holds a cruise and fly-in event during the first Sunday of every month, and although we were told the space would be shared with a local Porsche club, the turnout of Ford hot hatches was overwhelming. The cars were lined up down the stretch of hangars and the crowd of enthusiasts grew admiring each build. We would have preferred a little more variety in the turnout since 90% of the cars were the newest Ford Focuses and Fiestas, but the stanced out Focus Rs’ on airbags, wide custom wheel setups, track ready builds, and custom vinyl wrapped cars showed everyone just how a simple Ford compact could fit anyone’s style.
Awards were given out for Best in Show, Best Fiesta, Longest Distance, Best 2000-2011 Focus, Best 2012-2017 Focus, And Best Other (non-Focus/Fiesta). Winners received a gift certificate to Lavaggio along with their award plaque. Along with awards, there was also a raffle of over 20 items including sweatshirts, hats, carbon fiber trim, ceramic window tint, a set of aftermarket pedals, and more! This years event was a great reunion and tribute to the European hot hatches. Next year marks the 20th anniversary for the Ford Focus, so it should be one of the biggest west coast Ford Sport Compact shows to date! Hope to see you there.
Photos By: Harold Maxwell
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