The new Ford Focus RS may have conquered the hearts of many motoring enthusiasts, but its predecessor, the Mk2, is still alive and kicking. Whenever it’s not listed for sale on the used car market, it continues to put lots of smiles on the faces of those that get to drive it.

Throw in a few laps on what is the most famous track in the world (yes, that would be Nurburgring), and you have the perfect recipe. At a first glance, this previous-gen hot hatch appears to be stock, but turn that volume up you’ll hear it crackling and backfiring – and if the clip’s description is correct, that’s due to the Milltek exhaust that has been fitted to it.

The 2.5-liter turbo’d inline-five engine had a nice soundtrack anyway, but the new exhaust simply turns up the volume to 11. As far as performance is concerned, its 305PS (301hp) and 440Nm (325lb-ft) of torque are more than enough, and despite the fact that it’s front-wheel drive, the second-gen Focus RS needs just 5.9sec to go from naught to 100km/h (62mph), and maxes out at 263km/h (163mph).

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