Ford Sierra Cosworth

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Fancy owning a motorsport legend for road and track use? Paul Davies looks at true classics that made their names on stages and circuits, and still provide fine drives today

After you’ve ruled the world, what next? That was Ford’s dilemma. Escort Mk1 and Mk2 had been all-time rally and race winners, but the front-wheel drive replacement was a dead duck, the purpose-built RS 1700T was canned, and the RS200 supercar – like the rest of Group B – was banned. The answer was the Sierra Cosworth. On paper the dumpy Cortina replacement of 1982 was too big for strutting its stuff on stages, but a bit of diplomacy by director of motorsport Stuart Turner had Cosworth pumping an (easy) 200bhp out of the US-derived Ford Pinto engine. Slotted into the rear drive saloon, the now iconic YB motor was good for a whisker under 150mph and a 0-60mph dash just over six seconds in ‘standard’ trim. More importantly, it was easily tuneable right to the 300bhp limit demanded of the new Group A, introduced to tame the excesses of Group B. The secret was not in the twin-cam, 16-valve, cylinder head, but the turbocharger. With larger compressor, change of wastegate, bigger injectors and an intercooler, the only power restriction was how much the block could take. Double the original output was easy, with more to come! The road ‘Cossie’ first appeared in 1986, and Ford produced an RS500 homologation special aimed at the inaugural ’87 World Touring Car Series. After a shaky start it dominated, such that there never was an ’88 WTC – although there is a suggestion it was the possibility of manufacturers and sponsors moving from Formula One that really killed off the series. The Sierra, in three-door hatch and four-door Sapphire trim, was ideal for racing. Andy Rouse claimed the British Touring Car title in 1985 with a prototype (actually a turbo’d Mercury Merkur) and Robb Gravett followed in 1990, whilst in Germany the Eggenberger team took the DTM series by storm. In rallying it had its limitations, despite the fact that few stuck to that 300bhp Group A limit. Yes, Jim McRae was British champion in both ’87 and ’88 and Russell Brookes followed in ’89, but on the world stage the Cossie had strong competition. Didier Auriol’s victory on the 1988 Tour de Corse, Ari Vatanen’s second on the ’87 1000 Lakes, and McRae’s 3rd on the RAC Rally of the same year, were highlights of the Cosworth’s WRC career. It had to give way to the Lancia Delta Integrale and the Toyota Celica GT.Both Lancia and Toyota had four wheel drive. Ford added this to the Sierra Cosworth from 1990, but it didn’t help – especially as at the time the blue oval didn’t know whether it really wanted to be in motorsport anymore. The Sierra Cosworth’s final call was the 1992 Lombard RAC, Miki Biasion taking fifth place, but most rally fans remember Colin McRae two years earlier. With the factory cars foundering it was left to the private entry of the young Scot to fly the flag. He knocked every corner of the RED run, Shell sponsored, car, set three fastest stage times, and finished in sixth place with only a bolt from a garden gate holding the driver’s door in place!