Sierra RS500 - RS500s Reunited

The Ford Sierra Cosworth RS500 touring car was an awesome machine. Although never sold in America, it was preceded by the Merkur XR4Ti, which was sold through Ford dealers in the 1980s. The Cosworth evolutions were never sold here, sadly, because with over 500bhp and rear wheel drive, they were very exciting racecars. Watching a whole field of these fire-belching monsters going wheel to wheel was an incredible sight.

The RS500 dominated touring car racing around the world from 1987 to 1990, with a world championship, European championships and many domestic series under its belt. They were last seen competing in Britain over 15 years ago in the 1990 BTCC. To commemorate this, and to celebrate the 25th anniversary of the RS Owners Club, Martin Johnson organized the very first reunion of racing RS500s at the Donington GP circuit in England.

I myself have a particular interest in the RS500 since I was the chief technician and team manager for the Graham Goode Racing team, which took the RS500's first ever competitive race win.

Track ActionThe concept of the reunion was for the cars (and drivers) to have two sessions on the track to display the cars. In the drivers' briefing they were told to remember this was not a race. But when do racing drivers go slowly?

Seeing the ten cars back on the track was an incredible sight (and sound), and it brought the memories flooding back. The drivers and spectators enjoyed the spectacle and excitement. Unfortunately, some of the cars weren't able to run at their full potential because of aged components, and the drivers were all careful to preserve the racing history they were driving. But taking all this into account, it was still a memorable day. It also gave people who were too young to see these cars as they were in their heyday, the opportunity to witness a bunch of Group A RS500s in action; because if you saw these cars race, it stayed with you forever.

It's hoped this event will be held annually, and next year there could be even more cars on track. So visit rsownersclub.co.uk for details of its next National Day.

Defining The CarsThe FIA Group A regulations dictated that cars must be based on a production vehicle, with a minimum of 5,000 road cars built. To reach this target, Ford constructed over 5,000 Sierra RS Cosworths. The manufacturer was then allowed to produce an evolution model comprising 10% of the original quantity. It could incorporate changes to make the car more competitive. This led to the RS500. Racing enthusiasts will realize that Evolution versions of the M3, 190E and Integrale also followed this path, as did many others.

When the Sierra Cosworth (or Cossie) was first conceived, it was assumed that 300bhp would be more than adequate for success in touring car racing. By the time the cars were completed, however, it was obvious this wouldn't be enough. So the RS500 incorporated changes to make more power, including a larger turbo and intercooler as well as two injectors per cylinder. Other components were redesigned to survive the high boost levels. To aid high-speed stability, the enormous front and rear spoilers were also modified, along with the rear suspension geometry to aid traction.

The original RS Cosworth created a fast, tuneable car. The basic RS500 road car, however, gave the race engineers the materials to create a monster - the RS500 Group A touring car.

The TeamsAlthough the RS500s were built following a set of regulations, using parts that had been homologated, there was sufficient room for engineers to stamp their own individual mark on each car. There were a number of examples from different teams at Donington, which demonstrate this very well.