FIVE CLASSIC TRIALS 1986 FORD SIERRA RS 500 COSWORTH
It bears repeating that a Sierra Cosworth sold for an astonishing £596k last month. We drive an RS 500 to see whether it was money well spent for this fast Ford’s lucky new custodian
Spitting flames and spinning tyres, the Ford Sierra RS Cosworth was the monster of Group A touring car racing. Fans crammed circuits from Britain to Australia to watch these bewinged 500bhp leviathans crush all comers – a dominance only made possible by a 5000-strong run of road cars.
Looking like the racers and fitted with a 201bhp variant of the same YB Cosworth turbocharged inline ‘four’, the production 1986 RS Cosworth was a 149mph family runabout that could trade blows with Porsche 911s.
That wasn’t enough for Ford, however; seeking to make its competition cars faster still it made use of a homologation caveat to produce a further 500 cars with even more saloon car spice. A larger turbocharger, upsized intercooler and revised inlet increased power, a rubber spoiler lip and secondary boot-lid wing improved aerodynamics and the removal of both front fog lights increased engine bay cooling. At 224bhp and with a sub-£20,000 price tag, the RS Cosworth RS 500 sold out immediately.
The fast Ford has had loyal followers ever since, beguiled by its folk hero status and the ease with which the Cosworth engine can produce remarkable power. Owners sought to double their cars’ standard output during the Max Power tuning boom of the Nineties by taking advantage of the otherwise dormant secondary fuel injection system built into RS 500 engines. High-speed antics cemented the legend but it came at a price; a standard two-door ‘Cossie’ of any flavour is a rare and expensive beast today.
One of 392 RS 500s sold in black – the rest were white or Moonstone Blue – the car featured here is one such machine. First impressions are jarring; the soft Recaro bucket seat holds the driver between thick bolsters but sits high above the floor facing a squared-off and thoroughly ordinary plastic dashboard dominated by a shrunken three spoke steering wheel with a thick, leather-trimmed rim.
The 2.0-litre engine fires to a rough, bassy idle that shakes the gearstick and the clutch finds a soft bite with barely any weight. Only the tightly controlled front suspension hints that this is something special.
And then, bang – hit 4000rpm and the Cosworth comes to life. The vented bonnet launches skyward and the engine sheds its gravelly, low-rev murmur to reveal a tight twin-cam hum, underpinned by the fuzzy whoosh of the waking turbocharger. It thumps again at 5000rpm, accelerating faster still through its short intermediate gears with a harder, cresting exhaust note that lasts until the needle lunges perilously close to the 7000rpm curtain-closer. Repeating the experience makes it no less absurd. One second the saloon is ambling alon
