A total of 500 road cars were produced as this was the magic number required by the FIA for the racing machine to be based. I will make a very precise focus of the car, because it’s a really anticipated model, that deserves all interest. The RS500 won the Bathurst 1000 twice; in 1988 with Tony Longhurst and Tomas Mezera and in 1989 with Johnson and Bowe. It also won the 1988 Sandown 500 with Allan Moffat and Gregg Hansford and the 1990 Sandown 500 with Glenn Seton and George Fury. Robbie Francevic won the New Zealand Touring Car Championship in 1989 and 1990 for Mark Petch Motorsport. The RS500 also won 3 out 4 rounds of the 1988 Asia-Pacific Touring Car Championship, however due to Division 2 vehicles (2000cc-3500cc) gaining more points for outright places, it did not take the title with Colin Bond taking second place.

Sierra headlinings are prone to sagging (and can be repaired relatively cheaply), as are rear parcel shelves (which cost a bomb); a Cosworth should have a single-piece shelf with a plastic storage box (designed for a non-standard first aid kit).

Ford Sierra RS Cosworth buyer’s guide

Because manufacturers had to build and sell 5000 Group A machines, these had to work as road machines. This worked well as a marketing tool – you really could watch the cars compete on Sunday, and then roll up at a dealer the day after and buy a model that looked pretty much the same. Although John Sears acquired the car from his father, he didn’t drive it – mainly because he was ten years old at the time. ‘When David Sears had finished driving the RS500 it was taken off the road rather than sold,’ said current owner and RS Owners Club RS500 registrar Paul Linfoot. ‘According to Jim Clarke, who bought the car from John Sears, it was being sold to pay for his university fees, and had been sitting in storage for the previous ten years.’ Perhaps we shouldn’t be surprised. Fast Fords have been fetching big money for many years and the RS500 Cosworth is one of the most desirable modern classics you can buy. It’s also peak Cosworth. Robb Gravett won the 1990 British Touring Car Championship in a RS500. The BTCC points system was such that divisions below the Sierra (3500cc & under, 2000cc & under) would gain more points for a class win therefore although the Sierra finished first in 9/12 rounds of the 1987 season and first in every race from 1988 to 1990 it only took the drivers title once in 1990. The Sapphire Cosworth, being based on a different shell to the original three-door Cosworth, along with its more discreet rear wing, recorded a drag co-efficient of 0.33, thus allowing it to register slightly better performance figures (top speed of 150mph and 0-60 of 6.1 seconds) compared to the original Cosworth.

Misfires are common; the rotor arm, dizzy cap, leads and plugs must be 100% (or uprated to a wasted-spark system). Crank and cam sensor settings are also critical. Always compression-test a misfiring engine before buying, in case a holed piston or similar is to blame. The RS500 cars all featured a selection of aerodynamic enhancements that have become synonymous with the Fast Ford - and the desire of collectors from around the world.They've been named Britain's 'retirement capitals': But why ARE Scarborough and North Norfolk such a hit with over-65s? Big money chases factory-original Cossies, so many masquerading as unmodified cars led previous lives as 500bhp hooligans. Suspension: front MacPherson struts rear semi-trailing arms, coil springs, telescopic dampers; anti-roll bar f/r The RS Cosworth gave the Sierra range proper ‘street cred’. Ford Motorsport under Stuart Turner needed a Group A saloon to replace the Capri. Conveniently, Cosworth had developed a 16-valve twin-cam version of the Pinto engine that, once turbocharged, would create a stonking Touring Car in the light three-door fleet Sierra bodyshell. A number of other contenders were rejected before stumbling across 'E378 TKN' which they believed was - and still is - the best condition Cossie in the country.

As shown on the odometer here, the Sierra Cossie RS500 has covered just 5,192. That works out at an average of 144 miles each year since new in 1987 Compare the chassis number on the logbook with the number on the VIN plate riveted to the slam panel and beneath a flap in the carpet beside the driver’s seat; it should read WF0EXXGBBE, followed by a series of two letters and five digits; these last seven characters should match the original engine number. Beware of missing stamps, although several Sierras have been welded over due to rotten inner sills. Any ground-off or home-stamped number is a special code that translates as ‘run away.’ Rear-wheel drive with Borg Warner T5 five-speed manual gearbox, viscous-coupling limited-slip differential, 204mm clutch. Final drive ratio: 3.65:1 The Sierra RS Cosworth 4x4 received, if possible, an even more flattering response than its predecessors and production continued until the end of 1992, when the Sierra was replaced by the Mondeo. The replacement for the Sierra RS Cosworth was not a Mondeo however, but the Escort RS Cosworth. Based on the Sierra Cosworth platform, [12] the Escort went on sale in May 1992, more than a year after the first pre-production examples were shown to the public, and was homologated for Group A rally in December, just as the Sierra RS Cosworth was retired.Could YOU claim pension credit? Claims have spiked as bills soar, so what are the rules - and why might you get refused?

Our feature car is one of the most original examples around, yet even it has had the Stage 1 tune – a simple remap that’s said to be better for the engine, which otherwise is a little strangled in standard form. A Cosworth should be reliable, dependable transport, although minor electrical issues can have a massive impact. The tooling itself is ultra satisfying, at first glance you feel the bodybuilding look of the Cosworth. The car is low, but not too much, the aggressive wheel arches are stunning such as the always very detailed wheels. The tooling is engineered to be both street and racing. It works. In addition, we shall see some Rally versions later. The rear-drive car never won a loose-surface World Rally Championship event, but in the hands of drivers such as Stig Blomqvist, Carlos Sainz and Ari Vatanen it frequently finished in the top five, except when conditions were particularly slippery. On tarmac it was a much more serious competitor, and a young Didier Auriol won the 1988 Corsica Rally outright, the only time that season that Lancia were beaten in a straight fight. However, as Lancia developed the Delta Integrale further and new cars such as the Toyota Celica GT-Four ST165 appeared, the Cosworth became steadily less competitive.

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So-called Cosworth Tax is real: parts prices are no joke, with massive bills for replacing genuine Ford trim or fixing an inevitably smoky or rattly YB. And it will break down… The rarest colour option is Moonstone blue, of which there were 52 vehicles. The remaining 56 models were the full Essex-spec Diamond White. The project was defined by Stuart Turner in the spring of 1983. He had recently been appointed head of Ford Motorsport in Europe, and he realised right away that Ford was no longer competitive in this area. Overfuelling is equally dangerous, commonly caused by sub-standard ‘uprating’ chips: it dilutes the oil, causing rapid engine wear. It cannot be over-stressed how important is thorough maintenance by someone who really knows Cossies: be wary of buying a car that has no evidence of such care. Although this will have some effect on the values of other examples of the RS500 model, a repeat of anything near this sale price is very unlikely.