In 1982 a set of regulations was introduced called Group A which required 5000 examples of a model to be certified as having been manufactured in order to qualify for the series. As we saw last week under the guidance of Stuart Turner, head of Ford Motorsport Europe, Ford developed the Ford Sierra RS Cosworth to take part in races for vehicles conforming to these regulations.

The Group A racing regulations also allowed for an evolution of the 5,000 base RS Cosworth models so long as at least 500 were sold to the public. Mike Moreton was charged with developing the Ford Sierra RS Cosworth into the 224 hp Cosworth YBD powered Ford Sierra RS Cosworth RS500 evolution.

In 1987 Tickfords were given the contract to build them, 392 black like build #159 seen here at Castle Combe, 56 white and 52 Moonstone blue, all of the Sierra RS Cosworth’s and RS500’s were right hand drive models.

The RS500, with nearly 500 hp in race trim proved to be an amazing success on the race track taking many overall victories and winning the European Touring Car Championship for Ford in 1988, however few Sierra RS500 Cosworth drivers won championships outright because Group A was divided into classes according to engine size and Class A for cars with the biggest motors was always far better subscribed than the classes for smaller vehicles.

Andy Rouse in the #1 is seen leading Mike Smith in the #20 in a typically close fought round of the British Touring Car Championship in 1989 above, the #20 was a car supplied by Australian Dick Johnson one of the few RS500 drivers to win a championship he won the 1988 and 1989 Australian Touring Car Championships along with the 1989 Bathurst 1000.

One of the all time best races I ever saw was at Brands Hatch in 1988 with Andy Rouse and Steve Soper driving an Eggenberger Sierra drove nose to tail for 20 thrilling laps of one of the best tracks in Britain, check it out on this link you will not be disappointed, I was there and have watched the race on youtube many times since.

Thanks for joining me on this ‘Toni Tickford’ edition of ‘Gettin’ a li’l psycho on tyres’, I hope you will join me again tomorrow. Don’t forget to come back now !