SIERRA RS500
More than any other car, Ford’s turbo saloon comes to mind when talking about the BTCC’S most spectacular machines. With over 500bhp and limited tyre sizes, the RS500 always had more power than grip, something which tended to get more pronounced as the car veraciously ate its rubber during races. That, along with regular flame spitting, made the car memorable to watch even if it wasn’t battling wheel to wheel.
Having already scored success with the Xr4ti and RS Cosworth, Andy Rouse brought the RS500 – complete with a bigger intercooler and twin injectors – to the BTCC at the end of 1987. He took the car’s first series win at Donington Park in September and the RS500 immediately made all other Class A cars obsolete – almost every leading runner (and plenty of others) made the switch. No other car would win a BTCC round until the move to the single-class two-litre era in 1991.
Such was the Ford’s dominance, it was the impending end of its Group A homologation that encouraged the birth of the new regulations – it was simply impossible to see a way of continuing the existing formula without the bewinged Sierra.
Tim Harvey, who won two races in the RS500’S heyday, remains a fan. “As a racing car, probably the Rover SD1 was better, but in terms of fun the RS500 was unparalleled – 560bhp and 175mph was pretty exciting,” says the 1992 champion. “The balance of the car was dominated by the power and the turbo lag. You’re not talking about a finely-honed handling machine, it was a hammer to crack a nut, but immense fun.”
This one was raced by Chris Hodgetts in 1989. Current owner Craig Davies was a Production Saloons racer when the RS500S were in the BTCC and always admired them: “I was looking at the RS500 guys and would have loved to get in there with them.”
Davies stopped racing, but then the Hodgetts car came up for sale, having lived for some time in a Brooklyn showroom. He has campaigned it since, starring at events such as the Silverstone Classic, and the 550+bhp machine is one of the fastest examples of the RS500 still competing.
As a young lad, I grew up being ferried around by my parents in a (later) Ford Sierra Sapphire Cosworth. They ultimately persisted with the 4WD version, after the 2WD’S turbo lag helped my mum into a ditch with kids in the back on an icy winter’s day. Because of that personal history, this is the car I’m
most looking forward to driving.
It’s clear Davies and his crew have put a lot of TLC into this machine. Everything looks right, and the fact he has raced it successfully suggests it will be well-sorted. “It handles well in the wet,” he tells me, and he is right – it is sure-footed and smothered in grip in a way the SD1 wasn’t in these conditions. That is helped by a ‘wet’ engine map that detunes it to around 450bhp.
But it’s still a seriously quick bit of kit, able to reach fifth gear at 7000rpm just before Paddock Hill Bend.the handling and power just inspire you to keep trying to go quicker and quicker.
Eventually it starts to bite back. I have a big moment at Paddock, then a spin under braking for Druids, so I decide to call it a day and head back to the pits. I’m getting carried away and having too much fun…
It feels like the SD1 and RS500 have switched places compared to what Harvey remembers of them – but that is probably a function of modern understanding and tyres.