THE SIERRA RALLY CHALLENGE
Launched to promote the new RS Cosworth, the dealer-backed Sierra Rally Challenge was a fullon assault of the UK’s stages.
Launched to promote the then-new RS Cosworth model, the Ford main dealer-backed Sierra Rally Challenge was a full-on assault of the UK’s classic rally stages, with the Group A-spec cars taking no four-wheel-drive prisoners.
It was only last week that a Classic Ford reader called me, asking after the Securicor Sierra Rally Championship. It was only then that I realised in had happened 32 years ago — and it was the very first rallying appearance, worldwide, of the Sierra RS Cosworth.
Those were the days when I had close connections at Boreham, and at the end of 1985 it was clear that the new Sierra RS Cosworth, not yet on sale, would need a boost.
Team boss, Stuart Turner called me, and said: “I’ve had a great idea. Public Affairs has just finished the Sierra Cosworths which were on the press launch in Spain. I can get hold of some. We’ll run a Sierra Challenge in British rallies. If I get seven, I know I can get enough RS dealers to back them, and we can call them “The Magnificent Seven”. Work out a rally challenge where they can run as prototypes, and I’ll do the rest…”
Within weeks Securicor Communications (they were later absorbed into O2) agreed to sponsor the series, which would give them a break into in-car phone technology. It wasn’t long before Ford’s John Griffiths settled on what was effectively a Group N-and-a-half specification which was backed by the RAC MSA. At the time, we planned to enter the cars in the all-tarmac 24 Hours of Ypres rally (Belgium), along with five more National Championship rounds, starting with the Marlboro Lindisfarne rally in March 1986.
Seven up
There was never any problem in finding seven keen RS dealers, for Ford agreed to give each of them car, and free rally tyres from Pirelli. At the end of 1986, too, the three best finishers would get a fully supported prize-drive in the LombardRAC rally.
Even so, when the cars were handed over in Essex, the hard-nosed motor trader attitude surfaced. Although Cosworth would produce 300 bhp engines, these would be expensive, and with absolutely no warranty. The RS dealers, though, wanted guarantees, but when Ford offered to find alternative dealers they backed down.
With the first event originally scheduled for March 1986, preparation was a problem for roll cages, safety fuel tanks, rally-spec dampers and springs all had to be developed — and it took the dealers time to discover that the bodyshells were not very rigid.
Spare parts were always a problem. As far as engines were concerned, Cosworth were already able, as for Borg Warner T5 gearboxes – no chance. At times, inter-team bartering was needed to keep some cars going! We held a pre-season test day in a forest near Bagshot – which showed most of the cars still to be pitifully undeveloped. However, as the season’s opener — the Lindisfarne — was postponed due to heavy flooding in the Kielder forests, the teams had an six extra weeks to get ready.
The problems, though, were still present. In the Granite City rally, based on Aberdeen, the rear axles failed on three cars, Phil Collins spun off, but Trevor Smith took seventh place, and second in the entire Prototype category. Ford’s John Griffiths rushed back to Boreham to help with transmission improvements, and all the Challenge organisers had to hold their breath.
Three weeks later, on the tarmac of the Manx Stages, fortunes suddenly looked up. After 12 stages, Phil Collins took and excellent third place overall, behind an Opel Manta 400 and an MG Metro 6R4, also winning the Prototype category, with his Challenge rival Chris Mellors close behind, fifth overall.
Then came the big disappointment. Production was slow, Group A homologation
was delayed, so the cars could not compete in the 24 Hours of Ypres event in Belgium. The Challenge was suddenly reduced to five events — which meant that it was July, before all seven started the Port Talbot rally, which used Forestry Commission stages, and was based on Swansea.
This, incidentally, was where one very bad-tempered scrutineer wanted to ban the cars from competing because their rear spoilers were not entirely blended into the roof, but were on pylons, with fresh air in the middle. ‘This is against RAC sporting regulations,’ he insisted. ‘Not so’, said John Griffiths, ‘and, in any case, that is how the production car is being built. If you don’t let us start, we will withdraw the Challenge completely…’ John, whose knowledge of all such rules was water-tight, got his way, and the cars were allowed to start.
Tarmac time
By this time, the RS Cosworth had finally been homologated into Group B (more than 200 cars had gone to dealers around Europe), David Kynaston had taken over from John Weatherley in the Hendy Lennox car — and the rear axles problems had been solved. Dougie Watson-Clark (in the County Garage Carlisle car) outpaced Phil Collins, and took seventh place overall.
One month later, the cars were back in south Wales, this time to tackle the high-speed Tarmac stages of the Epynt ranges in the Mewla rally. Not only was this ideal territory for the 300 bhp Sierras, but it was almost local territory for Phil Collins (who lived in Hereford). It was a miracle, however, that Kenny McKinstry could even start — for he had just destroyed his original car in a rally accident in Ireland, and a new shell had been added in only nine days!
It was on Epynt that Phil drove like a man inspired. After 22 stages, and more than 90 minutes of flat-out rallying, he finished second overall — overall, not in class — beaten only by Willie Rutherford’s RED-prepared MG Metro 6R4. Not only that, but Rob Stoneman finished sixth, and Chris Mellors eighth. For Phil, there were two fastest stage times, and 11 other stage podium positions.
That was more like it, the dealers were usually overjoyed, and the sponsor was impressed — for the Sierra RS Cosworths were finally showing just how much potential they had. Always fast, they now had more reliable engines, and the major transmission problems seemed to have been solved. Not that this stopped some complaints — but when John Griffiths investigated the chance of sourcing alternative ZF five-speed boxes, that initiative was cancelled when the dealers refused to pay for them…
Close tie
Suddenly it was September, and the climax to the Challenge could not have been more welcome. Going into the Keilder-based Lindisfarne rally, Collins and Mellors were tied for the lead, with Rob Stoneman close behind them, in third place. Keilder’s stages might have been loose surfaced, but they were also fast and flowing.
After a vibrant day, the result could not have been closer. Over 10 nail-biting stages Phil Collins and Chris Mellors fought it out, almost oblivious to what was going on around them. The fact that they could now outpace all but the
“AT EPYNT, AFTER 22 STAGES PHIL COLLINS FINISHED SECOND OVERALL, BEATEN ONLY BY A METRO 6R4”
best Mantas and 6R4s was clear — what a difference from the start of the year, when finishing was the biggest challenge of all — but the other fact was that the 6R4s were wilting as the Sierras kept going.
It was desperately close. Two stages from home, Collins led Mellors by just 3 seconds. Phil then took 4 seconds and 4 seconds on those final tests, and it was all over. Not only had he won the Challenge, but he actually finished third overall in the rally, with Mellors right behind him, fourth.
The moral of this story was that although the Sierras could not usually match the pace of the 6R4s, they had proved to be remarkable consistent. At the end of the season, and although he had only competed in five of the eight rounds in the National Championship, Collins finished fourth overall in the standings.
Securicor Communications was so delighted that it took a full one-page advert in the motorsport press to publicise the end of the series, and another before the start of the Lombard-RAC rally.
Not only that, but as a celebration it put increased funding into the three-car entry of those Sierras in the Lombard-RAC. Phil Collins, Chris Mellors and Rob Stoneman all got their hour of glory on this event, for before the start all three cars were scrutineered together under the floodlights in Bath. Even so, because they were still running as Group B cars, they had no chance against the four-wheel-drive Peugeot 205T16s, Lancia Delta S4s and Ford RS200s, and put up a brave show, but were never likely to win anything. Nor did they manage to finish, for all three cars broke down in the depths of the Kielder or Lake District forests. Transmission problems consumed at least two of the cars, the other disappearing off the radar without explanation, and none of them reached the mid-rally overnight halt in Liverpool.
Even so, Ford had made its point. With Group B cancelled at the end of that year and Group A taking over, the Sierra Cosworths had already proved that they were to be the new shape of rally cars from Ford. Within months a new generation of Sierras would start winning British rallies outright.