Sierra Cosworth a blast from the past
Focus ST a hooligan, but the ‘Cossie’ a true reminder of Ford’s loony days
There is, in the U.K., something called an Anti-Social Behaviour Order. If you’ve got an ASBO, you’re probably a delinquent, a hooligan, a bit of a cheeky monkey, right?
Somebody needs to give this car an ASBO. Owner Craig Siemens isn’t a hooligan; at least not on the surface. Father of two, small business owner and a Ford fan, he hasn’t had either of his two Sierra Cosworths out on the road in years. Neither of the little ruffians would make it past the emissions sniffers of B.C.’s Aircare. But now they can be registered as classics, or at least the blue one can. The black machine is capable of significantly more thuggery, being tuned six ways from Sunday.
One fresh tank of fuel and this 1986 Sierra Cosworth is ready to give us a history lesson on the turbocharged, cross-the-pond type of Ford. You wot, mate? Bash your head in. Swear on me mum. That sort of thing.
“I’ve seen one of those,” you say. “It’s called an XR-somethingsomething.” Merkur XR4Ti, you mean, but no, the Merkur was a bit like its European cousin, but came with a 2.3-litre single overhead cam turbo-four and was also significantly heavier.
Siemens also has an XR4Ti, a sort of gateway drug into fast Ford ownership. He started with a 1969 Mustang, moved to the Merkur, ran into a guy while trying to source parts for his XR4Ti, and soon, a proper Cossie had arrived. The black one was found in Italy and the blue came from Germany via another Cosworth enthusiast in Ontario.
Cosworth and Ford have a decades-long partnership together. Mike Costin and Kevin Duckworth, both former employees of Colin Chapman, set up shop building racing engines for Lotus. These were the stuff of legend, for example, the Double Four Valve V8, for instance, with which Jimmy Clark won the Dutch Grand Prix on its first race.
In 1969, Ford started putting Cosworth-designed engines in the humble Escort, effectively creating a pint-sized terror. The 1600cc BDA is small, but might just be the loudest four-cylinder engine of all time. It’s a 16-valve punk-rock riot and under the hood, the tiny Escort RS1600 was all kinds of hooligan. Give that car an ASBO, too.
Formula One, Formula Atlantic, the ill-fated and deadly Group B: Cosworth engines did it all. So when the head of Ford’s European motorsport division decided to build a machine to dominate Group A racing, Cosworth got the call.
The result was the Sierra RS Cosworth. Ford took suspension and chassis lessons learned from two racers — Jack Roush in the American IMSA series and Andy Rouse in the British Touring Car Championships — and ordered 15,000 turbocharged Cosworth engines.
The Sierra RS weighed just 1,200 kilograms and had both a low-slung suspension and functional aerodynamics. That wild rear wing isn’t just for show; it’s the result of windtunnel testing and high-speed runs at the Nardo circuit in Italy.
On the track, the wins started coming almost immediately. Racing versions developed anywhere from 370 to 500 horsepower and, after some tweaking, began sweeping touring-car championship races both in Europe and Australia. At Australia’s biggest race — the Bathurst 1000 — RS Sierras would get the pole position five out of six years. Only the all-wheel-drive Nissan GT-R could beat them.
In street trim, Siemens’ Moonstone Blue Sierra is making just over 200 hp from its 2.0-L turbocharged engine. Despite sitting so long, it revs willingly, and the Borg-Warner T-5 transmission feels strong. The steering is still direct and accurate, and slinging the car through a few mountain curves really shows off the RS’s spirit.
I’ve brought along a modern turbocharged Ford Focus ST for comparison. They’re worlds apart — and it’s not just the front-wheel drive/rear-wheel drive divergence. The ST is a sporty car built out of a very competent hatchback. It’s easily faster than its turbocharged grandfather and grippier through the corners with better brakes. Front-wheel drive can only put so much power down coming out of a bend thanks to power-on rearward weight transfer, but in the dry, the ST does just fine. It’s also prone to a little liftoff oversteer.
As a rival to Volkswagen’s GTI, all the boxes are checked — although the dirty little Fiesta ST is still more fun. Plus, you’ve got ice-cold air-conditioning, a heated steering wheel and satellite navigation. Despite the slightly artificial-feeling tail wag you can introduce by acting the loon, it’s all very civilized.
The Cossie, however, is made for the fender-banging world of touring car racing, dialed back a bit for an unsuspecting public. Naturally, when they began appearing in the mid 1980s, boy racers immediately started throwing go-fast parts at them. The accent is different and it relies on boost instead of cubic inches, but things really weren’t much different than the hotrod culture of the Mustang.
In factory trim, without too much lunacy dialed in, Siemens’ RS is just a delight.
“Old cars are more freely,” he said, and that pretty much hits the nail on the head.
Line it up for the bend, heel-toe into second, foot down early and a nice clean exit. A hundred more horsepower and it’d be a beast. Two hundred more and it would take more than an ASBO; it’d need a straitjacket and a padded cell.
As it is, with that cheeky Cosworth honk firing out of the stainless steel exhaust, this fast Ford feels fresh and eager. It wants to get you into trouble. It’s been locked up in the garage too long, and wants to have a go. You havin’ a giggle, mate? Bash your head in. Swear on me mum.