Ford Sierra RS Cosworth/RS500

[conrod]

HI Steve, yes it does seem odd, as when the Cosworth arrived in 1987 it pretty much made this car obsolete. One of the articles I read stated the Crichton was going to buy a Cossie in 1987, but that never happened.

This car was Steve Soper's car for the second half of the 1986 ETCC season as far as we can tell, the pic below is taken at Donington 1986.At this point Eggenberger were building and running the cars, with backing from Ford, so this was essentially a "works" entry. It was always intended as a development year, to sort the handling and chassis, for the arrival of the Cosworth engine in 1987. So although it played a significant part in the development of the Cossie, it was a particularly quick car in its own right towards the end of the 1986 season, winning the last round in Estoril, and was quickest in qually at Brno earlier in the season, Soper being clocked at 300kph!

It did not have a particularly successful history in NZ as an RS500, or Thundersaloon for that matter, and for us it was pretty much a no brainer to restore it back to the original Gp.A XR4Ti spec. This opens up all sorts of possibilities for racing the car here and overseas, and the car will probably retain the most value in this form.

Would anyone have a pic of the car when Garry Croft drove it? It was a Gp.A RS500 at this point (1988-89 NZ season) and I think Husqvarna colours, white with stripes I think.

Conrad