Sierra RS 500 Cosworth - the 80s BTCC homologation hero
Vložit
- čas přidán 28. 05. 2024
- The Ford Sierra RS 500 Cosworth was the 80s BTCC homologation hero that also became the affordable super car. In this episode Jonny visits an owner with probably the perfect pair of examples; an unrestored 34,000 mile RS500 and Group A touring car. The latter has been raced both in the winning hands of Andy Rouse and Peter Brock.
Thanks for stopping by this episode of The Late Brake Show, where Jonny meets Rupe Kent and his pair of stunning Sierras.
In the summer of 1986 the Sierra Cosworth went on sale to the public as a homologation car. They needed to sell 5000 in order to go racing and beat Rover and BMW in British Touring Car. A year later they increased the intensity of the Cosworth recipe and created a homologation 'evolution' which became the RS500. As reflected in the name, only 500 of these needed selling in order to trounce the opposition on the race tracks of Britain and Australia.
Archive clips of BTCC footage credited to Barrie Hinchliffe Productions (BHP), Duke Video (www.dukevideo.com/), Australian Touring Car (tcraustralia.com/) and British Touring Car Championship (www.btcc.net/)
• Video
• 1989 ATCC Oran Park Ro...
• 1988 ETCC Silverstone ...
After research into the legalities surrounding 'Fair Use', knowing that we have used the clip(s) in a factual, relevant, reportage manner to validate the discussion point made by the person(s) involved in the original footage. We have used as short a clips as possible to validate said point. We have also used the clip in the confidence that it will act in a positive transformative way to the original clips; with that in mind, please check out the original CZcams links above and please support them as you are supporting us. Many thanks to Duke, BTCC, ITV and to you, our viewers.
To purchase Duke downloads and dvds: www.dukevideo.com/Touring-Car...
The Group A race Sierra was built in 1988 by Andy Rouse Engineering and was actually Andy’s car for the 1988 BTCC. Ran as number 22 in Kaliber livery (number 33 in the endurance races). Of the 12 rounds run that year the car scored 10 pole positions, 7 fastest laps and 9 outright wins. Statistically it’s the most successful RS500 that Andy built or ran.
The car, driven by Andy partnered by Le Mans ace, Frenchman Alain Ferté won the 1988 Silverstone TT against the ‘best of the best’ Sierras from round the world - The Ford works Eggenberger team from Switzerland and the Dick Johnson Racing Shell team from Australia. Sold to the Brock Racing Team for the 1989 season and driven by Australian touring car legend Peter Brock in the Mobil livery.
The car competed twice at Bathurst and finished strongly both times. Brocky last drove the car at the Adelaide GP support race in 1990 where he blew it up.
2 litre DOHC 16v with a Garrett T04 turbocharger and air-to-air intercooler
Getrag 5-speed dog-leg motorsport gearbox
Eggenberger spec bulletproof differential
One piece light weight magnesium motorsport wheels
The Sierra RS500 is the most successful racing car ever. Not just touring cars. All racing cars. It sounds crazy but it’s true. Motor Sport article here tells the tale : www.motorsportmagazine.com/ar...
Thanks to Adrian Flux insurance for covering Jonny on Rupe's immaculate RS500 road car.
Jonny wears:
Hoodie www.selfridges.com/GB/en/cat/...
******
Late Brake Show website: www.thelatebrakeshow.com
******
Merch now available: www.thelatebrakeshow.com/merch
******
Want to be a Late Brake Show Patreon supporter? / thelatebrakeshow
******
Thank you for watching The Late Brake Show. If you haven't already, SUBSCRIBE for a broad-church of automotive appreciation spanning EV, classic, modified and future tech.
******
Filmed and edited by: Phil Vaughan - www.philvfilms.com/
Insta: @philvfilms
Thumbnail by: Matt Tarrant - www.matttarantdesign.com
****************
Jonny Smith
Creative content maker, car presenter & car pervert for hire since '98
Website: www.carpervert.com
Instagram: / jonnycarpervert
Twitter: / carpervert
CHAPTERS
0:00 Intro
0:45 35 years since Cosworth went on sale
2:27 Group A racing archive
2:59 Engine start up
3:28 Sierra Cosworth history lesson
5:20 Most successful race car ever?
5:40 What IS an RS500?
11:55 Race car walk around
12:28 Sierra race stats
12:42 Peter Brock history
14:28 Winning list of this car
15:17 Why the Sierra obsession?
17:15 Tiff on Top Gear
17:50 Rup on track day
19:00 Last raced in 1990
20:09 Cosworth shrine in the house
20:55 OUT ON THE ROAD
23:35 Rudi Eggenberger maintained
24:00 Rup's car story
25:08 JONNY DRIVING RS500
26:30 Worth £100,000
30:38 Outro
#sierrarscosworth #ultimatesierracosworth #sierrars500cosworth #groupasierracosworth #btcc - Auta a dopravní prostředky
Hello all. I just wanted to say thanks. First to Jonny and Chops for choosing to feature my cars for TLBS and second to everyone that's watched and commented. I hope you enjoyed it. It was a genuine pleasure to work with Jonny and videographer Phil to help them present the cars to you. I appreciate they aren't to everyone's liking. Are they an 80's boy racer car...? Yep. Iconic homlogation special...? Yep. Death trap...? Yep. Any way round, there's no getting away from the fact they are a modern classic. Had a few questions asking if the Brock car is legit. Yes it is. Brocky drove 2 RS500s - This is one of them, the other is owned by ex Brock Team member Andrew Miedecke in Port Macquarie. The only other BRT RS500 race car got crashed quite a lot (first somewhat famously by by Barry Sheene). It was finally crushed in a car crusher may years ago to avoid paying import duty and therefore no longer exists.
Thanks to you !. ..the Peter Brock car has a special place here in the the Australian race culture..because of the rivalry between Holden and Ford..and them are fightin' words!:)....He was a hero for us kids ..and Dick J and the rest..Bathurst was once possibly bigger than the Melbourne Cup..and we loved it. So it's great that you still acknowledge the Aussie race greats in the UK..Cheers!
@@cakeofthepan2233 Thanks for your kind words. Brocky is an absolute hero of mine and I'm sad I never got the chance to meet him. I'm very aware that what I have is a special piece of Australian touring car history and will preserve it as such. These cars raced all over the world but the BTCC, ATCC and the enduros like the Silverstone TT, Sandown 500 and Bathurst 1000 were where the best battles were had and where there cars will be remembered.
I hated that race car at the time, my motoring hero Brocky had defected to the dark side leaving myself and many other Holden fans gutted. Looking back in time now I'm older and wiser I can appreciate what an impressive masterpiece of engineering that turbo / motor combo was. In fact seeing what was capable from those turbo four's after being a V8 snob for years 'allowed' me to buy a performance four cylinder car and I haven't looked back. Thanks for letting us know where the 05 Sierra ended up. Cheers Marty - Perth Australia.
No no, thank u sir!
Everyone that watched this is video is drooling..🤤
Enjoy your epic cars mate👍
@@koengixxer Thank you for your kind words
This guy is Mr RS500! Full credit when he said he'd done 3 miles in the last 6 years and he let you have a go.
That's awful.
Well he owns 2 but I wouldn't go as far as saying he's Mr RS500. Check out Paul Linfoot for that title!
Are cars not meant too be driven?
Nice ornaments!
@@eerr1438 It's a bit of a conundrum. A few years ago I had a mk2 Golf with 36k on it, hated putting miles on it but at the same time I loved driving it. That's in no way comparable to an RS500, but it's nearly too good to drive an example like that. I think he needs a third one with 100k that he's not scared to take out 😂
Someone was said something interesting about me not wanting to.put too many miles on my S1000 RR HP4 Carbon.
Not using it is like not making love to you girlfriend for when she ends up with her next boyfriend 😳
They built them in Bedworth Warwickshire 5 miles away from where I live. I remember seeing them driving around also the Tickford Capri, RS200 and the Maestro MG turbo and BRM Maestro
You need to go and see Paul Linfoot and his collection of Sierra Cosworth touring cars, VERY SPECIAL.
The road car backed out and I thought ‘that sounds aggressive’ then the race car started up and sounded like it wanted an actual fight.
Worked on a tarmac spec rally one with a side exhaust. Would spit 3ft long flames 🔥
A guy across the road had one in my street , took out a local youth who was always bragging about the 140 mph drive over towards Bristol late at night . Was for sale in the Bryan brothers Ford dealer a few months later ...
I though the standard R500 sounded quite benign almost standard 2.0. The race car sounded nice.
@@glennoc8585 suppose I’m used to modern cars; my diesel Volvo definitely doesn’t sound interesting!
@@joemacleod-iredale2888 most modern cars sound dull i think. Turbo cars generally sound quiet I always preferred normally aspirated sports cars with a tuned exhaust.
My Rwd sap cossie was stolen outside my house. It’s replacement a sap 4x4 cossie was stolen and stripped of its cosworth bits and interior. A couple of weeks after getting it back it was stolen again and found in a field with the engine bay cut up and the engine and gearbox etc. missing. At this point the company insurance company said no more. About 18 months later the police informed me the engine had been found installed in a Ford P100 pickup ‘owned’ by some gentleman who enjoyed mobility housing.
I might of seen that at a car show
@@anthonyfoley5576 'Have'
LOL, "mobility housing". Love it.
@@keithrushforth4019I take it we're talking about Gypo's, Knacker's and Tinker's...
Mates father had a two 4x4 Cosworths. First was nicked and only a bare shell was left. He got another one and to try to keep it, he made a starter by-pass using a 3 ring stereo jackplug. It had fuses in it that if the plug wasn't in the car wouldn't even turn over and if you stuck anything metallic into the plughole with the ignition on, it would blow another fuse and there was no way it would start.
Was so fortunate to go on a hot lap with Brocky at Philip Island in the 05 Sierra And I have never been so terrified and excited at the same time.
The first car that kicked my ass on a GPZ900R in 1987.
Started pulling away from me 190kms 👍👍
Johnny that timing of the garage door opening in the intro was a work of art.
Cheers for noticing Tom. That took a bit of practise.
How many takes?? 🤣😂
Are you holding the remotes or was there someone pressing the buttons!
When you've just finished a rubbish Monday and you know you've got the Smith n sniff podcast to look FWD too Johnny goes and drops an absolute banger of a yt video too.....turns out Mondays are alright
Absolute pleasure.
Check out the juicebox guys too. They have been releasing their Japanese road trip video every Monday and it's top notch. We re spoilt on Mondays. Let's face it we bloody need it haha
Small world Simon! Agreed great vid.
My sister owned one of these when she lived in Hamburg and her and her second husband had a front tire blowout at 100 plus mph on the Autobahn and rolled it. They both walked away from it with some bruises and bumps and scrapes but alive. He said this car's design saved their life. Black over black leather with a five speed stick would be lovely - great car
A garage most of us could only dream of. Beautiful machines
Awesome video fellas. Been lucky enough to see these in the flesh 😊👌🏼
Thought you would be in comments somewhere😉😉😉 all the best on the garage...🤞🤞🤞
Love your channel Adam, and your Cossie is proper mint mate!
Saw these cars on Adam Smiths channel, but still watched this too, can't get enough of oldskool fords !
Yeah i watch his channel as well he has a nice cosworth too
The M3 v RS500 touring cars was epic.
My only critiscm of this otherwise brilliant episode is that it wasn't underscored what a legend Brocky was for the Aussies. I'm glad the owner mentioned how much the late great Peter Brock was really a Holden man. As for these cars, I had an 87 Escort EXP SC here in Canada back arround 1990. I know they are not the same but I like to think I got atleast skittle taste of the Sierra cossy with that car. Roll forward years later and I currently and ironically own both a Focus ST and G8 (aka Holden Commodore) with HSV bits. I'd be fleeced if I lived down unda. Lol. I love them both.
3 miles since 2015. I know its low miles but you can do 500 miles a year over the next 10 years and not effect the value. Love the video love the cars and to each his own, but its a car it deserves to be driven. Just my opinion thank you for sharing the cars.
@gregory Ingraham I agree, it's just an investment piece gathering dust in a garage. Seems criminal to have a car like that just sitting in a garage doing nothing most of it's life. That's why I like watching guys like Harry Metcalfe who owns a number of performance cars but USES them such as driving his Ferrari Testarossa to the Sahara desert and back or his Lambo Countach he took down to the south of France; czcams.com/video/TB7_YZMqOWw/video.html He doesn't leave any of his motors stuck in a garage.
If it was me I’d have two, one for driving on the weekends and one for investing.
I totally agree. Difficult to use when you live in a different country though 😣
My dad had a 4i. Everytime we saw a Cosworth, we knew he hadn’t worked hard enough.
Cruel but true
nah i had a 4i. it was the father of the cosworth and was in its own right a good and nippy car. The XR4I is a very pretty car and is in demand today
Nearly bought a Sierra 4x4, or 4i, ended up with a Capri 2.8, loved it,
@@DT-kd3xi good choice! You still got it I hope?
Gorgeous collection 😍
Remember a fish merchant having one of these back in 1991. Doughnuting it on the fish docks one morning as we drew fish on the market. I never really appreciated how special it was or how legendary it would become. Thinking about it now, just seeing it was incredibly lucky.
Thanks Matt Omley.
I met this guy once years ago who claimed he was a nephew or cousin of Andy Rouse. One time when he was visiting, Andy gave him the keys to his RS500 road car and said to bring it for a spin up the road. He went up the road as fast as he dared and promptly got pulled over by the local bill. They explained that they thought that the car was stolen as it was going too slow for Andy!
To be fair Johnny that was a brilliant piece of film, you did the COSSIE justice there. Bloody brilliant 👍🙂
Another brilliant video. I went out with a girl in secondary school because her dad had a moonstone Sierra Cosworth. I didn’t even like her. Feel a bit guilty.
Just to have an excuse to see one often! Thats just genius
But did you get to go in the cossie ?
Understandable
Nobody cares Mark.
@@project182r3 cool story. Some people clearly do care.
Greetings from Sydney Australia. The Sierra was a beast. I remember it very well. I'm 49. I was a teenager at school when the Sierra and Skyline Gtr were racing over here in Australia.
I saw that O5 around racing tracks in Australia so many times.
Variety is the USP of this channel. All great stuff guaranteed to ring someone’s bell. Today was my turn. Awesome
Rallied a 3 door years ago and when you ever got close to the redline in 5 the gear on standard gearing it started to go airborne, brilliant.
I fell in love with these cars when I first saw it at the Vancouver car show in 1988. I promised myself I'd own one some day. 14 years later I did. I'm on the other side of the pong however so I had to make due with a Merkur XR4Ti but over the years I de-Americanized it and Europeanized it by replacing the brakes and suspension with Cosworth parts, urethane bushings, 17x7.5 wheels and modern tires transformed from a slushy bore to a joy to drive. Best part is I STILL HAVE IT and still love it.
When I was a teenager, my father imported a new RS 500 to New Zealand. We lived in Christchurch, and when the car finally arrived, my father and I drove to pick it up from the port in Lyttleton. He surprised me by letting me drive it home (while he went ahead in our family car), and I remember him saying that all he could see in his rear-view mirror was a massive grin behind the wheel of the Cosworth! Great video, thanks. It brought back fond memories of spending time in the car with my dad (and watching the Bathurst Group A races with him on TV).
Wow, that is one special memory. Your Dad let you drive it? He certainly trusted you. Does it still exist in NZ?
@@TheLateBrakeShow I don’t know! I’d love to try and track it down. There couldn’t have been too many brought privately into NZ.
Back in the late 80’s A supplier of my Dads steel business in the Midlands had one of the RS500 in black. It wheel spun going right up the gears. I’d never been in such a machine. The same guy today has a fantastic 911 collection. But for me the black Cossie with Whale tail is the Daddy.
Oh I believe Mr Kahn began making fibreglass whale tail spoilers for Wannabe Ford RS owners as his business moved from bath-ware products into car spoilers and side skirts etc.
Cheers for reminding me of my 15 year old self. Miami Vice watching, mullet hair and Farrah trouser wearing, Sergio Tachini shell suit, white socks, school kid again!!
The Brock Cosworth. Awesome!
That RS500 is an icon from my childhood, my father had xr4i, xr4x4i, saphire 2.9i, he had 1990 h reg granada scorpio brand new, an blue orion with white ford mororsport livery and rs engine as well as bumpers, saphire cosworth but the mk1 sierra rs was always my favourite. Mates was always begging to come with us on weekend trips.
So much better this then all the hyper car stuff, we used to race Cosworth's in the 80's with our E12 M535i on the public roads, 80's were different times
Always loved these. Fond memories of building the Tamiya 'Texaco' model when I was a teenager.
Kyosho ;)
But it was a great model, looked amazing!
@@skylined5534 def Tamiya 😉
Kyosho did an RC version
@@stuco81
Ahh sorry dude I thought you were talking about the RC version!
Tamiya did some utterly, utterly beautiful static scale models!
I had the Tamiya RC Porsche 959 when I was a kid... and wish to high hell I still did! They're crazy expensive even as old wrecks these days!
Fantastic! Back in the 80’s I worked in a high street insurance brokers (City Road Cardiff), on my drive into work I remember the billboard posters depicting a black racing Cosworth with a massive headline something like FORD NUMBER 1 (or similar).
In work at the brokerage the life & pensions guy had bought himself the standard Cosworth (times were good). In order to keep his supply of sales leads going, he’d take us down the pub on a Friday (in the Cosworth) - the drinks were on him.
And as a broker I seem to remember the only insurer that would take on this car (that we dealt with) was St. Katherine’s, they wanted a raft of additional security measures (Thatcham alarm systems, garaged at night etc), and the premiums were huge!
Fascinating Jonny a real icon from my younger days 👍.
Hello fastasfunk I worked on these RS 500 Sierra at Aston Martin tickford in Bedworth near Coventry 1985/86, they came to us direct from the factory and basically all we did was to do an engine swap plus various other things. But the most memorable thing was when they were being put on to the car transporter driven up the the ramp to the top deck quite often the driver would explode the clutch plates and that gave us some nice overtime at the weekends. Myself and a friend Pete Page did two clutch changes in one day. Could not do that now. But what an epic machine, absolute all time favourite. Regards Ray Gaskin.
Involved at the sharp end back in the day...! That's fantastic...! 😊👍
I had a scalextric rs500 Kaliber car. The cog on the shaft of the motor had a crack, so it slipoed slightly. That meant it took a while to get the car going. Did I fix it? Nope .. I had my very own laggy rs500... Ooh the memories
Haha. Quality simulation...!!!
What a very nice, genuine guy Roup (?) seems to be! Not show off'y or arrogant.
I worked at a Ford RS dealer in the 80's and remember these Sierra Cosworth and RS 500's very well. I think we retailed 5 RS500's. I loved the RS range.... and wish I still had my immaculate cars I drove as a younger lad. Fiesta Super sport, RS1600i, RS Turbo MkIII and finally a 1986 black Sierra RS Cosworth. Happy days out with my mates on a sunny Sunday afternoon, in their MII Escort Mexico's, RS 2000's, Capri 2.8is, XR3i's and RS Turbos, all polished and gleaming within an inch of their lives..... but remarkably, I sold it because I was so tired of getting stopped by the police everywhere I went.🙄
Having been a Ford man in the 80, 90's and early 2000's, I started to get a shine for the "M" division production cars and just said goodbye to a 2017 BMW M4 I had from new, However, only now have I experienced true tech and engineering brilliance in a newly delivered BMW M4 Competition.... Jonny, you should review one of these - you're welcome to take mine out and give it the once over whenever you like...... It really is a masterpiece of engineering on a production car.
Anyway, back to the video and a massive thank you to Jonny and the thoroughly decent gent who owns such massively iconic cars. Well done guys. Brilliant review and produced video!
Cheers,
Paul Mac
I still have photos my dad took in a folder with his SLR when he took me to the Adelaide GP in 1990, the Sierra's last outing. What an era, what a car!
Ford has made some incredible racing cars over the decades
In my humble opinion this is the best
He is a very lucky man too own two very incredible examples 😍😍👍👍
I was 9 when the cosworth went on sale. I’m amazed that in the pre internet era, I was so aware of the car and it’s capability. Grandstand and Top Gear certainly helped, but car magazines my dad would buy featured the car.
It was definitely a bedroom pin up. My first experience of an RS500 was while I was still a young lad. I was playing football on the green with my mates, opposite the local pub.
Our game was interrupted by the high revving car doing donuts in the pub car park. I remember looking stunned as this RS 500 came sideways out the pub car park, and continued to wheel spin all the way down the road, still going as it went up hill.
I’d never seen a car do anything like that before, sadly we later found out in the local paper that it had been stolen from the N.E.C Birmingham where a car show was due to take place.
I’ve always liked cars from a young age, but that experience cemented me as a petrol head.
Was my dream car when growing up. Still sends shivers down my spine when I see one
That is awesome. Brock’s old car. Thank you for the video and preserving motorsport history 🙏
I was extremely lucky to drive one of these and the later escort cosworth - epic cars / still look great on the road today
Many years ago my friend had a RS 500 Cosworth and he took it to Andy Rouse racing and let him do the works on it , I believe it was producing 500 bhp afterwards. I was very fortunate to have a drive in it and it was a very manic experience. The best way to describe it's power delivery was like riding a highly tuned 2 stroke it all happened in one go and you could not change gear fast enough. What a great car and rapid as hell.
Rouse is an absolute legend ❤
I was witness to the driver of one of these getting caught out by the turbo-lag on the Chichester bypass (damp road). The car ended up leaving the road backwards and going down the railway embankment! Made a change from “leaves on the line”!
My Uncle had a White three door in 1986, followed by a black RS500 in 1987 , I remember him saying that he couldn't get a white or moonstone one because they were sold out .
We would travel from Worthing to Leeds to the car auctions once a week , leaving at 4am and sit at 110+ mph in the outside lane and everything would move over to let it through. Seriously it was that epic . Such a fantastic experience. .... Great video on this iconic car , cheers.
What a hero car the RS500 Cosworth is to me. I remember watching the race cars on Grandstand and the rally cars too. Still buzz of seeing a Moonstone Blue example on the way to school back in 1986 I think. Awesome.
One of the best YT channels, cars or otherwise. Jonny is such a genuine guy and clearly loves cars. Been enjoying his company since the early Fifth Gear days.
Many thanks Trev, glad you enjoy the channel.
18:40 ‘complete nozzle’! Brilliant! I’m using that from now on!!
I can fully relate to this guy, similar age, I grew up in Australia watching touring cars and fell in love with the BMWs and Nissan GTR which I now own both of.
Got given a lift home in a new J reg cosworth in 1991, it was my friends dads, I was a 17 year old college student, to say it was an experience is an understatement, he tore down the road in it, my arse stuck into the seat and my grin was from ear to ear. 🙂👍
When I was a kid growing up in the early 2000's (in NOT a rich area at all) there was 2 sierra cosworths, an escort cosworth, 2 supras, loads of WRX's, including a really nice custom job in candy purple paint, all within half a mile of me; and a neighbour who lived in a flat in my cul de sac had an R33 skyline! All like 50k+ cars now :(
I had an R33 skyline GTS-t. The Sierras could've been fakes though, some were very well done just like an original Cosworths
From the title card: Isn't that Brocky's Sierra?
Well yes it is.
Fantastic, as always, Jonny.
Just went to add a comment and without a word of a lie there were 666 comments already!
Huge respect to the owner and what another great show Jonny!
I’m old enough to remember the stories and folklore so that was a pleasant trip down memory lane
I was 8 when my dad took me down to the Carillon in Bathurst, my home town, to see the drivers cars before the Bathurst 1000. I was very shy and shoved a picture under the nose of Peter Brock for him to sign. He gave me that classic laconic grin, signed it, and handed it back. He was standing next to THIS car and I was star struck.
This video has brought back some amazing memories of watching the Sierras, Jags, BMs and old VB/VC Commodores screaming around a track in the town I lived, a fact I didn’t realise was such a big deal until I was a lot older.
Love this Johnny. Thank you for being the car pervert that you are.
Ford Australia pulled out of motor racing entirely back in the 80's, so racing companies brought over the Sierras. They never sold them officially in Australia but by only as a grey import. I've only ever seen a couple in the flesh. The race versions certainly gave the Holden VL Commodores a run for their money on the track.
The Brock Sierra was at a time when Holden had split with him over the polariser incident. I'm glad Rupe has an excellent piece of motor racing history there & the RS500 to back him up.
Another great video Jonny, excellent work mate.
1969Risky.Then Ford Australia came back in the 90's
@@peterbarber7613 The best races were back in the 90's
@@1969Risky i know
Ah yes, the polariser incident...
Dick Johnson had a Black RS500 plate number Q17..
Seeing the dashboard gives me so many memories of the Sierras my Dad had when I was a kid.... he had an XR4x4i, and once considered a Cossie Sapphire, but the impassioned encouragment of his over-excited son couldn't match his budgetary limitations.... never seen an RS500 in the flesh, but that is an incredible example.... thanks Jonny; your channel is going from strength to strength and I'm a big fan 👍
Thanks so much Sam.
Such a beautiful car,brings back great memories ❤️
As an American I am just beginning to appreciate how much of a legend these cars are, here in the states we got the Merkur Xr4ti, which like everything that comes to our shores is terribly detuned
Since the early 70s it looks like America only got boring junk, while Europe was filled with legendary cars like cosworths, quattros, integrale, etc.
Like the oil crisis killed muscle cars and the USA never found a replacement for them.
Had an 87 XR4. The US model had the 175hp 2.3 turbo 4 from the Thunderbird turbo.
It was easy to graft on parts from the SVO Mustang. Upgraded microprocessor, intercooler, manifold. 230hp
Way more fun!
Upgrade the suspension and brakes with parts from Ford.
Instant BMW killer.😊
I had so much fun with the XR4. Not quite as good as the Cosworth Sierra but not bad.
Jonny his black note book is fairly rapidly becoming an iconic part of the show.
Another 10 out of 10 Video from Jonny. 👍🙂👍 We need a Video now of the Lotus Carlton Jonny, someone must have a mint one to film, and tell it's story. The LC was another highly desirable machine to get Nicked by the local Scrotes of the time. 🤬. Also good to see Jonny keeping up his tradition of Colour Coding his clothing to the Brock. 👍😂👍
my anecdote is of the 1993 Golden Tulip rally , where i went in my Mini Cooper and a guy in a beautiful bleu/grey Sierra Cosworth asked if i knew where the next special stage was . I did so he said i will follow you . so i was "chased" by the Cosworth and we put our foot down , it was a great experience
A real genuine old car fanatic you are, mate! This has been my first time seeing you looking as old as me, mate! You are still pushing great content to the forefront!!!
The Sierra holds a great place in my American racing heart!
It's interesting to see where a storied vehicle like Brockies Cossy wound up. Nice one.
Johnny that was brilliant. I'm 50 this year and I remember watching these on TV in the late 80s with the likes of Andy Rouse . Cleland and Gravett. Absolutely amazing video .
What amazing, iconic machines. Congratulations to the keeper of these cars, is moving history and a dream in the form of a garage.
The evolution on modern cars is crazy. My 6 year old Fiesta ST is so similar in specs (~220HP / 1100KG) and exactly as quick as the RS500 on 0-60, 0-100 and 1/4 mile with a 1.6L engine while having absolutely no turbo lag and incredible fuel economy. My grandpa could use it for shopping trips without any issue.
Please drive them more :)
What a minter that iconic legendary black RS500 COSWORTH…. Wow looks absolutely stunning 😍 I want it PLEASE
I had a Texaco RS500 Scalextric car when I was little, loved that car 👌🏻
Worth a heap more if you bring it back to Australia. Brock was with Holden from 69-87, then BMW in 88, then the Sierra in 89-90, then back to Holden from 91-97. He also raced a BMW & Porsche (84) @ LeMans. His last win at Bathurst was 87 when the Texaco Sierras got caught cheating and Brock was handed his 9th Bathurst victory. Great video.
Heard a story once about a guy who owned a cozzie. Parked it up at cinema and watched a film. Came out and tried to fire up the car. Completely dead. Opened bonnet and engine n gearbox gone... Modern folklore? Obviously.. but always remembered that. Great video. Iconic motor.
My Cossie anecdote is being round my friend’s house in around 1990 when his dad turned up in a Kaliber-liveried Cosworth which was a detuned road-registered ex-touring car. The dad held a senior role in Guiness and as a perk they got to bring the car home every now and then. The next day he gave another friend a lift to our band practice. The friend was crouched on the floor holding on to the roll cage as there was no passenger seat! The car drowned out our miserable guitar indie-pop.
Second anecdote is going to Cosworth in 1997 for a job interview and seeing several three doors in the staff car park. True passion.
Great video thanks Jonny. Thanks also for digging out your 80s patterned hoodie specially for it 👌🏻
Used to work for a guy that had 8 Sierra and Escort Cosworths many years ago, The Sierra always had something special about it .
The way Jonny said that the RS500 was ‘under twenty grand...’ when it was released..... my parent’s house was cheaper than that in the early 80s! Still, it was my dream car when I was in my earl 20s but one I could never afford (some of us could never get £20k!). Great vid, Jonny.
Be about £55k today.
Lol I can’t even raise 20k now 😂
@@gopium1976 I feel ya bro!
Although comparatively, the M3 and 190 2.3-16 at the time were nudging 40k, and the 10v quattro Turbo was over 50k. About 18yrs ago I had an early 86 2.3-16 dealer demo car, and the original receipt was still in the book. £38k from memory. I sold it for £4.5k to buy a house... then a couple of years ago a pal saw it for sale for over £70k 😭
Alex West they’re going for 85k plus!
Nice video... Had a 450 bhp 3 door, crazy lag, massive "spin you round the other way" hit when it does. Mental...
My godfather gave me a ride in his black RS500 when it first came out. I'll never forget that! It shifted, that's for sure.
Brocky had to jump from Holden to the Sierra to remain a force in Australian touring cars but his nemesis, Dick Johnson owned the series in that time period. DJR produced the best racing Sierra's back in the day.
Yep Peter in a Ford. Spoke volumes.
Brocky jumped into the Ford not because he had to if he wanted to win, he had a partnership with Holden in Australia and was building a Brock Commodores for the public. He had a fall out with Holden with his last car and what he wanted to do with it thus the partnership broke and he ended up in a Ford but he reunited with Holden not long after
@@LeonKotze70 no that is bs, he released the VL director which Holden told him not to and warned him they would pull support if he did, after that HDT ceased to exist and he had a dummy spit with Holden so he jumped to Ford. Was nothing to do with competitive on the track
Andy Rouse and eggenberger had the best European RS500’s.
The Aussies hated this car as it crushed their beloved V8's.
As an Aussie, I loved it. In fact I find the Supercars class batshit boring and since the demise of group A have gone off Australian motorsport completely.
Yeah we couldn't turbo our V8s lol
@@chuckselvage3157 Sure...GM could have turbo'd the 5L 304. Which would have made it at least stand a chance against Cosworth's little 2.0L YB engine (at the expanse of weight). But the YB being purpose built for racing from the onset would have stood a far higher change at lasting the full 161 laps in RS500 trim. I'd be surprised if a turbo'd 304 would have lasted 50 laps in the day without heads exiting blocks. You see, even though the block in the Sierra started life as a standard Pinto 2L block with a Cosworth head, in the end it was a little more than just a standard Pinto block and the Cosworth head was purpose built for Group A racing. In comparison, while the VL Batmobile impressed me in the day - The 304 was still a fairly average motor from a performance perspective..Who puts the distributor on the very end of a flexing camshaft resulting in timing that's all over the place under full load anyway? Essentially, claiming "But yeah, we didn't have a turbo" is a fairly moot point when you actually get into the intricacies of race engine design. Hell, DJ took on the GTR in the pissing rain and was right up it's clacker in a Sierra that was around four years it's senior, under tyred, with 600cc less capacity and a great T04 hanging off the side of the motor. At the end of the day, the Commodore was simply outgunned and it's unlikely turbocharging would have done much to change that due to the points raised above.
I had a 1986 Merkur xr4ti. She was my baby! I always wanted to get the upgrades for it. But never did. It would have never made it anything close to rs500 specs. But she still looked damn hot!
Used to work for a fast Ford garage back in 1988, mainly selling xr2's and xr3i, rs1600i's. Occasionally we sold cossies, and we played rock, paper, scissors, to see who drove/delivered it.....with the lag, when the boost came in, it felt like a saturn 5 rocket.....oh the memories, great video.
Brilliant video, brings back cherished memories of a good friend who owned an RS500 (in black) for over 20 years and was his pride and joy and took it to pretty much all the Ford car shows around the country, sadly he passed away a few years ago 😢 his daughter inherited the gorgeous thing but she did not share the same passion and sold it ☹ but love all Fast Ford's old and new. 👍
Back in 1986 on My very first day as an apprentice mechanic, I walked into the workshop at the Ford main dealers, and a RS500 was on a ramp. I could not believe how stunning the car was. I worked on many of them , and loved the test drives ! Awesome cars.
We all do until we get court literally
Wow just Wow! I remember seeing the RS Cosworth exactly the same when it was released. The Ford dealer round the corner from where I grew up had a glass display box out front with it in.
I love this video…i watch it over and over. The bit when those garage doors open!
I loved this, Jonny and Rup! My Cossie anecdote dates back to 1987. My colleague, having sold his XR2i after one of its rear wheels overtook him on the M23, bought a "Cossie Eater". It was black, 3-door like this one, but had a 3.0 V6 (from a Capri), with a monster turbo. It was my first experience (aged 20) of turbo lag and boost, and also my first sub 10 MPG average fuel consumption on the dual carriageways around Crawley and Gatwick. Good times.
The late Peter Brock’s actual Grp A RS500 !!!!!
I don't recall ever seeing a Sierra Cosworth here in South Africa, but in my small town one of the doctors had a Sierra XR8 with a double stack wing on the back. Aside from the Ford Capri, this was a car I coveted for years.
Memories of my late teens watching Touring Car Champion on TV, great video Johnny.
I always wanted a Sierra Saphire Cosworth. I loved how the whole dash seemed to face the driver back then. Thanks for a trip down memory lane
"I started out with a Rover Metro"
Must. Resist. Alan. Partridge. Quote.
At least it was the genuine article and not a Rover 100 which was just a rebadged Mini Metro 🤣🤣🤣 #partridge
They've rebadged it you fool!
*COOKPASS BABTRIDGE*
Did you negotiate a walnut gear knob?
to see an XR4i as a kid was a magical day, but to see a cosy. ooooooooh
as an aussie and a brock fan this is sheer brilliance. that car is royalty in australia, wow.
As a teenager I used to walk past the Tickford factory every day on my way to & from school. The fence to their yard was just mesh & you could see all the Sierra Cosworth's & RS200's parked up, waiting to be collected. That was 30+ years ago now, I wonder how many of those cars I saw back then are still surviving today? 🤔
You lived in Bedworth then
They were built in Genk and taken there to be upgraded into 500s, wonder what they did with all the original parts they took off,
I went to genk but i wish id gone up to tickfords
@@anthonyfoley5576 born & bred!
Seen this guy on Adam Smiths channel I think... Lovely cars...
Fun fact, I believe the 05 number Brock used was an early road safety sponsorship promoting the new blood alcohol limit in Australia of .05
So miss Group A racing, oh and being able to buy them😉 Thank you very much for doing this video, and thank you for remembering Brock…
BTW - DJR Dick Johnson Racing, if I recall managed to get the best out of these… Around 680hp for the DJR Sierras making them world’s fastest utilising local engineering talent.
brilliant video again johnny ,,,, but then again we have all come to expect nothing less .WELL DONE
The 'Cozzie' was 'the' car that all of us kids wanted during the 80s. I always wanted one. I still want one at 42 years old. Oh yes, it will be mine...
Thank you so much for filming these truly iconic cars. Beautiful.
I can still remember the fuss the 05 Sierra made in Australia when Brocky drove a Ford. If you can't beat them, join them:-)
I worked for Guy Salmon car rentals at Thames Ditton . We had a white one in 1986. Was chuffing quick in second and third. Nice fella, modest and just the sort who should be an owner. But more miles needed!