Correction: the Sierra was not built in Germany, only the Merkur XR4Ti cars were (by Karmann). They were built all over the place including the UK, but the primary factory was Genk, Belgium. Apologies for the error!
Plus the Sierra Cosworths specifically (all iterations), were built in Boreham wood at Ford SVO where ALL Ford motorsports vehicles were constructed in direct conjunction with Cosworth Engineering, using body shells shipped from Ford Genk.
@@bustjanzupan1074 That is a really ambiguous question, are you referring to the first standard built road cars (which was 200 bhp in the days when hot hatch's etc usually had around 100 to 105 bhp) or all the way at the other end of the scale the stripped out lightweight track only cars which could put out anywhere between 650 and 900 bhp depending on who prepared it, not completely outrageous figures by todays standards but this WAS nearly forty years ago now. when the average saloon car wasnt even making 100 bhp, as to weight I guess that was down to how much you took out of it.
@@usernamesreprise4068 My dad daily drove a XR4TI that was tuned to 425hp and that thing launched like a rocket and would hang the turns door to door with the Porsches when he took it to track day invites
@@79huddy Nice one, there are still a lot of RS500's on the roads here, almost docile shopping carts for every day driving....then when you give them the beans....911 Porches suddenly start having migraines , there are nearly as many Escort Cosworths around too - and some of THEM chuck out north of seven hundred horsepower too - then some RS500's get the Porche headache's too lol.
Basil Green in SA put the v8 in the Capri, Granada and Sierra. Two of my mates had the Granadas, one was auto and the other was a manual. My favourite would be a Capri Perana in yellow. But top of my wish list is the SA Alfa GTV6 with 3.0L from Auto Delta.
65yo now but back in the 80s/90s I was a Ford fan. In order I had 3.0 Capri, XR4i, 2wd Sapphire Cosworth, 4wd Sapphire Cosworth and small turbo Escort Cosworth. All three benefited from Brodie Britain Racing upgrades😎 Moved onto Volvo T5-R, V70R AWD and C70. Funny how in 2024 some ordinary cars from back then are now considered classics. #goodolddays
Close to your age. Had an Merkur XR4Ti (the Americanized version of the Sierra) and a Focus ST now - purchased about 18 months before the RS came to the States, which is what I'd been wanting but couldn't get. Loved my XR4Ti. Love the ST now. Actually quite happy I didn't trade the ST for an RS.
Crazy thing is since 2010 ford has made fun road cars but they've been overlooked (particularly the V6 ecoboost era CD4) due to quality issues with the base models. People are now just learning about them.
1ST CAR SIGNAL GREEN RS MEXICO MK2 WITH X PACK 2ND CAR WAS 3.0 JPS MK2 CAPRI XPACK BUT LIKE YOURSELF ID MANY FORD RS MODELS I DON'T CLASS FOCUS AS REAL RS ITS BADGE EXERCISE BY SVE USA SUPPOSED TO REPLACEMENT FOR ESCORT FWD RS SHOULDVE BEEN BETTER THAN RS ESCORT FAILURE WE BUILT LE MANS WINNING GT40S NOT AMERICA THEY GOT SHELBY TO TUNE BUILT AT AVO USING LOLA CHASSIS
As I say in the video, DTM was the focus this time. It could have gotten hard to follow if I tried to cover every event the Sierra contested, so I tried to keep focus. Already planning to make a follow up though exploring at least some of the rest
I will look forward to further videos on this car. Here in Australia it was the start of an arms war in a different way for the touring cars here. Also from the BTTC it became a victim of it's own success.
@@savageduck4487 what about the Nissan Skyline at Bathurst when it won. It was dominant and they changed the rules to counter it. Was the first time I became aware that the hierarchy in Aust motor sport protected the big two- ford and Holden. Just looked it up. The Cosworths were 88/89, a commodore in 90 followed consecutively in 91/92 by the Skylines.
@@iamthebrokerI still wish they would find a way to introduce a six cylinder turbo into the current regulations or a 4 cylinder turbo hatchback especially since this is what we mostly see on the street
WTF it's was only turbo ...... Mercedes evo 2 and bmw m3 was goats with non turbo and over 300 ho ...bmw stopped it's turbo in racing in the fokking 79s. A stupid sirra with one turbo overzised is a masterpiece only in england
The Sierra is faster than the E30, cheaper than the E30, has won more races worldwide than the E30 & beat the E30 in it’s home country so badly, they banned it from racing there again. The Mercedes Evo 2 was designed and built by Cosworth who are the same company that did the Sierra. Need I say more? The E30 isn’t even BMW’s best 3 series touring car, the E92 & E46 are better.
@@norwayitalo What an odd view! While the turbo equivalency factor in Group A was wrong (as it was in Formula 1), it *was* in the rules! So having a turbo engine is perfectly valid. Were BMW "stupid" for using the incorrect turbo equivalency factor of 2 to win in Formula 1?! [With 70 PSI boost in F1, it would have been more fair for turbo engines to be 600cc to be equal to 3000cc NA.]
RS500 dominated in Rallycross aswell. The team I am working for is restoring a genuine RS500 rallycross, it was ran untill 92 by Gunnar "Kitta" Kittelsen. You should look into that aswell.
Good old boy Gunnar! Was chatting to Richard Hutton the other day and Gunnar's name came up, think he also drove a GpN Sappire Cosworth (wite and metallic blue) in the ERC when Richard first got an early Escort Cosworth in late '92?
@@64fairlane305 Although not on the Group B level, I would not call the Division 1 Group A machines "The small division". 500 bhp flamespitting rwds throwing gravel around took much more skills than supercars the last 15 years. And it wasn't just Opland. Kenneth Hansen, Bjørn Skogstad and many more. And although Schanche never drove the RS500 he said that Gunnar "Kitta" Kittelsen was one of the best drivers he has driven against. He was also Schanches race instructor when he took his license. A full interview between them is on my channel.
BMW and Merc certainly didn't like it 😅 So they cried in the ears of the officials all the time. They could have used this time better though, especially to make their slow cars fast enough to be competitive 😁
It’s pretty much the same case as McLaren in Japan in 1996, the domestic manufacturers were furious at being upstaged, especially in the case of the McLaren which was a modified road legal car beating “silhouette” race cars with nothing in common with their street legal versions.
In any country specific series, they HATE foreign champions. They all have fragile egos. In Japan, Nissan, Toyota and Honda forced McLaren out. And here BMW and Merc forced Ford out.
@@PG-20 Not always the case, IMSA never forced the Porsches & Mazdas out of the US & the British GT championship were fine with the first gen Dodge Viper’s success. I think in the McLaren’s case it tanked the reputation of Japan’s motor industry. Nissan had just debuted the R33 off the back of a 3-year unbeaten streak in Japan with the R32 & Toyota spent a fortune on the Supra race car development, only for them to get shown up by a foreign upstart with a street legal car. With DTM it’s difficult to say, they had foreign champions before and after, Rover won it the SD1 V8 & Alfa absolutely crushed Mercedes with the 155 DTM, and neither of those two were banned. In Japan meanwhile, there’s never been a foreign champion since the McLaren.
The treatment of Ford in this championship was not unlike the treatment of Nissan in Australia with the R32 GTR. Like Ford, Nissan arrived in Australia with a better car after campaigning lesser models and 'making up the numbers' in the championship. True, they did win the drivers championship in the last of the HR31 Skylines, but they rarely won outright and the all important win at Bathurst was never possible. Enter the GTR and the established Ford and Holden teams all cried how unfair it was that the Nissan was a great Group A car... so good they eventually convinced CAMS, the governing body, to revert to a V8 only format and forgo Group A. That was the end of the best era of racing Australia has ever seen.
Gp A was dying worldwide in 1992. In Australia the broadcaster (shit sensationalist Ch 7) and Shell (Series sponsor) were talking about a 'rebel' series. Such was Gp A's unpopularity. Ch7's obsession with the AFL and tennis while shafting the ATCC didn't help either.
@@robossuperchannel9434 Perhaps true in touring cars, but it stayed much longer in rallying. Regardless of the date, the same crying by the opposition brought additional weight and power restrictions to the Nissan team and more freedom for the opposition. The GTR still won.
Well it was like that everywhere, they didn't allow the DTM spec M3 in Japan either. After it took 7 titles, same goes for the McLaren F1, after it completely dominated and then the E36 M3 got the same treatment after it took the first two JGTC championships. We did however get to see them at the 24h of Nurburgring and the Grand Prix of Macau where the E30 M3 DTM and the 190E in DTM spec completely obliterated the Japanese JGTC cars like the Skyline R32 and R33.
Unfortunately he didn't win Bathurst in one, but in the 1987 WTCC round held there and due to discrepancies between the winning Klaus Neidswitz RS500 and the #17 DJR RS500 with wheel arches the Fords were disqualified and Brock got his 9th and final Bathurst 1000 win in a Brock VL SS GRP A Commodore.
@aussieausdeutschland4245 all Sierra's had illegal inner guards that is why they were all disqualified. The complaint & legal action came from BMW, who had all of their cars disqualified in an earlier round. It decided the world group A manufacturer's championship.
Bathurst banned turbos, always seemed it was because Holden couldnt build one themselves and it was sour grapes...especially when Skylines just dominated!
But that skyline was banned because it wasnt the same type of race car, it was lighter and had 4 wheel drive and turbocharged , holden is rubbish thats why it had a Chevrolet engine in it and needed twice as many cars than ford in the v8 supercars and all the top drivers and a bias set up race series to look good, where is holden now? Dead,😂 Ford Australia still going strong, "Ranger" Ford sierra rs cosworth is the most successful race car of all time
@@Insert.anger50 Since the end of factory operations in 2016, it fully imports cars and trucks for the Asia/Pacific region after the closure of its Australian operations. And the Skyline is had far more success the the Ford.
It was fans who wanted the formula changed they wanted to see cars you could actually buy in Australia racing. You forget the massive weight penalties placed on the Holden's, which was the main reason they struggled in group A.
@@19KiloM1A1 more success where? Sierra's were disqualified in 1987 for illegal inner guards or something, then won Bathurst in 1998 & 1989. Holden won with its older model in 1990, despite being the only one of the 3 cars you could actually buy, the current model didn't reach amalgamation requirements. Skylines won in 1991 & 1992, they changed to V8 Supercars in 1993.
@@shingosshojiopoulos6608 on behalf of the engineering team at Dunton, the Sierra was a joint effort between Germany and the UK. We did 50% of the body, ALL the chassis etc. The Merkur XR4TI was put up by the USA Emerging Markets team who had an engine compliant with US emissions whereas the European engines required more engineering time. The Merkur programme from Europe was comprehensive and largely tooled but never saw the light of day due to unfavourable .exchange rates
@@shingosshojiopoulos6608 Yes but it's a Ford. So the US gets the credit. Ford Germany wouldn't exist without the original. It's no different, than many Japanese and European makers having US plants that make US specific models, but to the average person those are still Japanese or European cars. They don't know the specifics of what models are made for which markets or what plant they roll out of.
@@eclipsegst9419 The success behind the Sierra Cosworth was Cosworth which is a British company. The Sierra was designed and built in Europe by Ford Europe. The US imported Sierras from Europe and called them Merkurs. It's about American as Apple pie, as in not. Ford Europe is a European company with European Engineers and designers, designing and building cars for Europe. It is owned by an American corporation. This is nothing like BMW America or Toyota America that build European and Japanese designed cars respectively with US leglastion spec added.
I think I was 10 the first time I ever saw the Sierra RS500 in life, love at first sight no questions, from front to back, from mechanics to story, everything in it amazes me
I recall the RS500 machine of a car...but back in South Africa we had the XR8 not many were around ..it was a unique car highly sout after back in the 80's..I think it was exclusive to SA...check it out..try add it to your reviewes one day ..Nice shows love watching them 🎉❤
The SA homologation specials need more exposure, they were some beasts of cars (from what I've heard) the Superboss would have made a worldwide splash for Opel had they released it overseas.
A friend of one of my mates owned a genuine RS500 from new. Whenever we bumped into each other at my mates house we chatted about cars, so when he discovered that his "Amicable" divorce was starting to get decidedly messy and he realised he needed to sell the car fast to raise some legal fee money, he though it was worth seeing if I'd be interested in it. This was somewhere around 2005 (IIRC), and he wanted £14k for the car. The details are a bit fuzzy now, but I remember it was in that almost primer bluey grey colour, it had notably low mileage, a folder bulging with receipts, a full Ford service history, and the only issue I could find was a tiny rust blob starting to bubble the paint on the bottom of the passenger side door skin. Unfortunately, I didn't HAVE 14k to hand, and dispite wanting the car, I couldn't warrant getting a bank loan to buy it when I commuted in a company supplied van, I had a Mk1 MX5 as a weekend toy, AND I was (Very) slowly restoring my 2.8 Capri. This, and a tatty Jensen FF I was offered for next to no money, are two cars I've always kicked myself for not buying. 😣
I didn't know that the Sierra's had weight penalties in DTM. I was a tad confused how they were fighting with the M3s in Germany, but were in a totally different class (literally) in the BTCC. Thanks Mr. Automobilistic!
Group A rules had minimum weights.And turbo cars had a "turbo coefficient"..So a 1998cc YB powered Sierra is 1998 x 1.7 = 3396cc...So it falls in the class for 3,0 to 3,5 liter cars and must have minimum weight for that class. And there were maximum wheel width related to "corrected engine class" If you look at the crazy Group B cars all except Ford used engines around 1765cc which would put them in the "under 3 liter" weight category..and they went pretty good... DTM really was a corrupt deal...
As someone who grew up in Wunstorf, you dont pronounce it as Dorf but as Torf. There was quite a lot of peat(Torf in German) digging, so the City was parlty named after it.
After 2-3 beers can anybody really hear the difference between t and d? I live a little North of Germany and passed thru very often and up there in that long skinny country with isbjörn roving city centers the word is torp..but generally depending on how many beers I had and how many my listeners had we would have huge discussions on how much Swedish they understood and how much Hessisch I was talking....cause in the end it was all egal..
I remember seeing the XR4Ti at my local Ford dealership. I remember liking how different and odd it was in comparison to the other N. American versions on the lot from Ford. Roush Racing ran silhouette versions in the TransAm with Scott Pruett and Pete Halsmer. Vicious turbo machines! I’d love to see the expanded video of the Sierra from the other Group A series 😎🏁🎩
This wasn't racing, this was "Whaaa, I'm getting my ass kicked, let's punish the fast guy". Same thing happened in Murica when the Audi's were spanking the Chevy's in TransAm.
I believe that the problem with the DTM back then (and even up until the ADAC takeover in 2021) was that while the ITR officially set the rules, the (german) manufacturers held significant power and influenced rule changes, which effectively excluded Ford with the ban on turbo engines. What was really a shame.
Similar things happened to Audi when they raced the V8 quattro saloon. They also got weight penalties and protest after protest ( specially after they switched the engibe crankshaft to a flatplane crank.)
Yeah how's that possible? Hell even if one was a Group A Volvo 240 fan one has to mention Eggenberger..I know that and I never have been interested in any roadracing...just gravel rally but ya can't help know his name..
True! In fairness all I say is that XR4Ti is an american nameplate. Should have mentioned the Merkur marque though, you're right! Edit: Also the XR4Ti was badged as a Ford... for racing
On the FIA historic database site: Ford XR4Ti (2303) Homologation form number 5261 group A Date of homologation: Tuesday, April 2, 1985 to Friday, January 1, 1993 Marketed as a Merkur in North America, but as far as the FIA were concerned it was a Ford.
Dick Johnson's Shell RS500s were the ultimate in Sierra development, a status that they were able to achieve in Group A spec in the Australian Touring Car Championship (ATCC). They could produce upwards of 600hp, although admittedly they weren't hamstrung by the ATCC as the DTM ones were with the extra weight and engine restrictors. They were up against the GTR Skyline and held their own until the former were fully sorted (and then dominated).
1990 Bathurst CAMS put the Ford weight up to 1150kg and the Commodore weight down to 1250 kg and with freedoms 9000rpm- TWR group C brakes . The best DJR Sierra was the 1992 car which led the race before the red flag and the GTR was awarded the race . Eggenberger’s relibility was supreme .
Growing up in Australia was only familiar with the Sierras used in touring car racing. Got a shock when I got to UK to hear them derided as repmobiles.
When I took my newly purchased Mercedes 190e cosworth out for a madian voyage after some sorting out of fueling issues did I realize the build . Entering upon the freeway It effortlessly gained momentum . Just grab third a push that pedal for a soon 4th gear move . It’s the 40 to 100 and down again , sharing race car inherited parts is greatly needed in todays car industry .
You should have just pretended you researched, edited and released this entire video in a single day in response to the announcement 😄@@automobilistic
They would have had to build an entirely new engine for it and mount it longitudinally for it to compete. That era was the era of AWD and 2.5L, 12000rpm regulations.
@@tescoshortage Escort RS Cosworth already had a longitudinal engine. But as you say it would need to run a 2.5L NA, probably a tuned Colonge V6, instead of the Cosworth turbo engine. The 155 also changed from transverse to longditudinal engine anyway, so it seems that was allowed (DTM cars were tubeframe if I'm not mistaken).
@@TassieLorenzo Opel did the same with the Calibra, building their v6 of the C25XE Fun side fact, someone in norway ran a opel dtm v6 engine in a GT300 JGTC S15 for a while
I absolutely love the RWD Sierra Cosworth Rs500 in Dirt Rally and the new WRC game. On loose surfaces, it is very hard to drive. The engine does nothing before the turbo spools up, but when it does, the car gets a kick, and you need to immediately coutersteer. It takes a few hours to get used to, but when you do, the car becomes almost unbeatable in its class.
The biggest issue they seemed to have was insufficient balancing of turbo to naturally aspirated engines, and they were not the only ones at the time to struggle with that as turbo's were becoming good. And depending on how the rules were written for entry, it might be very difficult to do, If you wanna draw a paralell to group B at the time, it was only in the beginning any of the naturally apirated cars were actually competetive, so everyone went turbo, but with the lower need for production cars, it allowed manufacturers to tailor the cars much more to the rulebook, hard to do when you have to make 5000 cars, 500 of which can be a closer to racing spec version of the homoligation car.
The RS500 would touch 180 mph on the fastest straights, nothing would come close in a straight line. Also what about the BTCC? All these makes raced in that league and the RS500 wiped the floor with them.
This was quite good video. Considering the ban on Cosworth turbo, turbos were banned pretty much everywhere in the 80's. They're really hard to balance with NA engines and be fair to all while keeping the racing interesting - especially when we talk about DTM that wasn't the most interesting series anyway. In racing, when someone does something others don't, and has too much advantage of it, it will eventually be banned. No matter whether it's turbo or driving aid. Sierra likely is the best car Ford ever made. Perhaps the reason why it was in production unchanged for so long was it's success in racing. Mondeo that followed Sierra was quite a dissappointment, especially when it was supposed to be "a world's car" that was to be unchanged to every market, which it wasn't, but what Sierra already was.
XR4!? The XR6 and XR8 were mainstays for Ford in Australia right up until the end. Even the Focus RS was badged as the XR5 and i recall the ill-fated convertible "Capri" in Aus had an XR2 😆
we have suffered the same crap for decades.. instead of making others do better the others complain like children rather than making their cars better.. welcome to 2024 where motorsport is a massive snooze fest
Over here (USA), the XR4ti was neither a Ford, nor a Sierra- it was a Merkur (from Lincoln/Mercury dealers). The 'XR' moniker was inherited from a Mercury Cougar trim level designation: XR7.
I really miss my 89' XR4Ti I had in the late 90s blew the turbo street racing a camaro or firechicken on my way home from work so took it to my local Merkur specialist who really wanted my car so he made sure he got it.... it had very low miles & was perfect condition, at least I still have all the manuals, floormats & even matchbox cars! lol
Been really enjoying these, especially as Gran Turismo has been having some special events replicating this era of DTM lately. Looking forward to when all of these get combined into one DTM mega video, like you did for Group C, assuming that's the plan.
the people who run DTM have ALWAYS favors German brands and will NEVER let other brands win and when they do they nerf the shit out of them and it will never change
I saw a Sierra XR4i on the back of car transporter today (14/11/24). Haven't seen one in years. It looked it fairly good nick , with faded paintwork and with a decent clean up would look great. I miss the 80's and really nice cars, (Sierra, VW Golf, Peugeot 205, Astra, etc) instead of standard Euro/Japanboxes.
On "Driving 4 answers" explains. That the R32 GTR, and the RB26dett was created. To compete, against the dominating Sierra Cosworth RS500 turbo. In group A, in Australia. And JTCC of course, and other circuit racing events.
A followup vid on the Sierra would be good. My favorite version of this car is in Dirt 4 with the Colin McRae livery. McRae had a V6 4x4 for Rally, but for some reason they used the Cosworth in that game
There used to be a pic doing the rounds that's basically impossible to find now of the DJR Sierra shot head-on @Silverstone almost the entire length of the straight ahead of the field. Consensus at the time from the ill-informed was they were about to be lapped, but that's literally how far they were in front of the pack
paul linfoot racing runs the rs500 register. as well as restores and preps these monsters. the ultimate rs500's where the eggenberger cars, the mods that eggenberger done to his cars all had ford factory stamping, and mr linfoot is the current custodian of all the eggenberger spare parts...its quite the collection.
As a proud owner who wasn't born yet in the 3dr Cossies heyday I appreciate this content enormously. I hope you do more on these cars, IMO one of the coolest cars ever built. Edit: also sib'd
Ford should have ditched the turbo engine and make a 2.5L 16valve NA cossie engine. That way they could have competed on a level playing field. Later similar situations around the Audi V8 quattro would cause Audi to leave DTM.
The same kind of thing happened at the Bathurst 1000 in Australia, when the turbocharged inline six-powered Nissan Skyline "Godzilla" GT-R scored 2 successive wins in the early 1990s, and the Holden & Ford fans kicked up a stink.
My dad had good taste in vehicles...or was just lucky to come across the vehicles we had as our daily familly cars..one of which was the Dodge Omni... wish somehow we'd still have this ..pretty much go cart. Such an easy car to work on and the simple styling... but then for the majority of the 90's we had the Ford Merkur XR4Ti in silver but the red/ burgundy trim was a darker grey and the double fin/ spoiler that sat on the rear window. It was your t.ypical Fix or repair daily... but, less so than other Fords of those years... it was sporty.. manual...leather interior.. i can almost remember the way the interior smelled- leather with a hint of cigarette smoke and a sprinkling of gas
@@Fastvoice The Ford Sierra is the Ford Sierra. One of the most dominant and winningest cars whatever its drivetrain. Whatever the country. Rally in Africa or Bathurst against Nissan GT-R's where its RWD version was arguably robbed.
I like series like world time attack challenge where we see completely different vehicles in terms of body shape, drivetrain and engine configuration competing on equal footing it's just a shame this hasn't happened in touring car since the 1992 ATCC
Great video They were also penalised in aus by a rev limiter and skinny tyres as they used to wipe the floor with the v8 holdens Theyd of given the gtrs more hassle than they did in 90 + 91 if they werent restricted
Learned some things. Ford Mustangs were raced in a German racing series. Also Commodore...Commodore sponsored race cars!? Long before Sega sponsored a F1 car.
I think in the context the Commodore was a brand of Holden (the GM brand in Australia) rather than a computer. The Sierra was raced in the Australian Touring Car series. I think It would be correct to say that the fastest Sierras were from Dick Johnston Racing (DJR). Rob Gravett won the BTCC in a DJR Sierra.
I remember reading an article years ago, Aussie touring car racing had a ban on adjustable boost controllers in the cockpit, on the ashtray of the car it had the the letters FIIK and the driver ask what the letters stood for and the mechanic said fkd if i know lol but you pull the ashtray out for more boost, would have been great for overtakes especially at Bathurst
I'd like to see you talk about the rest of the Sierra's racing escapades. Maybe even the weirdo Merkut Trans-Am car 🥺 Call it late B-Day gift, although this entire video already covers that pretty well
in 1998 on my way home my neighbor had an 88 xr4ti in his yard, never moved. i knew what it was … i knocked on his door said it cranked but would t run $300…. i flat towed it home by myself (that sucked) and got it home cycled the key heard the fuel pump come on fired it right up😂 ended up un pinning the engine harness outa the car, and pinned it into my 92 ranger computer plug that truck was fast after we burned a chip or it 😁 sold it , kid wrapped it around a tree the same day
Group A was one thing but DTM rules were another entirely...Group A required 5000 identical cars and because roadracers are big whiners addition "variant options" were allowed just for road racing and that was to be done in a further 10% run--or 500 cars..hence the RS 500....Bigger turbo, 2 rows of injectors in the intake manifold, alternate pick up positions in the suspension cross members for better roll center when at roadracing ride height, a massive intercooler and more holes/cutouts in the front bumper for more air...Etc etc However DTM allowed non-production engines so that Mercedes and BMW could have a chance..Clean sheet of paper engines...I recall reading that one year Mercedes had 3 totally different engines developed and who knows what the Bavarian maggot wagons were doing.. Even on both of the "base model" Group A cars, Mercedes, BMW and Opel were unable to design and make a cylinder head worth a damn and they all went to Northhampton and had Cosworth design and cast them heads... So DTM was clearly an unimportant "just for us and our guys" German show...(snore) While the rest of the world was doing WTCC and BTCC and Sierra was inarguably dominant using an engine that even a guy like me could own...And besides..road racing? Roadracing is really primarily a financial and support exercise bearing little to know resemblance to a car one can own and drive... For that we need to look at rally....And there, because of the Group A rules Ford had to make (minimum) 5000 3 doors, 5000 RWD 4 door Saphhys, 5000 4 door Saphhy 4wd, 2500 Big turbo Escort Cosworths....and they made more... A fun little detail..Rover, BMW, Volvo and Ford all used in DTM and BTCC/WTCC the same Getrag 265 gearbox and gearset..Nice tough box and with the close ratio gearset, a good set of ratios...
Correction: the Sierra was not built in Germany, only the Merkur XR4Ti cars were (by Karmann).
They were built all over the place including the UK, but the primary factory was Genk, Belgium.
Apologies for the error!
Plus the Sierra Cosworths specifically (all iterations), were built in Boreham wood at Ford SVO where ALL Ford motorsports vehicles were constructed in direct conjunction with Cosworth Engineering, using body shells shipped from Ford Genk.
Thank you. Sooo, how much Horsepower and weight did it actually have at the end ? Thank you 🙂
@@bustjanzupan1074 That is a really ambiguous question, are you referring to the first standard built road cars (which was 200 bhp in the days when hot hatch's etc usually had around 100 to 105 bhp) or all the way at the other end of the scale the stripped out lightweight track only cars which could put out anywhere between 650 and 900 bhp depending on who prepared it, not completely outrageous figures by todays standards but this WAS nearly forty years ago now. when the average saloon car wasnt even making 100 bhp, as to weight I guess that was down to how much you took out of it.
@@usernamesreprise4068 My dad daily drove a XR4TI that was tuned to 425hp and that thing launched like a rocket and would hang the turns door to door with the Porsches when he took it to track day invites
@@79huddy Nice one, there are still a lot of RS500's on the roads here, almost docile shopping carts for every day driving....then when you give them the beans....911 Porches suddenly start having migraines , there are nearly as many Escort Cosworths around too - and some of THEM chuck out north of seven hundred horsepower too - then some RS500's get the Porche headache's too lol.
That's awesome that South Africa built a Sierra with a V-8.
weve got one in the owners club in the uk
@colinscutt5104 recently purchased? I've heard of a white xr8 that has been imported to the uk not too long ago
Basil Green in SA put the v8 in the Capri, Granada and Sierra. Two of my mates had the Granadas, one was auto and the other was a manual. My favourite would be a Capri Perana in yellow. But top of my wish list is the SA Alfa GTV6 with 3.0L from Auto Delta.
A friend's dad had one, it was insane.
65yo now but back in the 80s/90s I was a Ford fan. In order I had 3.0 Capri, XR4i, 2wd Sapphire Cosworth, 4wd Sapphire Cosworth and small turbo Escort Cosworth. All three benefited from Brodie Britain Racing upgrades😎 Moved onto Volvo T5-R, V70R AWD and C70. Funny how in 2024 some ordinary cars from back then are now considered classics. #goodolddays
As a kid I used to see the Fords you mentioned and dreamed of one day owning them. Nice list! I currently own a facelift Focus ST. Love it.
Close to your age. Had an Merkur XR4Ti (the Americanized version of the Sierra) and a Focus ST now - purchased about 18 months before the RS came to the States, which is what I'd been wanting but couldn't get. Loved my XR4Ti. Love the ST now. Actually quite happy I didn't trade the ST for an RS.
BBR... They built my FFirst motors.. Thanks for the Memory jog!.. And you have great taste.
Crazy thing is since 2010 ford has made fun road cars but they've been overlooked (particularly the V6 ecoboost era CD4) due to quality issues with the base models. People are now just learning about them.
1ST CAR SIGNAL GREEN RS MEXICO MK2 WITH X PACK 2ND CAR WAS 3.0 JPS MK2 CAPRI XPACK BUT LIKE YOURSELF ID MANY FORD RS MODELS I DON'T CLASS FOCUS AS REAL RS ITS BADGE EXERCISE BY SVE USA SUPPOSED TO REPLACEMENT FOR ESCORT FWD RS SHOULDVE BEEN BETTER THAN RS ESCORT FAILURE WE BUILT LE MANS WINNING GT40S NOT AMERICA THEY GOT SHELBY TO TUNE BUILT AT AVO USING LOLA CHASSIS
Pity you stuck to just DTM. The RS500did well in the BTCC and won Bathurst and the Sapphire Cosworth was still winning Group N races into the 1990s.
As I say in the video, DTM was the focus this time. It could have gotten hard to follow if I tried to cover every event the Sierra contested, so I tried to keep focus. Already planning to make a follow up though exploring at least some of the rest
I agree Samacw.
I will look forward to further videos on this car. Here in Australia it was the start of an arms war in a different way for the touring cars here. Also from the BTTC it became a victim of it's own success.
@@savageduck4487 what about the Nissan Skyline at Bathurst when it won. It was dominant and they changed the rules to counter it. Was the first time I became aware that the hierarchy in Aust motor sport protected the big two- ford and Holden.
Just looked it up. The Cosworths were 88/89, a commodore in 90 followed consecutively in 91/92 by the Skylines.
@@iamthebrokerI still wish they would find a way to introduce a six cylinder turbo into the current regulations or a 4 cylinder turbo hatchback especially since this is what we mostly see on the street
Arguably the GOAT touring car, it’s unbelievable dominance in touring car racing worldwide forced so many other companies to step up & get serious.
WTF it's was only turbo ...... Mercedes evo 2 and bmw m3 was goats with non turbo and over 300 ho ...bmw stopped it's turbo in racing in the fokking 79s. A stupid sirra with one turbo overzised is a masterpiece only in england
But one of first homglaced withe ones wiht street reg was is and still pure porno
Until it met the GT-R...even the previous GTS-R was competitive in the ATCC
The Sierra is faster than the E30, cheaper than the E30, has won more races worldwide than the E30 & beat the E30 in it’s home country so badly, they banned it from racing there again.
The Mercedes Evo 2 was designed and built by Cosworth who are the same company that did the Sierra. Need I say more?
The E30 isn’t even BMW’s best 3 series touring car, the E92 & E46 are better.
@@norwayitalo What an odd view! While the turbo equivalency factor in Group A was wrong (as it was in Formula 1), it *was* in the rules! So having a turbo engine is perfectly valid. Were BMW "stupid" for using the incorrect turbo equivalency factor of 2 to win in Formula 1?! [With 70 PSI boost in F1, it would have been more fair for turbo engines to be 600cc to be equal to 3000cc NA.]
RS500 dominated in Rallycross aswell. The team I am working for is restoring a genuine RS500 rallycross, it was ran untill 92 by Gunnar "Kitta" Kittelsen. You should look into that aswell.
in the small division by Opland, never among the big guys
@@64fairlane305 Martin Schanche proved otherwise. He was a beast in that machine, among many other druvers.
Good old boy Gunnar! Was chatting to Richard Hutton the other day and Gunnar's name came up, think he also drove a GpN Sappire Cosworth (wite and metallic blue) in the ERC when Richard first got an early Escort Cosworth in late '92?
@Your-Local-RX-Guy not sure Martin Schanche ever drove a Sierra in Rallycross...
@@64fairlane305 Although not on the Group B level, I would not call the Division 1 Group A machines "The small division". 500 bhp flamespitting rwds throwing gravel around took much more skills than supercars the last 15 years. And it wasn't just Opland. Kenneth Hansen, Bjørn Skogstad and many more. And although Schanche never drove the RS500 he said that Gunnar "Kitta" Kittelsen was one of the best drivers he has driven against. He was also Schanches race instructor when he took his license. A full interview between them is on my channel.
Sure seems like DTM didnt like a non German brand taking championships
BMW and Merc certainly didn't like it 😅
So they cried in the ears of the officials all the time. They could have used this time better though, especially to make their slow cars fast enough to be competitive 😁
It’s pretty much the same case as McLaren in Japan in 1996, the domestic manufacturers were furious at being upstaged, especially in the case of the McLaren which was a modified road legal car beating “silhouette” race cars with nothing in common with their street legal versions.
In any country specific series, they HATE foreign champions. They all have fragile egos.
In Japan, Nissan, Toyota and Honda forced McLaren out. And here BMW and Merc forced Ford out.
Just like japan for super gt/jgtc
@@PG-20 Not always the case, IMSA never forced the Porsches & Mazdas out of the US & the British GT championship were fine with the first gen Dodge Viper’s success.
I think in the McLaren’s case it tanked the reputation of Japan’s motor industry. Nissan had just debuted the R33 off the back of a 3-year unbeaten streak in Japan with the R32 & Toyota spent a fortune on the Supra race car development, only for them to get shown up by a foreign upstart with a street legal car.
With DTM it’s difficult to say, they had foreign champions before and after, Rover won it the SD1 V8 & Alfa absolutely crushed Mercedes with the 155 DTM, and neither of those two were banned. In Japan meanwhile, there’s never been a foreign champion since the McLaren.
The treatment of Ford in this championship was not unlike the treatment of Nissan in Australia with the R32 GTR.
Like Ford, Nissan arrived in Australia with a better car after campaigning lesser models and 'making up the numbers' in the championship.
True, they did win the drivers championship in the last of the HR31 Skylines, but they rarely won outright and the all important win at Bathurst was never possible.
Enter the GTR and the established Ford and Holden teams all cried how unfair it was that the Nissan was a great Group A car... so good they eventually convinced CAMS, the governing body, to revert to a V8 only format and forgo Group A.
That was the end of the best era of racing Australia has ever seen.
Gp A was dying worldwide in 1992. In Australia the broadcaster (shit sensationalist Ch 7) and Shell (Series sponsor) were talking about a 'rebel' series. Such was Gp A's unpopularity. Ch7's obsession with the AFL and tennis while shafting the ATCC didn't help either.
The decision to move away from Group A was made before the R32 won its first race.
@@robossuperchannel9434
Perhaps true in touring cars, but it stayed much longer in rallying.
Regardless of the date, the same crying by the opposition brought additional weight and power restrictions to the Nissan team and more freedom for the opposition. The GTR still won.
@@harrisionstan3773
Shame, as it was the most relevant racing around given that you could buy any of the base cars in a showroom.
Well it was like that everywhere, they didn't allow the DTM spec M3 in Japan either. After it took 7 titles, same goes for the McLaren F1, after it completely dominated and then the E36 M3 got the same treatment after it took the first two JGTC championships. We did however get to see them at the 24h of Nurburgring and the Grand Prix of Macau where the E30 M3 DTM and the 190E in DTM spec completely obliterated the Japanese JGTC cars like the Skyline R32 and R33.
And I'm old enough to remember watching Peter Brock in the Sierra Cosworth RS500s racing and winning at Bathurst in the late 80s. Jezus I'm old.
Unfortunately he didn't win Bathurst in one, but in the 1987 WTCC round held there and due to discrepancies between the winning Klaus Neidswitz RS500 and the #17 DJR RS500 with wheel arches the Fords were disqualified and Brock got his 9th and final Bathurst 1000 win in a Brock VL SS GRP A Commodore.
@@aussieausdeutschland4245DJ was robbed!
@@bradwilliams1691 not if his car wasn't up to specification.
@@bradwilliams1691 how?
@aussieausdeutschland4245 all Sierra's had illegal inner guards that is why they were all disqualified. The complaint & legal action came from BMW, who had all of their cars disqualified in an earlier round. It decided the world group A manufacturer's championship.
Bathurst banned turbos, always seemed it was because Holden couldnt build one themselves and it was sour grapes...especially when Skylines just dominated!
But that skyline was banned because it wasnt the same type of race car, it was lighter and had 4 wheel drive and turbocharged , holden is rubbish thats why it had a Chevrolet engine in it and needed twice as many cars than ford in the v8 supercars and all the top drivers and a bias set up race series to look good, where is holden now? Dead,😂 Ford Australia still going strong, "Ranger" Ford sierra rs cosworth is the most successful race car of all time
@@Insert.anger50 Since the end of factory operations in 2016, it fully imports cars and trucks for the Asia/Pacific region after the closure of its Australian operations. And the Skyline is had far more success the the Ford.
Australia didn’t ban turbos they changed from Group A which was ending all over the world to V8 Supercars.
It was fans who wanted the formula changed they wanted to see cars you could actually buy in Australia racing. You forget the massive weight penalties placed on the Holden's, which was the main reason they struggled in group A.
@@19KiloM1A1 more success where? Sierra's were disqualified in 1987 for illegal inner guards or something, then won Bathurst in 1998 & 1989. Holden won with its older model in 1990, despite being the only one of the 3 cars you could actually buy, the current model didn't reach amalgamation requirements. Skylines won in 1991 & 1992, they changed to V8 Supercars in 1993.
It's a foreign car beating German cars in Germany. That used to be a thing, worldwide. Hard to believe.Just ask Audi in Trans Am during the same time.
The Ford Sierra is a German car lets be honest. It was designed and built in Germany. The Sierra Cosworth is a German and British car
@@shingosshojiopoulos6608 on behalf of the engineering team at Dunton, the Sierra was a joint effort between Germany and the UK. We did 50% of the body, ALL the chassis etc. The Merkur XR4TI was put up by the USA Emerging Markets team who had an engine compliant with US emissions whereas the European engines required more engineering time. The Merkur programme from Europe was comprehensive and largely tooled but never saw the light of day due to unfavourable .exchange rates
It would be great if race organizers instead went "Tired of losing to them? Better build a faster car, then"
@@shingosshojiopoulos6608 Yes but it's a Ford. So the US gets the credit. Ford Germany wouldn't exist without the original. It's no different, than many Japanese and European makers having US plants that make US specific models, but to the average person those are still Japanese or European cars. They don't know the specifics of what models are made for which markets or what plant they roll out of.
@@eclipsegst9419 The success behind the Sierra Cosworth was Cosworth which is a British company.
The Sierra was designed and built in Europe by Ford Europe.
The US imported Sierras from Europe and called them Merkurs.
It's about American as Apple pie, as in not.
Ford Europe is a European company with European Engineers and designers, designing and building cars for Europe.
It is owned by an American corporation.
This is nothing like BMW America or Toyota America that build European and Japanese designed cars respectively with US leglastion spec added.
I think I was 10 the first time I ever saw the Sierra RS500 in life, love at first sight no questions, from front to back, from mechanics to story, everything in it amazes me
You want to talk Sierras, talk about Dick Johnson Racing '87-'92.
djr sierras are THE sierras
You mean Dick "you're a pack of assholes" Johnson? 😆
@@zackr1896like Frank gardeners gtrs the Aussie’s just built better cars
You mean Fred Gibsons GTRs@KenOath1234, Sir Frank didn't run the factory Nissan R32 team in Australia.
dont forget ARE (andy rouse engineering) as well, their cars dominated BTCC
I recall the RS500 machine of a car...but back in South Africa we had the XR8 not many were around ..it was a unique car highly sout after back in the 80's..I think it was exclusive to SA...check it out..try add it to your reviewes one day ..Nice shows love watching them 🎉❤
Windsor powered?
The SA homologation specials need more exposure, they were some beasts of cars (from what I've heard) the Superboss would have made a worldwide splash for Opel had they released it overseas.
V8 powered?
Err Falcon XR8?
South African Homolgation Heroes are insane, the Superboss Kadett is one of my favorites of all time
A friend of one of my mates owned a genuine RS500 from new.
Whenever we bumped into each other at my mates house we chatted about cars, so when he discovered that his "Amicable" divorce was starting to get decidedly messy and he realised he needed to sell the car fast to raise some legal fee money, he though it was worth seeing if I'd be interested in it. This was somewhere around 2005 (IIRC), and he wanted £14k for the car. The details are a bit fuzzy now, but I remember it was in that almost primer bluey grey colour, it had notably low mileage, a folder bulging with receipts, a full Ford service history, and the only issue I could find was a tiny rust blob starting to bubble the paint on the bottom of the passenger side door skin.
Unfortunately, I didn't HAVE 14k to hand, and dispite wanting the car, I couldn't warrant getting a bank loan to buy it when I commuted in a company supplied van, I had a Mk1 MX5 as a weekend toy, AND I was (Very) slowly restoring my 2.8 Capri.
This, and a tatty Jensen FF I was offered for next to no money, are two cars I've always kicked myself for not buying. 😣
What a shame dude, i have similar story albeit with different car so i know how it feel
I didn't know that the Sierra's had weight penalties in DTM. I was a tad confused how they were fighting with the M3s in Germany, but were in a totally different class (literally) in the BTCC. Thanks Mr. Automobilistic!
Group A rules had minimum weights.And turbo cars had a "turbo coefficient"..So a 1998cc YB powered Sierra is 1998 x 1.7 = 3396cc...So it falls in the class for 3,0 to 3,5 liter cars and must have minimum weight for that class.
And there were maximum wheel width related to "corrected engine class"
If you look at the crazy Group B cars all except Ford used engines around 1765cc which would put them in the "under 3 liter" weight category..and they went pretty good...
DTM really was a corrupt deal...
As someone who grew up in Wunstorf, you dont pronounce it as Dorf but as Torf. There was quite a lot of peat(Torf in German) digging, so the City was parlty named after it.
Torf in german =turf in English. I learn something new every day. Cheers
After 2-3 beers can anybody really hear the difference between t and d? I live a little North of Germany and passed thru very often and up there in that long skinny country with isbjörn roving city centers the word is torp..but generally depending on how many beers I had and how many my listeners had we would have huge discussions on how much Swedish they understood and how much Hessisch I was talking....cause in the end it was all egal..
I remember seeing the XR4Ti at my local Ford dealership. I remember liking how different and odd it was in comparison to the other N. American versions on the lot from Ford. Roush Racing ran silhouette versions in the TransAm with Scott Pruett and Pete Halsmer. Vicious turbo machines!
I’d love to see the expanded video of the Sierra from the other Group A series 😎🏁🎩
This wasn't racing, this was "Whaaa, I'm getting my ass kicked, let's punish the fast guy".
Same thing happened in Murica when the Audi's were spanking the Chevy's in TransAm.
I believe that the problem with the DTM back then (and even up until the ADAC takeover in 2021) was that while the ITR officially set the rules, the (german) manufacturers held significant power and influenced rule changes, which effectively excluded Ford with the ban on turbo engines. What was really a shame.
Similar things happened to Audi when they raced the V8 quattro saloon. They also got weight penalties and protest after protest ( specially after they switched the engibe crankshaft to a flatplane crank.)
Please do one on Bathurst! I'm British and still fondly remember seeing the RS500's racing on Saturday TV.
You always do great videos - very knowledgeable , clear & precise plus easy to understand with the best voice.
Well done again
Yes! Follow-up video please, and go over the AWD versions and highlight their racing down under.
Did i just watch a video about Ford Sierra's racing where Rudi Eggenberger's name wasnt mentioned?
Yes - Rudi was a genius - I was with him at Bathurst 4 years ago in a row.
Yeah how's that possible? Hell even if one was a Group A Volvo 240 fan one has to mention Eggenberger..I know that and I never have been interested in any roadracing...just gravel rally but ya can't help know his name..
Ummm... The XR4Ti was never badged as a Ford. It was badged as a Merkur in the US - heck, they weren't even built by Ford, being built by Karmann...
True! In fairness all I say is that XR4Ti is an american nameplate. Should have mentioned the Merkur marque though, you're right!
Edit: Also the XR4Ti was badged as a Ford... for racing
On the FIA historic database site: Ford XR4Ti (2303)
Homologation form number 5261 group A
Date of homologation: Tuesday, April 2, 1985 to Friday, January 1, 1993
Marketed as a Merkur in North America, but as far as the FIA were concerned it was a Ford.
Constructive and concise brilliant montage about these mechanical marvels. Instant subscribe. Thanks
Dick Johnson's Shell RS500s were the ultimate in Sierra development, a status that they were able to achieve in Group A spec in the Australian Touring Car Championship (ATCC).
They could produce upwards of 600hp, although admittedly they weren't hamstrung by the ATCC as the DTM ones were with the extra weight and engine restrictors. They were up against the GTR Skyline and held their own until the former were fully sorted (and then dominated).
1990 Bathurst CAMS put the Ford weight up to 1150kg and the Commodore weight down to 1250 kg and with freedoms
9000rpm- TWR group C brakes . The best DJR Sierra was the 1992 car which led the race before the red flag and the GTR was awarded the race .
Eggenberger’s relibility was supreme .
Growing up in Australia was only familiar with the Sierras used in touring car racing. Got a shock when I got to UK to hear them derided as repmobiles.
When I took my newly purchased Mercedes 190e cosworth out for a madian voyage after some sorting out of fueling issues did I realize the build . Entering upon the freeway It effortlessly gained momentum . Just grab third a push that pedal for a soon 4th gear move . It’s the 40 to 100 and down again , sharing race car inherited parts is greatly needed in todays car industry .
I must admit I watched. A few of you videos and you tell the story and convey the storey very well
Ive been waiting for a video on the Sierra Cosworth. Is it just a coincidence that this comes a day after Ford announced its going back to the DTM?
Happy accident, this video has been in production for 3 weeks lol
You should have just pretended you researched, edited and released this entire video in a single day in response to the announcement 😄@@automobilistic
Can you imagine if Ford would have entered an Escort RS Cosworth in the 1994 DTM championship. Can you imagine how psychotic that car would have been?
The escort cosworth was built on a sierra chassis. So basically it is a sierra
They would have had to build an entirely new engine for it and mount it longitudinally for it to compete. That era was the era of AWD and 2.5L, 12000rpm regulations.
@@tescoshortage Escort RS Cosworth already had a longitudinal engine. But as you say it would need to run a 2.5L NA, probably a tuned Colonge V6, instead of the Cosworth turbo engine.
The 155 also changed from transverse to longditudinal engine anyway, so it seems that was allowed (DTM cars were tubeframe if I'm not mistaken).
@@TassieLorenzo Opel did the same with the Calibra, building their v6 of the C25XE
Fun side fact, someone in norway ran a opel dtm v6 engine in a GT300 JGTC S15 for a while
I've had 7 Xr4ti over the years . I love them but they are a challenge to own in many ways.
I absolutely love the RWD Sierra Cosworth Rs500 in Dirt Rally and the new WRC game. On loose surfaces, it is very hard to drive. The engine does nothing before the turbo spools up, but when it does, the car gets a kick, and you need to immediately coutersteer. It takes a few hours to get used to, but when you do, the car becomes almost unbeatable in its class.
Awesome timing after Ford announced they are coming back to DTM!
It ALWAYS fills my heart with joy seeing my favorite car get love ❤️
It's my main dream to own an RS500/Sapphire Cosworth someday
Channels quickly becoming one of the best about mate ❤
The biggest issue they seemed to have was insufficient balancing of turbo to naturally aspirated engines, and they were not the only ones at the time to struggle with that as turbo's were becoming good. And depending on how the rules were written for entry, it might be very difficult to do,
If you wanna draw a paralell to group B at the time, it was only in the beginning any of the naturally apirated cars were actually competetive, so everyone went turbo, but with the lower need for production cars, it allowed manufacturers to tailor the cars much more to the rulebook, hard to do when you have to make 5000 cars, 500 of which can be a closer to racing spec version of the homoligation car.
The RS500 would touch 180 mph on the fastest straights, nothing would come close in a straight line. Also what about the BTCC? All these makes raced in that league and the RS500 wiped the floor with them.
This was quite good video. Considering the ban on Cosworth turbo, turbos were banned pretty much everywhere in the 80's. They're really hard to balance with NA engines and be fair to all while keeping the racing interesting - especially when we talk about DTM that wasn't the most interesting series anyway. In racing, when someone does something others don't, and has too much advantage of it, it will eventually be banned. No matter whether it's turbo or driving aid.
Sierra likely is the best car Ford ever made. Perhaps the reason why it was in production unchanged for so long was it's success in racing. Mondeo that followed Sierra was quite a dissappointment, especially when it was supposed to be "a world's car" that was to be unchanged to every market, which it wasn't, but what Sierra already was.
XR4!? The XR6 and XR8 were mainstays for Ford in Australia right up until the end. Even the Focus RS was badged as the XR5 and i recall the ill-fated convertible "Capri" in Aus had an XR2 😆
Awesome quality as always.
Keep it up.
we have suffered the same crap for decades.. instead of making others do better the others complain like children rather than making their cars better.. welcome to 2024 where motorsport is a massive snooze fest
Over here (USA), the XR4ti was neither a Ford, nor a Sierra- it was a Merkur (from Lincoln/Mercury dealers).
The 'XR' moniker was inherited from a Mercury Cougar trim level designation: XR7.
Same thing happened in Australia Motor sport in 1991
FINALLY!
Gotta love the Sierra!
I really miss my 89' XR4Ti I had in the late 90s blew the turbo street racing a camaro or firechicken on my way home from work so took it to my local Merkur specialist who really wanted my car so he made sure he got it.... it had very low miles & was perfect condition, at least I still have all the manuals, floormats & even matchbox cars! lol
Sweet video, I like to see you do one about the Sierra's in Australian touring car championship as they weren't restricted making around 650 bhp
Been really enjoying these, especially as Gran Turismo has been having some special events replicating this era of DTM lately.
Looking forward to when all of these get combined into one DTM mega video, like you did for Group C, assuming that's the plan.
the people who run DTM have ALWAYS favors German brands and will NEVER let other brands win and when they do they nerf the shit out of them and it will never change
Similar issue for these cars in Australia with weight penalties bit still got it done a real legend of a race car
I saw a Sierra XR4i on the back of car transporter today (14/11/24). Haven't seen one in years. It looked it fairly good nick , with faded paintwork and with a decent clean up would look great. I miss the 80's and really nice cars, (Sierra, VW Golf, Peugeot 205, Astra, etc) instead of standard Euro/Japanboxes.
On "Driving 4 answers" explains. That the R32 GTR, and the RB26dett was created.
To compete, against the dominating Sierra Cosworth RS500 turbo. In group A, in Australia. And JTCC of course, and other circuit racing events.
5:04 - great footage of the Merc AMG at Bathurst, coming out of Griffin's Bend and climbing the hill into The Cutting!
decades ago, Iwent to school with a guy who drove an xR4TI. That was a fun Canadian back roads. Interesting video
A cossie always makes my day ❤🎉🎉
Cooz-eh
13:10 They had a Porsche 959 for a PACE CAR??
Spat the dummy!
Then they did it again with the Viper.
So much for sportsmanship.
A followup vid on the Sierra would be good. My favorite version of this car is in Dirt 4 with the Colin McRae livery. McRae had a V6 4x4 for Rally, but for some reason they used the Cosworth in that game
You forgot a very important fact, about the RS500.
It had 8 fuel injectors, not 4 like the normal RS Cosworth.
Only 4 were connected to the road car or race cars .
I don’t think Klaus Ludwig has ever been young
Another exceptional production sir
There used to be a pic doing the rounds that's basically impossible to find now of the DJR Sierra shot head-on @Silverstone almost the entire length of the straight ahead of the field.
Consensus at the time from the ill-informed was they were about to be lapped, but that's literally how far they were in front of the pack
Happily take a follow up video ;) Looking forward to the next one!
15:38 Howard-Harper Barnes “A new horizon” starts playing
paul linfoot racing runs the rs500 register. as well as restores and preps these monsters. the ultimate rs500's where the eggenberger cars, the mods that eggenberger done to his cars all had ford factory stamping, and mr linfoot is the current custodian of all the eggenberger spare parts...its quite the collection.
DTM is well-known for making it next to impossible for non-German manufacturers to compete. A practice which I’m glad American series don’t engage in.
You didn't watch the video. Remember Volvo and Rover winning championships?
I am a Holden fan boy but I will acknowledge that the Ford Sierra RS Cosworth RS500 is a awesome beast
As a proud owner who wasn't born yet in the 3dr Cossies heyday I appreciate this content enormously. I hope you do more on these cars, IMO one of the coolest cars ever built.
Edit: also sib'd
'If i had choice between bmw e30 or ford rs500 i go with rs500'.
the John player special Sierra's were the car of my dreams growing up, I had my heart set on owning a street version....still dreaming 🙏🤘😎
Great video as always. Thank you
Ford should have ditched the turbo engine and make a 2.5L 16valve NA cossie engine. That way they could have competed on a level playing field.
Later similar situations around the Audi V8 quattro would cause Audi to leave DTM.
Dude you're like a young jeremy clarkson with your great pronunciation and quality of video
I would like a followup with the rest of the world scen for the Sierra. And the transition to the Ford Escort Cosworth. 🏁
It's a shame the Mustang didn't get the Cosworth DOHC turbo four. However, the XR/Sierra did get the 2.8L V-6 in America, with an automatic.
You could make 3 videos about the RS500 Sierra, another one on BTCC and another on on ATCC and Bathurst 1000
Had the 85 Escort with the turbo.
Wonderful gem
The same kind of thing happened at the Bathurst 1000 in Australia, when the turbocharged inline six-powered Nissan Skyline "Godzilla" GT-R scored 2 successive wins in the early 1990s, and the Holden & Ford fans kicked up a stink.
My dad had good taste in vehicles...or was just lucky to come across the vehicles we had as our daily familly cars..one of which was the Dodge Omni... wish somehow we'd still have this ..pretty much go cart. Such an easy car to work on and the simple styling... but then for the majority of the 90's we had the Ford Merkur XR4Ti in silver but the red/ burgundy trim was a darker grey and the double fin/ spoiler that sat on the rear window. It was your t.ypical Fix or repair daily... but, less so than other Fords of those years... it was sporty.. manual...leather interior.. i can almost remember the way the interior smelled- leather with a hint of cigarette smoke and a sprinkling of gas
This car won at Rally and Rallycross also. It's one of the Mt Rushmore saloon cars with the Mercedes 190E, BMW M3 and R32 Nissan Skyline GT-R.
Not the same car. The DTM version had only RWD, not AWD.
@@Fastvoice The Ford Sierra is the Ford Sierra. One of the most dominant and winningest cars whatever its drivetrain. Whatever the country. Rally in Africa or Bathurst against Nissan GT-R's where its RWD version was arguably robbed.
I like series like world time attack challenge where we see completely different vehicles in terms of body shape, drivetrain and engine configuration competing on equal footing it's just a shame this hasn't happened in touring car since the 1992 ATCC
Great video
They were also penalised in aus by a rev limiter and skinny tyres as they used to wipe the floor with the v8 holdens
Theyd of given the gtrs more hassle than they did in 90 + 91 if they werent restricted
Europe: Hey! Stop it!
Ford: No!
Europe; BAN!!
Ford: ... Aahhahaah!! 😂😂😂😂😂😂
Top video, never been massively into Old Ford’s but I see the appeal. Would love a Sierra or an Escort 🫡
I remembered the Cossworth as a cool rally car
V8 Rover, what a legend, yea baby 🎉
Learned some things. Ford Mustangs were raced in a German racing series. Also Commodore...Commodore sponsored race cars!? Long before Sega sponsored a F1 car.
I think in the context the Commodore was a brand of Holden (the GM brand in Australia) rather than a computer.
The Sierra was raced in the Australian Touring Car series. I think It would be correct to say that the fastest Sierras were from Dick Johnston Racing (DJR). Rob Gravett won the BTCC in a DJR Sierra.
There will be two Ford Mustangs in the 2025 DTM.
I remember reading an article years ago, Aussie touring car racing had a ban on adjustable boost controllers in the cockpit, on the ashtray of the car it had the the letters FIIK and the driver ask what the letters stood for and the mechanic said fkd if i know lol but you pull the ashtray out for more boost, would have been great for overtakes especially at Bathurst
Ford's are great.....; however, it's the Metro 6 (cylinder) R (rally) 4 (4 wheeled drive) all day long for me i'm afraid 😊
Wasn't that a Rover 3500 behind the Sierra at 3:54?
Love your choice of 1:18 scale model cars. 👌
The ford engine 2.3 trubo fro merkuri mercur was masterpiece of engineering... i had it and it was sick..
Great video, Thank You !!!
I'd like to see you talk about the rest of the Sierra's racing escapades. Maybe even the weirdo Merkut Trans-Am car 🥺
Call it late B-Day gift, although this entire video already covers that pretty well
By then, the Volvo 240 was a Really Old Gal/Hussy, not even Close to anything else out there! Wow.... just wow!
in 1998 on my way home my neighbor had an 88 xr4ti in his yard, never moved. i knew what it was … i knocked on his door said it cranked but would t run $300…. i flat towed it home by myself (that sucked) and got it home cycled the key heard the fuel pump come on fired it right up😂 ended up un pinning the engine harness outa the car, and pinned it into my 92 ranger computer plug that truck was fast after we burned a chip or it 😁 sold it , kid wrapped it around a tree the same day
Bop rules always piss me off. Instead of slowing down one car, boost up the power of the other cars to balance them all out
Where did you get your pronunciation of Armin Hahne?
My recollection from the time was that it wasn't Hanna like in your video but 'Haarn'
Group A was one thing but DTM rules were another entirely...Group A required 5000 identical cars and because roadracers are big whiners addition "variant options" were allowed just for road racing and that was to be done in a further 10% run--or 500 cars..hence the RS 500....Bigger turbo, 2 rows of injectors in the intake manifold, alternate pick up positions in the suspension cross members for better roll center when at roadracing ride height, a massive intercooler and more holes/cutouts in the front bumper for more air...Etc etc
However DTM allowed non-production engines so that Mercedes and BMW could have a chance..Clean sheet of paper engines...I recall reading that one year Mercedes had 3 totally different engines developed and who knows what the Bavarian maggot wagons were doing.. Even on both of the "base model" Group A cars, Mercedes, BMW and Opel were unable to design and make a cylinder head worth a damn and they all went to Northhampton and had Cosworth design and cast them heads...
So DTM was clearly an unimportant "just for us and our guys" German show...(snore)
While the rest of the world was doing WTCC and BTCC and Sierra was inarguably dominant using an engine that even a guy like me could own...And besides..road racing? Roadracing is really primarily a financial and support exercise bearing little to know resemblance to a car one can own and drive...
For that we need to look at rally....And there, because of the Group A rules Ford had to make (minimum) 5000 3 doors, 5000 RWD 4 door Saphhys, 5000 4 door Saphhy 4wd, 2500 Big turbo Escort Cosworths....and they made more...
A fun little detail..Rover, BMW, Volvo and Ford all used in DTM and BTCC/WTCC the same Getrag 265 gearbox and gearset..Nice tough box and with the close ratio gearset, a good set of ratios...
Sometimes the cards we are dealt are not always fair. However you must keep smiling and moving on.
Yes a follow up video please! 🙂♥️