1988 Ford Sierra Cosworth Group N Rally Car

When Stuart Turner was appointed head of Ford Motorsport in Europe in 1983 he quickly came to the conclusion that the company was no longer competitive in motorsport. Walter Hayes, having instigated the Cosworth DFV engine and Ford's assault on Le Mans with the GT40, was still the driving force at Ford. Not surprisingly, Hayes was enthusiastic about Turner's plans to produce a turbocharged Cosworth 2.0 litre engine that would power a Ford saloon in motorsport. Cosworth already had a cylinder head design that fitted the bill which used the Ford T88 Pinto block, so they agreed to produce the 2.0litre turbo engine, but only if Ford signed-off a production run of 15,000 units. The introduction of the Sierra in 1982 required a marketing boost so it was allocated to become the platform for Ford's new competition aspirations. It was rear wheel drive, it had good aerodynamics, albeit prone to lift at high speeds, and it was available as a three-door. The new body kit and rear spoiler would sort out the lift issues. But Ford still needed to build 5000 units for homologation; this was somewhat worrying when Turner's initial approach to the dealer network came back with an estimate that suggested they could sell around 1500 units! The eventual sales success record is of course history. Ford went on to sell 5545 three-door cars including the RS500 and the Cosworth engine also found its way into nearly 30,000 Ford Sierra Saloons (Cosworth 3dr, Sapphire 2wd and 4wd).

The Sierra Cosworth comfortably exceeded Ford's wishes and it went on to become one of the most successful Touring Car racers of all time, winning races all over the world. In rallying, the Group A Sierra, on tarmac, was equal to all the four-wheel drive opposition, particularly when Didier Auriol won the 1988 Corsica Rally outright.

Offered here is the Group N Sierra Cosworth which Carlos Sainz used in 1988 at a Rallysprint in Spain. However, it's more famous for its Marlboro/Hergom livery as used by Jesus Puras and Tomas Aguado in the Spanish Group N Rally Championship in that year. They competed on the Cataluña - Costa Brava and the Rally Cortes - Ingles. The Sierra is best known for perhaps its spectacular crash from the Rally de Aviles mounting the armco over a bridge and plunging into a dry ravine. This car was prepared to the same specification to its UK counterparts and eventually prepared by MTD. Mountune were the engine suppliers to the 'works' and our vendor states it still retains that engine. It has still competed in various events mainly in the Baltics over the last few years.

This is a very important Rally Sierra Cosworth 2WD with great provenance. It was used by the Ford Motor Company in the opening sequence to their 1999 Focus advert as a young Colin McRae looked on.

On file is a series of period photos to accompany this original Cosworth which represents value at today's guide.