THE ANATOMY OF A FORD SIER RA RS500

Group A was a golden era in touring car racing, and nothing captured hearts and minds quite like the wild, bewinged Sierra. We look under its skin

- ANTONY INGRAM

YOU WILL FIND NO FEWER THAN 813 CARS THAT WERE homologated for Group A use within the FIA's Historic Database, and among them some real surprises. The Hyundai Pony is a bit of an eyebrow-raiser, and India's Hindustan Ambassador even more so. And despite knowing it's there, you'll search in vain for an Impreza... until you realise it's listed under Fuji, Subaru's parent company.

Then you scroll to Ford, and one car immediately stands out. Whale-tailed, with a ground-scraping splitter, prominent air intakes, a vented bonnet and mesh wheels, the Sierra Cosworth cuts an entirely different form to the prosaic, unadorned shapes used by most manufacturers to ensure their cars were approved for use in sanctioned motorsport. That is, of course, because the Sierra Cosworth was not simply approved for homologation, but a car designed to exploit it: a genuine homologation special.

Group A, introduced by the FIA in 1982 primarily to replace Group 2 touring car regulations, has spawned more homologation specials than most. And while the Nissan Skyline GT-R is revered in Japan and Australia and the BMW M3 and Mercedes 190E Cosworth in Germany, it's the Ford Sierra RS500 Cosworth that is most fondly remembered across most continents.

THE SIERRA IN RACING

Ford's controversial replacement for the Cortina arrived in 1982, but it wouldn't be until 1985 that the Sierra made its factory racing debut and not, as you might expect, with the Cosworth.

Stuart Turner had been a rallying co-driver at BMC in the 1960s before moving to Ford as competition manager at the end of the decade. He would preside over Ford's motorsport affairs during a rosy period for the Escort (and was the driving force behind the creation of the GT40powered Supervan), before taking on a new challenge elsewhere in Ford in 1975.