The one and
only, the legendary, Klaus Ludwig’s 1988 DTM title winning car Ford Sierra
Cosworth RS500 is presented in its original winning glory. Where? In Finland –
of course! This unique piece of European racing heritage is so amazing that it
deserves to be brought into public attention.
The owner of
the race car power house - Sarlin Race
Team - Kalle Sarlin did not just win the Finnish Touring car championship
with this same Sierra Cosworth in 1991, but he also took the time and effort to
take this classic back to its original glory.
Kalle and
his crew started the restoration of this fine piece of machinery about ten
years ago. It has taken hundreds of hours to get it to this point where
everyone can let their eyes feast on its beauty. The restoration began from the
bare body shell and continued step by step until the current state was reached.
Nowadays to
an untrained eye it might just look like another Ford Sierra with some stickers
on it. But to all of you guys who know what to look for its obvious that this
beast is nothing but business. Wide racing slicks wrapped around three piece
BBS magnesium alloys with center-locks are yelling “No, it is not another tuned
3-door Sierra with graphics”.
Under the
bonnet lurks a turbocharged 2-litre RS500 racing engine. This Ford’s YB-series
16 valve DOCH inline four has been seriously refined to be able to take the
heat of the continuous racing. Garret’s T3/T4 turbocharger feeds compressed air
to the engine through a big air-to-air intercooler. Group A cylinder head and
Group A pistons guarantee that neither the airflow nor mechanical strength
becomes an issue. Three external fuel pumps and 8 injectors make sure that the
air fuel ratio stays where the Bosch Motronic MP1.7 engine management system
commands it to be. Roughly 480 hp is transmitted to the rear wheels through a
sand casted Getrag 5-speed gearbox and a Ford Motorsport 7.5” differential.
Both gearbox and differential are cooled with PWR oil coolers.
What is a
race car without a proper suspension and brakes? A street car, perhaps. Well, in
this case nothing but Ford Motorsport Group A magnesium uprights, Group A
magnesium rear arms, quick steering rack, Bilstein coil-over shocks (front/rear)
and adjustable front anti-roll bar are there. The brakes are from AP-racing
with 4-pot calipers front/rear and vented rotors 330x35 mm front plus 304x28 mm
rear.
As if all of
the above mentioned was not enough, the list of the goodies goes on: Factory
RS500 front lip spoiler, bumpers, twin rear spoilers, heated windscreen, seam-welded
chassis, FIA-spec multipoint roll cage, air jacks, Recaro SPA carbon/kevlar
seat, 6-point harness, Bosch Motorsport LCD display and so on...
Oh, what
mechanical beauty.
Article update: Cossie has found a new owner, and I have been told, had some serious track time on the Nürburgring!
Article update: Cossie has found a new owner, and I have been told, had some serious track time on the Nürburgring!
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