Group A Ford Sierra RS500

[Brickyard]

Hello,

Happy New Year to all of you.

Correct me if I'm wrong but I think we don't have yet a thread about this racing model, as we have for the BMW 635CSi and the Rover SD1.

So, let's start. Firts one question: how many of those cars were raced in fact.

here in Portugal, at least 4 maybe five cars did run in our Touring Car Championship, the first one in late 1988 or early 1989.

Any coments, photos, etc...?

Regards
Luis Mateus

[KA]

Originally Posted by Brickyard

Hello,

Happy New Year to all of you.

Correct me if I'm wrong but I think we don't have yet a thread about this racing model, as we have for the BMW 635CSi and the Rover SD1.

So, let's start. Firts one question: how many of those cars were raced in fact.

here in Portugal, at least 4 maybe five cars did run in our Touring Car Championship, the first one in late 1988 or early 1989.

Any coments, photos, etc...?

Regards
Luis Mateus

This one could be quite a challenge, as there were a lot of them around...

I'll kick off with the BTCC Cosworth/RS500 entries, year-by-year:

1987

• Andy Rouse/ICS- 2 cars, one a full-season entry for Pete Hall, the other in selected races for Rouse and Win Percy. Both started as Cosworths, but were upgraded to RS500 late-season
• Graham Goode- one Listerine-backed car for most of the season- it was heavily damaged in either a race of test accident late in the year and missed the last couple of rounds

There were also a number of Production Saloon Cosworths that appeared in a few BTCC rounds-

• Mike Smith's Mobil-backed car,
• the Arquati-sponsored cars of Jerry Mahony (prepared by Roger Dowson) and Robb Gravett (prepared by Graham Hathaway),
• Dave Morgan's TCCS Racing car- there may have been others
• Finally, Rex Muldoon in an Auto Parts International-entered car, (either a Prodsaloon or a Group A rallycar) appeared in the last round at Silverstone

1988- things really kick off, with at least a dozen RS500s appearing:

• Andy Rouse- 4 cars- 2 Kaliber-backed cars for Rouse and Guy Edwards, plus an ICS- sponsored car for Pete Hall, (who stood down in favour of Robb Gravett and Mark Hales later in the year) and a CAM Shipping-sponsored car for Lawrence Bristow
• Graham Goode- 2 cars for Goode (Listerine-sponsored) and Mike Newman
• Asquith Autosport-1 Duckhams-backed car for Karl Jones
• Terry Drury Racing- 1 car for Tim Harvey
• Roger Dowson- 1 Arquati-sponsored car for Jerry Mahony

I think these were the full-season entries, but several other cars appeared:

• Eggenberger- a single Eggenberger/Texaco ETCC car appeared in a few races for Steve Soper and Gianfranco Brancatelli
• Brooklyn Motorsport- one car for Chris Hodgetts late-season after his split with the MIL Toyota Supra squad
• CC Motorsport- one car for Bob Sands in the early rounds until sponsorship ran out
• Graham Hathaway Racing- one car for Hathaway for much of the season- Rob Wilson also appeared in it at least once
• Brodie-Brittain Racing- a single car for Dave Brodie in a few late-season races
• ECM Vehicle Delivery- a single, road-legal(!) car shared by Tom Bell and Ray MacDowell- they also used the car in club racing and Thundersaloons as I remember and appeared at a number of BTCC rounds
• I think there was at least one overseas RS500 that appeared in an early season round at Silverstone- maybe Kaj Bornebusch's ETCC car

I'll look out the 1989 and 1990 details shortly

[KA]

Originally Posted by KA

I'll look out the 1989 and 1990 details shortly

OK, found it...

1989: the 'big' class of the BTCC was almost exclusively RS500, the only interloper being Trident Motorsport's Maserati Biturbo...

• Andy Rouse- 4 cars: 2 Kaliber backed for Rouse and Guy Edwards, and two run as a seperate team, Team Labatt's for Tim Harvey and Laurence Bristow
• Graham Goode- 3 cars- 2 Listerine backed cars for Goode and Mike Newman, plus a third, backed by FAI Automotive for Sean Walker. This is the car shared in the Donington 1 hour/2 driver race by none other than Damon Hill
• Terry Drury Racing- 3 cars in most rounds for Dave Pinkney, Robin Donovan and Mike O'Brien
• Trakstar- a new 2-car team for Robb Gravett and Mike Smith. Cars came from Dick Johnson in Australia
• Roger Dowson- a single Arquati-sponsored car for Jerry Mahony
• Graham Hathaway Racing- a single car for Hathaway
• Brooklyn Motorsport- one car for Chris Hodgetts. May not have done the full season, as he also drove the JQF entered car on occasion
• JQF Engineering/Fina- one car for Gerrit van Kouwen
• Asquith Autosport- one car for Karl Jones in Duckhams Oils colours
• Brodie-Brittain Racing- one car for Dave Brodie in several races
• Mark Rennison- appeared in a couple of rounds in his RS500

1990- the first year of the 2-litre regulations, introduced as a secondary class. The RS500s remained in the top class

Andy Rouse- 4 cars- one ICS-backed for Rouse, the second FAI Automotive-backed for Sean Walker, plus the Team Labatt's pair for Harvey and Bristow
Graham Goode Racing- 2 Listerine-sponsored cars for Goode and Mike Newman
Trakstar- one full-season entry for Robb Gravett, and a second appeared in a couple of races for Mike Smith
Graham Hathaway Racing- one ex-Trakstar car for Hathaway
Brodie-Brittain Racing- one car for Dave Brodie
Partservice Exeter- one car for former Rover privateer Dennis Leech
Crypton Engineering- ran an Eggenberger-prepared car at Brands Hatch for Italian Amato Ferrari
Stuart Donnan- one car for Donnan appeared at a couple of races

There may well have been others- I don't have complete results to hand for these seasons.

To round off the story, in 1991 the 2-litre regulations took over, although the RS500s were still allowed with heavily restricted turbo boost- enough to make them uncompetitive, so no-one really bothered. The only car to appear regularly was Dennis Leech's car in some early-season races until it was damaged in a crash. I think Trakstar also ran an RS500 in qualifying at one mid-season meeting, but didn't start the race. I can't recall the driver, it may have been Sean Walker or Mike Smith.

Anyone feeling brave enough to tackle the ETCC/WTCC entries? One problem is that I don't beleive there was a single 'source' of RS500s- unlike the 635s or M3s which were largely built from BMW Motorsport shells and kits, I think a variety of different teams (Rouse, Eggenberger, Wolf, Graham Goode etc) produced RS500s, both for their own use and for customers. That might make it difficult to have a go at putting together a definitive chassis list....

[davyboy]

Few would disagree that these were the nirvana of touring cars... God, those things still give me goosebumps 20 years on.

Just look at this and tell me you're unaffected !

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PHXzrNyMc6I

[johnh875]

They were also the dominant car in Australian touring car racing 1987-1990 as well – although didn’t have it all their own way by any means, and raced properly until the end of 1992 although again some were later used in our 2L series without turbos.

I don’t have a list of those that raced to hand, but as a rough guide there would be at least 10 in regular competition throughout the period, with the normal changeover of cars and appearances by less-frequent competitors, particularly at the Bathurst 1000.

Touching on KA’s point of the teams constructing their own cars, I would like to pose the question of whether any Australian-constructed RS500’s (eg Dick Johnson Racing) competed in Europe or the UK, and if so how did they go? I have read a fairly general statement that the DJR Sierras were the fastest in the world but of course they were developed for longer than in Europe.

[racer69]

DJR Sierra's did race in Europe.

Dick Johnson took his car to Silverstone in 1988 for the TT at Silverstone to share with John Bowe, qualifying on pole infront of the Eggenberger cars and the Rouse car. Led the race until the first pitstop where they fell behind, and were catching back up when more trouble intervened at the second pitstop. They eventually finished 21st.

It was this that led to the claim DJR had the worlds fastest Sierra's, along with setting pole for Bathurst in 1988. The Eggenberger-prepared Moffat Sierra did set fastest lap in the Top 10 at Bathurst in 1988 (didn't count for the grid that year) with Klaus Neidzweidz, and did so again in 1990. It was a real shame there weren't very many DJR vs Eggenberger vs Rouse battles.

Trackstar bought two (or was it just the one??) cars from DJR for 1989 for Robb Gravett & Mike Smith. For 1990 they built up a car of their own (one of the ex-DJR cars presumebly went to Hathaway in 1990?)

Originally Posted by KA

To round off the story, in 1991 the 2-litre regulations took over, although the RS500s were still allowed with heavily restricted turbo boost- enough to make them uncompetitive, so no-one really bothered. The only car to appear regularly was Dennis Leech's car in some early-season races until it was damaged in a crash. I think Trakstar also ran an RS500 in qualifying at one mid-season meeting, but didn't start the race. I can't recall the driver, it may have been Sean Walker or Mike Smith.

Weren't they required to run without the turbo, rather than restricted boost?

Andy Middlehurst did alright in Sierra in 1991, running #99.

[KA]

Originally Posted by racer69

DJR Sierra's did race in Europe.

Dick Johnson took his car to Silverstone in 1988 for the TT at Silverstone to share with John Bowe, qualifying on pole infront of the Eggenberger cars and the Rouse car. Led the race until the first pitstop where they fell behind, and were catching back up when more trouble intervened at the second pitstop. They eventually finished 21st.

It was this that led to the claim DJR had the worlds fastest Sierra's, along with setting pole for Bathurst in 1988. The Eggenberger-prepared Moffat Sierra did set fastest lap in the Top 10 at Bathurst in 1988 (didn't count for the grid that year) with Klaus Neidzweidz, and did so again in 1990. It was a real shame there weren't very many DJR vs Eggenberger vs Rouse battles.

Trackstar bought two (or was it just the one??) cars from DJR for 1989 for Robb Gravett & Mike Smith. For 1990 they built up a car of their own (one of the ex-DJR cars presumebly went to Hathaway in 1990?)

I was at the TT and remember it well- in term of speed, neither Rouse or Eggenberger appeared to have any answer to the Johnson car that day. As I remember the pre-race previews in the press hadn't regarded them as a particularly serious contender- I think the predictions had been that they'd be pretty quick in qualifying, maybe 'best of the rest' after the Eggenberger and Rouse cars but that was about it. OK, memory can be a bit hazy when looking back over nearly 20 years, the impression I've still got in my mind was that they didn't just lead the early part of the race, but dominate it- the lead seemed to be extending almost every lap....

It's a real pity about the problems they had (wasn't it something overheating related?) because I think we may have seen an even bigger upset to the predicted formbook than Rouse's eventual win. As I remember, Johnson did do a fair amount of damage to the lap record though

Originally Posted by racer69

Weren't they required to run without the turbo, rather than restricted boost?

Andy Middlehurst did alright in Sierra in 1991, running #99.

I think both were allowed- Middlehurst ran a Graham Goode-prepared normally-aspirated Cosworth with a reasonable amount of success for what was evidently a farly low-budget entry (from memory the car ran largely unsponsored in plain white all season, apart from prominent 'Graham Goode Racing' signwriting which appeared in later rounds- Goode's high-profile Listerine backing from previous years had gone in the direction of the Vic Lee BMW squad of Will Hoy and Ray Bellm- Listerine had been associated with Bellm since his time driving with Gordon Spice in Group C sportscars)

I'm pretty sure Leech ran his white 'Partservice' RS500 in 'restricted' form- I've got the 1991 BTCC media guide handbook somewhere which clearly refers to this. He shunted the car pretty heavily early in the season and I don't think he returned until midway through the following season with an uncompetitive normally-aspirated Cosworth, now in his traditional black and dayglo orange colourscheme. One point to notice, looking at photos I've got of the Middlehurst car, is that the normally-aspirated versions ran the 'basic' Cosworth aero kit, not the RS500 version

[M-Kart]

Originally Posted by KA

It's a real pity about the problems they had (wasn't it something overheating related?)

A Water Pump failed, and as a result, overheating (expected when these things happen) followed.

[VIVA GT]

Originally Posted by KA

One point to notice, looking at photos I've got of the Middlehurst car, is that the normally-aspirated versions ran the 'basic' Cosworth aero kit, not the RS500 version

The RS 500 aero kit would not have been allowed as the 2 litre non-turbo cars had to be based on 'volume production' (minimum 5000) vehicles, the RS 500 was a homologated Evolution model, only 500 produced. (It was also thought that the additional drag of the RS 500 kit would be detrimental with the N/A version).

[racer69]

Originally Posted by KA

I was at the TT and remember it well- in term of speed, neither Rouse or Eggenberger appeared to have any answer to the Johnson car that day. As I remember the pre-race previews in the press hadn't regarded them as a particularly serious contender- I think the predictions had been that they'd be pretty quick in qualifying, maybe 'best of the rest' after the Eggenberger and Rouse cars but that was about it. OK, memory can be a bit hazy when looking back over nearly 20 years, the impression I've still got in my mind was that they didn't just lead the early part of the race, but dominate it- the lead seemed to be extending almost every lap....

It's a real pity about the problems they had (wasn't it something overheating related?) because I think we may have seen an even bigger upset to the predicted formbook than Rouse's eventual win. As I remember, Johnson did do a fair amount of damage to the lap record though

The appearance of Johnson & Bowe had created abit of buzz locally down here as well, infact at one stage it was mentioned Channel 7 were going to show the TT live down here, though unsuprisingly that didn't materialise (was there any live TV of the event, or just the Hay-Fisher post produced footage?)

There were mutterings locally as well that in 1989 Johnson & Bowe would return to drive together in the second Trackstar Sierra at the Donnington 1-hour race, though again that didn't eventuate.


Tomas Mezera ran the odd round in 1990 in the Labatts Sierra's (Donnington partnering Lawrence Bristow, then a run at Brands wasn't it), how did he secure that drive?

[KA]

Originally Posted by racer69

The appearance of Johnson & Bowe had created abit of buzz locally down here as well, infact at one stage it was mentioned Channel 7 were going to show the TT live down here, though unsuprisingly that didn't materialise (was there any live TV of the event, or just the Hay-Fisher post produced footage?)

There were mutterings locally as well that in 1989 Johnson & Bowe would return to drive together in the second Trackstar Sierra at the Donnington 1-hour race, though again that didn't eventuate.

Tomas Mezera ran the odd round in 1990 in the Labatts Sierra's (Donnington partnering Lawrence Bristow, then a run at Brands wasn't it), how did he secure that drive?

I don't recall any live coverage at all- the BTCC was only begininng to get regular TV in the form of post-produced highlights packages, and there was no regular UK coverage of the ETCC that I can remember- maybe the occasional bit of TT highlights.

I remember Mezera having a couple of races in the Labatt's Sierra- Paul Radisich had an outing in a Rouse car in one of the 2-driver races (Brands I think) as well if I remember correctly. I don't know how these deals came together, although Mezera had a bit of BTCC history by that point, having had a few runs in the Trident Motorsport Maserati in '89

[chavez]

Originally Posted by racer69

The appearance of Johnson & Bowe had created abit of buzz locally down here as well, infact at one stage it was mentioned Channel 7 were going to show the TT live down here, though unsuprisingly that didn't materialise (was there any live TV of the event, or just the Hay-Fisher post produced footage?)

There were mutterings locally as well that in 1989 Johnson & Bowe would return to drive together in the second Trackstar Sierra at the Donnington 1-hour race, though again that didn't eventuate.


Tomas Mezera ran the odd round in 1990 in the Labatts Sierra's (Donnington partnering Lawrence Bristow, then a run at Brands wasn't it), how did he secure that drive?

That was the issue, there was no live coverage.

It was filmed by BHP for broadcast on BBC's Grandstand at a later date.

[craig j]

Until recently GGR had one of their RS500s in their showroom. This car was white with small green, orange and red square stickers on it. This car was a full blown turbo Group A car which according to their staff was built just before they were banned in the UK. The car raced only 3 times which I believe were races all in Asia and winning all 3 times. Does anybody know anymore about this one?

[VIVA GT]

Originally Posted by craig j

Until recently GGR had one of their RS500s in their showroom. This car was white with small green, orange and red square stickers on it. This car was a full blown turbo Group A car which according to their staff was built just before they were banned in the UK. The car raced only 3 times which I believe were races all in Asia and winning all 3 times. Does anybody know anymore about this one?

That'll be this one:

The car was built in 1994 for Graham's third successful year racing in rounds of the South East Asian Touring Car Championship. It did indeed win every race it contested at the Pasir Gudang circuit in Malaysia.

[craig j]

Originally Posted by VIVA GT

That'll be this one:

The car was built in 1994 for Graham's third successful year racing in rounds of the South East Asian Touring Car Championship. It did indeed win every race it contested at the Pasir Gudang circuit in Malaysia.

Yep, that's the beauty. Spent a couple of hours looking at this car and must say it's a cracker. Straight, tidy and beautifully built. If only I could afford to take it off his hands!

[johnh875]

Thanks for the feedback on the DJR cars

[piglos]

Here's a link to the TT results:
http://homepage.mac.com/frank_de_jon...lverstone.html

[Brickyard]

So, to beguin with the portuguese RS500, they debuted in Portugal in early 1988 to the Portuguese Touring Car Championship.

Two cars were bought from England to Traffic Racing (Ni Amorim) and Gianfranco (Carlos Rodrigues). There was a third car for António Rodrigues (Carlos' brother) but all the media stated that it was his previous year RS Cosworth car converted to RS500. Could this be true or reasonable? The rear spoiler was in fact of RS500 type, but it was possible to convert a RS into a RS500?
If so, then there were two true RS500 and a "converted RS" in this first year.

To cut the story short, Ni Amorim almost won the championship which went to Pequepe's BMW M3, Carlos Rodrigues finaly won championship races, and his brother had so much problems with the "converted car", that he switched to his older Volvo 240 Turbo to finish the championship.

Some fotos of the cars

The António Rodrigues car followed by the Traffic one
http://img406.imageshack.us/my.php?i...adoconduj8.jpg
http://img406.imageshack.us/my.php?i...rampadahb5.jpg

The Carlos Rodrigues car
http://img406.imageshack.us/my.php?i...iladocoyh9.jpg

(all came from this site)
http://forum.rscnet.org/showthread.php?t=263800&page=8

1989

The Traffic car was bought by Promogrupo (which was Amorim's sponsor in his 1988 Group N car) and was used by Amorim to win the championship.

The Rodrigues brothers went together in Gianfranco Team using their previous year cars. But Carlos was punished with a 6 months ban after punshing another racer in the first race of the championship, and the "converted car" was set asside as the problems continue, and António used instead the true RS500 until his brother's return.

Anothe car appeared: a Luigi RS500 driven by Christian Melville, without much sucess, and latter that year Robert Giannone also drove a RS500 but I could not find yet if is the "converted" loaned to him by Gianfranco or a new car.

This means that we have three of four true RS500, and a "converted? car".
I wish we could trace their chassis numbers...

more to come

Regards
Luis Mateus

[KA]

Originally Posted by Brickyard

So, to beguin with the portuguese RS500, they debuted in Portugal in early 1988 to the Portuguese Touring Car Championship.

Two cars were bought from England to Traffic Racing (Ni Amorim) and Gianfranco (Carlos Rodrigues). There was a third car for António Rodrigues (Carlos' brother) but all the media stated that it was his previous year RS Cosworth car converted to RS500. Could this be true or reasonable? The rear spoiler was in fact of RS500 type, but it was possible to convert a RS into a RS500?
If so, then there were two true RS500 and a "converted RS" in this first year.

It would definitely be possible to upgrade an RS Cosworth to an RS500- apart from the aerodynmic differences (modified front bumper and front splitter, rear bootlid spoiler and an extra Gurney tab on the big rear wing) the main differences were the engine (stronger block, different turbo and second fuel injection rail) and suspension.

[piglos]

I would say that all the existing RS race cars were converted to RS500 spec on August 1 1987 when the homologation came through. I know that the 4 racing in Australia were.

[chunterer]

Yes I would think that all serious 'players' upgraded thier kit. However amateur and less serious entrants may not have done?

For example I think that Rex Muldoon's one off entry at the final BTCC event of 1987 that KA mentions was still a Cosworth and not an RS500?

I also found interesting the fact that for most of 1987 and possibly into 1988 although all the British series Sierra entrants were Cosworths, the Australian and German series featured both Cosworth's and Merkur XR4Ti's competing against each other. This was presumably because not everyone could get their hands on Cossie's quickly enough...

[racer69]

I don't recall any XR4Ti's racing in Australia after mid-1987 (before the RS500 homologation was official)

In 1986 David Oxton did a few rounds of the ATCC in the ex-Rouse 1985-BTCC car, before it was sold to Mark Petch for Bathurst, and last i saw was raced by Andrew Miedecke/Hall in the 1987 January Wellington 500.

In early 1987 Neville Crichton purchased a 1986 Eggenberger XR4Ti, and drove it with Steve Soper in the January 1987 Wellington 500. He (Crichton) ran it in the opening round of the 1987 ATCC at Calder, while Denny Hulme took it over for a few mid-season rounds, and that was it.

The only other Sierra runners in 1987 were the DJR and OXO teams, both running 2 Cosworths in ATCC, but upgrading to the RS500-spec for the 1987 Sandown 500 and beyond.

In 1988 there was an explosion of Sierra RS500 runners locally (no other Sierra variants ran as far as i remember)

2x DJR cars for Johnson & Bowe (a 3rd at Bathurst)
2x Oxo/Miedecke cars for Andrew Miedecke & Andrew Bagnall
1x Freeport Motorsport/Frank Gardner 'overlokked' car for Tony Longhurst (became Benson & Hedges for Sandown 500)
1x Caltex car for Colin Bond (2nd car for Bathurst)
1x ANZ/Eggenberger Sierra for Allan Moffat (ATCC rd4 at Wanneroo onwards)
1x Wolf car for Robbie Francevic (just the ATCC round at Winton, then Bathurst)
1x Murray Carter entry for the enduro's (ran a DR30 Skyline in the ATCC)

trying to recall if there were any other Sierra runners in 1988.....

[VIVA GT]

[QUOTE=chunterer]Yes I would think that all serious 'players' upgraded thier kit. However amateur and less serious entrants may not have done?
QUOTE]
Trivia question: There was a BTCC round at Donington the weekend of 1st - 2nd August 1987.
Who won this race, and more importantly came just second, but winning his class, becoming the first ever driver to win in a Group A RS500?

[Jesper OH]

QUOTE]
Trivia question: There was a BTCC round at Donington the weekend of 1st - 2nd August 1987.
Who won this race, and more importantly came just second, but winning his class, becoming the first ever driver to win in a Group A RS500?[/QUOTE]

That race was run on the 16th August 1987. Frank Sytner winning overall in a class B BMW M3, while Graham Goode finished second overall, winning class A, in his RS500.
On the same day though round six of the WTCC was held at Brno, won by the Eggenberger-RS500 of Klaus Ludwig and Klaus Niedzwiedz. The Czeck Rebublic must be one or two time zones ahead of Nottingham, UK. The Brno race lasted 3½ hours, while Goode spent less than half an hour.

Regarding the Malaysian Goode RS500, I think Gianfranco Brancatelli had a season in a Goode car as well. This would have been around '93 or '94. This car was dark blue or green and sponsored by Petronas.

Jesper

[VIVA GT]

Originally Posted by Jesper OH

QUOTE]
That race was run on the 16th August 1987. Frank Sytner winning overall in a class B BMW M3, while Graham Goode finished second overall, winning class A, in his RS500.
On the same day though round six of the WTCC was held at Brno, won by the Eggenberger-RS500 of Klaus Ludwig and Klaus Niedzwiedz. The Czeck Rebublic must be one or two time zones ahead of Nottingham, UK. The Brno race lasted 3½ hours, while Goode spent less than half an hour.

Regarding the Malaysian Goode RS500, I think Gianfranco Brancatelli had a season in a Goode car as well. This would have been around '93 or '94. This car was dark blue or green and sponsored by Petronas.

Jesper

Well done Jesper for a quick and very accurate reply.
Here's a picture of the car in that race (it was used for an Autosport Magazine poster). Note the damage on the near-side - Dennis Leech made a much faster start in his Rover, hence the black paint on the side of the Sierra!


Regarding the car driven by Brancatelli in Malaysia. This was an actual Eggenberger built and run car, but again, sponsored by the national oil company, Petronas.