Fistly......since the text is in spanish and ive translated it by myself into english, id like to apologise to mother tongue speakers if ive already made some big mistakes when translating it
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Sideways
This is the image that youd have with the tested car today. It has rear wheel drive system, the powerful cosworth engine and its way of driving has portrayed the car; Carlos Sainz started in the World Rallying Championship with the sierra and he won two Spanish rallying championships as well. Its an impressive car, the more you glance, the more you like it. A really classic car that still wins races though
Each time that we try to start a racing car test, our hearts start accelerating thinking of, within some moments, we are going to be on board in some cars that trill ourselves when we watch them in any rallying section; they just challenge the highest level of a national championship or a cup. We feel fortunate since weve got in our hands the chance of testing a racing car, to compare it against another, and get some opinion of them in order to transmit their sensation to the readers; Its like having a list of competitors that are going to take part in a race, and just have already known how each car works
When testing a classic car, the case is different. It gives even more emotions when weve got a classic rallying car in our hands. Apart from the car itself, its story, its huge list of races, and the relevant drivers that have driven the cars are added to the cars career. Its not its efficiency against the stopwatch, nor its active differentials or its semiautomatic gearbox with the levers in the steering wheel that makes the text attractive, its more platonic; its everything that the classic rallying car has in its back; its soul, its period, its victories; if you like the rallying cars and the classic cars, undoubtedly youll understand what we mean. Otherwise, keep on reading “everything rallying” (the magazine which I scaned and its called about) when, sooner or later, every part of the body will feel some shiver (in a good way, naturally) when youll see a Lancia 037 article for example
Well, after this little introduction, we are bringing to our pages, one of the cars with some story, not a very old car though, but just enough to be kept in our memory, specially from the petrolheads of this country
First grA
In 1987, when the Group B were banned, Ford Motorsport roughly could enjoy the RS 200. Consequently, Ford had to find out some car that was able to fit under the Group A specifications as best as possible. They had a four wheel drive car, the Sierra XR4x4, but its engine wasn’t brilliant at all, the 2.8 liter V6 though. As a result, and suddenly, they decided that they had to concentrate their every single effort to something more powerful, in the sierra cosworth
This model, even though it’s a two wheel drive car, it has an impressive power, above to the majority of its rivals; the 400 bhp that was capable of developing from its engine it was decreased to about 300 bhp due to the GrA rules. As a result, the car was undoubtedly reliable
That year Carlos Sainz, the official ford driver during that period, got the Spanish rallying championship in one of them, and he started the World Rallying Championship in the same car as well.
The following year, the 1988, he won the championship again and his brilliant performances in the World Rallying Championship, such as the magnificient section times in the San Remo let him to be contracted by Toyota and gave him the definitive step forward towards the World Rallying Championship
Through the World Rallying Championhip, it was driven as the too emblematic drivers as the Ari Vatanen, who finished second in the 1987 Mil Lakes Rally, Stig Blomquist, who finished second in the RAC of the same year, or Didier Auriol, who got the unique victory of the sierra, in 1988
But the years were passing more and more,and the two wheel drive system was more and more obsolete in rallying. In 1989, the 4 wheel drive was essencial to win a World Rallying Championship Rally, and it didnt make any sense to be working this Sierra. Consequently, this was the period when the 4 wheel version sierra was launched in a 4 door version shape, but this is another story though. As a result, the Ford Sierra RS Cosworth was handed to the private drivers and it kept on creating a lot of fun on many drivers in the national Rallying Championships.
In order to test a pure grA Sierra Cosworth, we went to the Basque Country. There, Fernando Brizuela owns in Portugalete an unit that has been driving for ten years, and he is used to the car so much that he handles as it were another part of his body. Detail a detail, Fernando describes us each element of the vehicle; for instance, he mend cars and he has maintained the sierra from the very first day
More than 400 bhp
Undoubtely, the element of the car that the drivers appreciate most is the engine. The impressive 4 cilinder block, with the typical red cover signed by cosworth, hiding the twin cam that push the 4 valves per cylinder through the hemispheric head, concentrates our attention when opening the bonnet
With the 1993cc capacity, the English specialists have reached an impressive amount of power, everything thank to the turbo, a Garret T3, placed on the right part of the engine´s head (on the right hand side in the picture), which depending on the pressure, it reaches from 340 bhp at 1,4 kilos to more than 400 bhp at 2 kg of pressure.
Brizuela normally drives at 1,5 kilogram of pressure, since naturally the car doesn’t lack of power. From the turbo, the air passes through the intercooler just assembled above the water radiator; the installation has two valves, the wastegate of the turbine, and another one just after the intercooler, just between this and the admission pipe, which is the cause of making the typical noise when taking off the throttle. A device allows us, when the turbo failes, to avoid passing the oil through the engine from a key placed in the cars interior. Therefore, its avoided passing the oil through the exhaust system, and a bigger engine failure as a result. Consequently, we can drive the car as it were an aspirated one.
The electronics is signed by Magnetti Marelli and the driving board has two of them just if either of them failes
Two Wheel Drive…..in the rear
It’s the trickiest part of the car, the way to transmit the power to the ground. The longitudinal engine is followed by a Getrag gearbox also longitudinal and with 5 synchronised gears in it; yeah, its right, 5 syncronised gears in H. This gearbox comes from BMW, we can see its capital letters in its cover, and the gears are shifted in a different way from we are used to; the first gear is shifted to the back, whereas the second is shifted to the front and so on. Reaching 210 kilometers per hour at 8000 revs
An impressive rear transmission set is necessary. The viscous differential set to the 70%
is the only way towards the 350 bhp transmission to the ground. A little radiator and an electric pump are the responsive of its oils cooling
In terms of suspensions, the car is based on the McPherson pattern in the front and oscilating trapezoids in the back. The whole group damper-spring are the Ford Motorsport original ones, signed by bilstein and made by titanium the rear ones. In the both platforms, the stabilizing bar can be set in five different positions
The steering wheel is very direct, with the servo in it, and one turn per each side. The brakes, signed by AP Racing, with four pistons and two tweerzers per wheel bite the four discs with the diameter of 330mm in the front, and 285mm in the back. It has a double braking pump as well, one per set which are adjustable from the interior of the car
The chassis is properly restrenghtened with a complete safety jail, and signed by RAS Motorsport; the car weights roughly 1100 kilograms and its very well balanced since the Typical front elements such as the battery, the fire extinguisher, are replaced to the back
Tail of whale
When riding the car, you have to consider very seriously that we are talking about a 15 year old turbo engined car and a rear wheel drive system in it. The first thing that we have to think its that we are in a car that lengthens 4 and half meters. Inside the car and towards the front, weve got an impressive and sharpen front, whereas in its back, weve got even a more impressive spoiler that has gained ·the tail of whale” nickname
We are in a great car. We shift the first gear, we take off the clutch little a little, and it behaves as a normal car. Hovewer, when the car reaches 3500 revs, the car pushes in a so impressive way that suddenly the seat is pushed to the back and the tail wants to overtake the front. We are going sideways in a straight line. The optimum revs go from 3500 revs to the 5800 revs when the cosworth offers the most power although we can push the car till 8000 rpm in the 5th gear
The front of the car enters quite ok at the beginning of the bend. Once we put the tail out of place, we can put it wherever we want. Its more than enough to watch Brizuela in every bend just to realise how fast the car can be driven in skilful hands
Carlos Sainz “spectacular and effective”
Our best driver used to drive it, being a Spanish Rallying champion in 1987 and 1988, he started in the World Rallying Championship in this car in 1987, being his last car before his step forward towards the World Rallying Championship with the Toyota Team
“ It was the first grA that I drove, the beginning was difficult because of the rules change in an immediate way, and we had to modifie the car under the grA specifications. Later on, the car gave us a lot of satisfactions, it was a competitive car on tarmac, and it wasn’t bad on gravel. It had a great engine and it was great fun for driving. Undoubtely, it was the best two wheel drive car during that time.
The driving technique was quite simple; it had a lot of power and we had to find out the traction. On tarmac, it was really effective because of the engine, and the grip which
was quite good; the Michelin tyres did help quite a lot anyway. The front didn enter quite well at the beginning of the bend, and we had to be gentle with the throttle because of the two wheel drive car. Since it was a rear wheel drive car, we were sideways everytime but always searching for the traction, the car was spectacular and effective at the same time
The difference with the Focus WRC is very big, but the main one is the 4 wheel drive system. In addition, the turbo flanges size wasn’t limited and it had less torque, so we used to shift the gears in higher revs; naturally, the gearbox was shifted manually…it was another period
Ive got very good memories of the car, since it was the car that I made the debut in the World Rallying Championship. I gained very good moments. If I had to mention any strong point of the car, Id choose the engine, it was very pleasant to drive it; during that time, the car was really good”
Fernando Brizuela “it has too many bhp”
This person from Burgos, but living in the Basque Country has been rallying for 25 years and he has driven every type of cars. He won the Spanish Rallying Cup in 1987, and he bought this sierra just one year before the sierras homologation was gone off; some problems with the differential didn’t let him get a good national championship during that year; and later on, he went to compete the Regional championships.
Brizuela and the sierra have been the “couple to be beaten” of the Basque and Cantabrian rallying championships during the last years; with 140 victories in rallying and some Basque and Cantabrian Rallying titles, and creating a lot of fun to the audience everytime that he takes part with the 350 bhp in the back of the ford sierra
“I think that it’s a fast car, considering that it’s a rear wheel drive one” there are specific sections that the car goes fast or very slow against the current 4 wheel drive cars. But in fast sections, the car is really competitive
The thing that I like most of the car its the engine, since but a few problems with the turbo and the differentials, I haven’t had any problems for 10 years
When driving the car, although the car has a lot of bhp, it has a very long wheelbase and its easy to go sideways; I mean, it isn’t very nervous
Depending on the road conditions, if its slippery the car can oversteer a bit when beginning the bend, but in general its good. Afterwords, when you are flicking, you can move the car whatever you want; the brakes, when they are hot, they are very effective and this is the aspect that I like since I had to work very hard in order to get this effectiveness. The suspensions are the same as the Ford teams, the Bilstein, and ive got the same pressure as ford team used to use in the Tour de Corse 1987
The engine is the same as when I purchased it; ive digged it once and it still works.Ive digged already the gearbox twice or three times as well. But the best part of the car is undoubtedly the engine. I haven’t had any problems with the engine. I haven’t forced it too much though; since when I bought it from RAS, they told me that I could increase the turbo pressure to 2kg but I drive with 1,5kg. Then, turbo had a 40mm diameter flange, but currently it has a 38mm one, and approximately it develops 340 bhp
I think that it has many horsepower since it burns the wheels really quickly. In terms of the fuel consumption, simply no comment; its about a bit more than a liter per kilometer. The real weakpoint of the car is that the traction could be better; although weve made some improvements in the chassis and the car goes quite better
Nowadays we are searching for some budget in order to drive forward a project in the National Rallying Championship. Otherwise, well keep on driving the sierra in the regional
Pics text translations:
- With the 350 bhp in the rear wheel its impossible to maintain the sierra straight
- Fernando explained us every single machine´s secret
- Fernando Brizuela is the owner of this piece of jewelry, today it even wins the rallyes against the much more modern cars
- Didier Auriol won the 1988 Tour de Corse, the only victory in the World Rallying Championship
- The cooling disks with the 4 pistons AP tweekers
- Brizuela uses 17” rims in dry conditions
- The red Cosworth cover the head the of the bay
- The responsible for the engine´s amount of power is this Garret T3 turbo
- Blowing at 1,5 kilos, the engine develops 350 bhp, being possible to achieve 400 bhp at 2 kilos
- A second discharching valve is placed behind the intercooler
- This device cuts off the oil´s flow in the turbo, in case of its failure, and in order to work the engine as an aspirated one
- The water spreading bottle and the oil recover system is really refined
- Fernando Brizuela has been driving the Ford Sierra for 10 years
- The visosic differential is the responsible for delivering the power to the rear set
- The stabilizing bars can be set in 5 different positions
- The chassis is properly strenghtened
- Fire extinguisher, pumps and petrol filters are placed where the original spare wheel is supposed to be
- The battery is placed above the rear set in order to improve the balance
- This is the brake pumps setting device
- Beside the handbrake, weve got the rear braking setting device
- Under the terratrip weve got a doubled CPU,one of them as a spare one
- In fast sections, the Cosworth is even effective today, Brizuela is still winning races today
- Xaby Sport, the MP deliverer in the area, gave us some hand when doing this test
- RAS Sport, the prestigious Belgian tuner, made the tested sierra
- The huge rear differential, set to 70%
- Sainz drove the sierra RS Cosworth in 1987 and 1988, being the Spanish champion during those two years
The ford sierra cosworth grA test
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