With a full 582 hp
There was something magical about it. Ordinary street cars fighting with each other to exchange paint on small tracks like Brands Hatch. Spend an hour on YouTube and look for old BTCC videos. You will not be disappointed. One of the heroes behind the wheel was Andy Rouse. He won sixty races and four BTCC titles. This driver is now partnering with CNC Engineering AWS to build three brand new Ford Sierra Cosworth RS500 units.
CNC Engineering AWS had three brand new Sierra bodies in a department store somewhere, parked there since the 1980s. The company has access to genuine parts and information from the BTCC era Ford Sierra Cosworths. The front and rear suspension, fuel tank, side exhausts and roll cage are all produced to original specification.
The two-liter turbo engine in the street-legal Sierra RS500 was already very potent with 227 hp. The cars Andy Rouse Engineering turned into BTCC cars threw a ridiculous 500 horsepower at the wheels. The three new Ford Sierra Cosworth RS500s get no less than 582 hp. The engines are built by Vic Drake, who also built more than 100 engines for the Sierra at the time. The gearbox is a five-speed manual Getrag.
Andy Rouse on the Ford Sierra Cosworth RS500
“It was by far the best race car I’ve driven, it looked fast, it went fast and it was a difficult car to drive simply because it had too much power for the grip. And the tires weren’t great at the time either. Oversteer isn’t good for a lap time, but it was hard to avoid if you were trying to go fast in an RS500. I grew up riding on grass tracks, so going sideways felt natural to me,” Andy told TopGear.
The price for the new Ford Sierra Cosworth RS500 is 220,000 euros. Then you can buy a lot of spare parts and, if desired, they cover it with a livery from the BTCC era.
