Man Maths: Ford Sierra Sapphire RS Cosworth

I really liked these cars in period, especially those that had been sensibly breathed upon. The 2-litre motor with its Pinto block and twin-cam, 16-valve Cosworth head was almost indestructible, and while it developed 204bhp as standard, it could be turned up to over 500bhp for racing and I drove at least one road-legal example with 400bhp. It was almost undrivable. But you could get around 280bhp from a standard engine and turbo without much work and seemingly no additional lag and I particularly remember one tuned by Turbo Technics to about that extent which was absolutely delicious. Just remember to make sure it’s the rear-wheel drive version you get, not its all-wheel drive replacement (done so it could be homologated as a Group A rally car) which takes away all the fun.

And it is at precisely this point that our hitherto happy tale is brought to a screeching nails-down-the-blackboard halt. Because, thanks to the gloriously and defining delusional qualities of Man Maths, you might think that’s all you’d want to know about these cars. And it probably is. But there are a few things you need to know too.

First, we’ve already established that these cars are very susceptible and receptive to being tuned. And some have been done with greater care than others; some, frankly, have been ruined. And others have been put back to standard hoping you won’t notice because authenticity and originality is what sells such cars these days. You have been warned.

Second, though their prices seem quite high these days, there was a period when they were cheap as a plate of frites on the Dieppe seafront, which means many were neglected.

But probably not as many as got nicked. There was a time in the late 1980s when Sierra Cosworths were the toast of the town among the light-fingered community. Autocar had a long termer which got stolen, was then found by the police who decided to hang around in order to collar the tea-leaf upon his return, only to see it being stolen all over again by someone else entirely while they waited.

There’s probably never been a story published about buying a second hand car which doesn’t mention the importance of history, but you’d do well to think of a car to which it was more crucial. If you want one, for goodness sake pay the extra to get a decent car with a known and undisputed provenance. You’ll not only enjoy it more, but I just about guarantee it’ll be cheaper in the long run too.

Photography courtesy of Bonhams|Cars Online

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