FORD SIERRA RS500 GROUP A

Offered here is one of the legendary Kaliber 'Group A' Sierra Cosworths originally built by Andy Rouse Engineering for the 1988 British Touring Car Championship. Throughout the season, the Kaliber Sierras were the cars to beat and, in a golden era, the spectacle of these seriously powerful touring cars belching flames helped define a magnificent chapter of saloon car racing.

At the end of the season, these winning cars were very much in demand, with one being sold to Peter Brock, and this car was purchased by Adrian Fu who took it to the Far East and raced it at Macau and in various rounds of the Asia Pacific Series. The Sierra then left Asia, bound for Australia where it was entered in the 1992 James Hardie at Bathhurst for drivers Ken Matthews, Rod Jones and Mike Newton. After the race, it remained at the circuit and was displayed in the Bathurst Museum for a while until purchased in 1993 by its previous owner, an accomplished Kiwi racing driver and businessman.

After some re-engineering work on the car by Peter Brock, he raced the Sierra in the New Zealand Endurance Championship with wins at Timaru International Motor Speedway and Teretonga, helping him and co-driver Murray Cleland win the Championship in 1996. Remaining in the same ownership, the Sierra enjoyed a period of retirement until 2016/17 when it was decided that the car should be rebuilt and returned to its original UK livery with the possibility of running in Archibald’s Historic car series in New Zealand, which it later did most successfully.

In period, the car had been continuously developed and evolved with input from Australia's favourite son, Peter Brock, and all this hard-won know-how was incorporated into the 2017 rebuild. The specification, at the time, included the original Zytec system which benefited from various upgrades, primarily enlarging the fuel delivery capacity. The engine was a new, long-stud, 205 block designed to run with 2.1 bar boost, producing around 540bhp with much of the engineering development the responsibility of renowned tuner, Ivan Tighe of Brisbane, with particular attention being paid to cam profiling and reliability. Much of the suspension work was carried out by specialists, Harrop Engineering of Brunswick in Victoria, applying new manufacturing processes to the Peter Brock suspension. The Brock driveshafts which, in the day, were recognised as twisting less than any other preparers, were reverse-engineered. Both driveshafts were new and the rear end was rebuilt with new bearings.

Our New Zealand owner decided that the Sierra should be offered for sale in the UK after the rebuild and it was subsequently sold in 2019 to a well respected UK historic race team who have since carried out extensive work to ensure that it's race-ready and competitive. The work included a top-specification Harvey Gibbs engine that has only covered three laps of Silverstone, a rebuilt Getrag gearbox and differential, a new heated front screen, all of the safety equipment is in date, and the car is complete with current FIA/HTP papers.

On the button, this iconic Kaliber Sierra RS500 is ready to race or test, accompanied by a spares package and wheels. To replicate this car today would cost considerably more than this estimate and therefore this package offers fantastic value for money, in our opinion. Superbly prepared, priced to sell, and a certain front runner in the best historic events in the UK and around the world.