Despite its brief production run from 1986 to 1992, the Ford Sierra RS Cosworth achieved an enduring and revered status in the automotive world.

The story of how the Ford Sierra Cosworth came to exist goes back to the year 1983 when Stuart Turner was appointed the head of Ford Motorsport in Europe. He felt that Ford lacked a competitive edge and wanted to build a racecar to take the crown of Group A racing. To get the ball rolling on a new project car, he reached out to Walter Hayes, VP of public relations at Ford, whose earlier projects included the legendary Ford GT40 that helped Ford win Le Mans in 1966, and the Cosworth DFV Formula 1 engine developed for the Team Lotus F1 team.

Ford approached Cosworth to build the engine, who had been long-term collaborators by this time. Coincidentally, Cosworth had developed a 16-valve twin-cam version of the Ford Pinto’s engine, all they had to do was turbocharge it. The Ford Sierra, a rather bland mid-sized family car, was used as a base car for the build.

After implementing a number of cosmetic changes, and performance bits which included a new engine -The Ford Sierra RS “Cossie” Cosworth was born. Introduced in 1986, the Ford Sierra RS Cosworth made waves as a three-door hatchback. It featured a 2.0-liter DOHC turbo engine generating 201 horsepower and a top speed of 150 MPH – performance figures typically associated with high-end sports cars like Porsches, but at a considerably more affordable price point and with practicality to boot.