In the mid-1980s, Ford had a massive problem: their radical, aerodynamically obsessed family sedan—the Sierra—was a sales disaster. Desperate to change its public image, they decided the only way to sell the "Jellymould" commuter car was to turn it into an unbeatable racer. By teaming up with legendary engine builder Cosworth and aero-specialists Tickford, they took a mundane chassis and bolted on a massive turbocharger and a physics-defying rear wing. The result was the Sierra RS500 Cosworth. It was an uncompromising homologation special built for exactly one purpose: the absolute annihilation of Group A touring car racing. It was so fast, so dominant, and so aggressive that it completely broke the rulebook, forcing entire racing series to change their regulations just to stop it.━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━📚 ORDER MY NEW BOOK "History Written by Losers" — out now.The true story of global power has been whitewashed by the victors and the fixers. This book tells the side of history they tried to bury.👉 https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0GP9TKPBH━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━🏁 IN THIS EPISODEIn the 1980s, Group A touring car racing was an all-out war between manufacturers, and Ford decided to bring a nuclear weapon. Guided by motorsport boss Stuart Turner, they bypassed traditional displacement and embraced lightweight aerodynamics and massive turbo boost. In this video, we dive into the brilliant, incredibly dominant story of the Ford Sierra RS500.From Cosworth's genius YB engine to the absurd "whale tail" aerodynamics, we explore how a family hatchback became a track monster. When the RS500 hit the grid, it didn't just win—it rendered every other car obsolete, ruling the BTCC, DTM, and Bathurst. And when it hit the streets, it became a working-class hero, a getaway driver's dream, and ultimately, a modern legend.What’s inside:The Cosworth Heartplant:How Ford convinced Cosworth to transform a mundane Pinto block into the legendary YB engine. They engineered a 16-valve, twin-cam masterpiece bolted to a Garrett turbocharger. For the RS500 evolution, they added a thicker block, a massive intercooler, and a secret second set of fuel injectors that were disconnected for the street but unleashed 500+ horsepower on the track.The Aerodynamic Weapon:The relentless wind-tunnel development that turned the slippery Sierra into a high-speed downforce machine. Unlike primitive spoilers of the era, the RS500 featured a deeper front splitter and a massive "whale tail" rear wing with an added Gurney flap, forcing the rear wheels into the tarmac and making the car an unstoppable force on high-speed circuits.Group A Annihilation:The absolute carnage the RS500 unleashed on global touring car racing. We explore how this homologation weapon made a mockery of BMWs and Holdens across the globe, scoring back-to-back championships in the BTCC, dominating the DTM, and conquering Bathurst. It was so overwhelmingly superior that it essentially forced the death of the Group A regulations.The Blue-Collar Supercar:The Sierra's bizarre afterlife on the streets of Britain. Because Ford had to sell 500 of these road-legal race cars to the public, it sparked a "Fast Ford" frenzy. We tell the story of how this working-class hero became the ultimate status symbol, one of the most stolen cars in the UK, and eventually, a six-figure collector's holy grail.━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━🔗 LINKS & SUPPORT📚 The book: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0GP9TKPBH📺 Documentary channel: https://youtube.com/@thatjasonhassett🔔 Subscribe for weekly post-mortems on the cars, companies, and engineering decisions that shaped modern motoring.━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━Chapters:0:00 Intro2:57 Why Ford Built the Sierra9:49 The Public Hated It.14:28 Time to Go Racing20:22 Introducing the RS50028:37 Sapphires & Success#FordSierra #RS500 #GroupA #AutomotiveHistory #Cosworth #80sCars #Motorsport #TheCarNerd #FastFord #TouringCars
