Rare: RS Cosworth in Australia!

Photos by Brodie Butler

The RS Cosworth was first put on the table back in ’83 by Stuart Turner as he was appointed head of Ford Motorsport Europe, because he figured Ford was no longer a competitive racer. He wanted to bring back the brand for Group A Touring in Europe and after a chat with Cosworth to supply the powerplants, the Sierra RS Cosworth was first unveiled in 1985.

With a 2.0L turbocharged four-cylinder YBB engine that produced 204hp in the street car and 300hp for the race version, it had much success in the RS500 guise during its Group A stint, plus added success on tarmac rally stages worldwide.

In ’86, a total of 5000 RS Cosworths were built, with 500 of them going into the hands of Tickford to create the RS500. They were only sold in Europe and only as RHD, but Gavin Fairchild’s version you see here was first owned by Australian Touring Car driver Tony Longhurst. Longhurst piloted his RS500 to victory at the Toohey’s 1000 at Bathurst in 1988, and he had this RS Cosworth for the street.

“I am unsure whether Tony had imported the car personally, or whether it was purchased and sponsored by Ford Australia,” begins Perth resident Gavin. “It was a good thing it came to Australia so early in its life. These cars suffer from a lot of chassis rust in the UK due to road salting – this car has none!”

Gavin found this 1986 RS five years ago in South Australia, pretty much in factory condition minus some enlarged injectors and a chipped computer from the Motherland. “I’ve always had older Fords, same with my family – especially my old man. This is just one of those ones that came up; classic Ford import, totally different to Falcons and pretty much anything you can buy here! It’s really the old Ford to have.”

“I used to watch them with my Dad when I was young,” he continues, “but you realise later on what you were actually seeing and then you go back and research everything you can about them; I have been kind of fixated since then.”

When Cosworth was first approached back in 1983 in regards to the engine, Ford had only wanted 180hp; Cosworth accepted Ford’s proposal, but one of their conditions was that the engine would have no less than 150kW from factory.

This was a fantastic figure from a 2.0L force-fed four banger back in the mid eighties, but Gavin wanted to get it to a more modern figure. Pushing the power figure past 330rwhp is a Garrett GT2876 snail along with relevant supporting mods. A MoTec M400 ECU was chosen to run the show but nobody in the country or even overseas had plug-‘n-play items and no one in Australia tuned these engines; so it was up for some custom fiddling around.

“To get it running again was a complete re-wire job,” says Gavin. “The boys at LF Engineering completely rewired the car. X Speed were given the job of tuning it, but there was no base map readily available! They had to start from scratch, but they worked their magic and I was finally able to drive it again!”

“It is so good to drive it when I do,” he continues. “The best part is being able to take it out; not only is it fantastic to drive on the street or the track, but you just do not see any around!”

“People always ask me when it’ll be finished or if it is finished; there is always something I am doing to it, and next up is upgrading the engine to match the rest of the car!”

A Garrett GT35 is in the works and Gavin is also saving up to get the engine rebuilt. But until then, he will be driving it as often as he can, enjoying what only a couple of thousand people worldwide have ever experienced in their lifetime.