New Ford Sierra RS500 continuation cars to be built by UK engineering firm

The British Touring Car Championship may have crowned Ash Sutton as its latest champion, but you’ll shortly be able to relive the wild days of the championship in the 1980s in a new continuation Ford Sierra RS500 Group A car.

Engineering company CNC Engineering AWS is building three of the cars in collaboration with former Touring car racer and car builder Andy Rouse - a four time BTCC champion and winner of the 1988 and 1989 championships in an original Sierra RS500.

Each example will be based upon an original Ford Sierra bodyshell, with the first example using an original motorsport shell that has been stored since the late Eighties. All will be supplied in plain white paint, but with the option of custom liveries. 

The CNC Motorsport AWS team has access to drawings and data to produce parts specific to the Rouse race-prepared title winning machine, such as the front suspension uprights, rear arms, fuel tank enclosure and the trademark side-exit exhaust. The cars will be produced to 1990 specification. 

The continuation Sierras will all come with relevant papers, a motorsport fuel cell and roll cage certificates, and an Andy Rouse Engineering build plate. They will all be ready to race in various historic series, including HSCC touring Cars and the Silverstone Classic.

Under the bonnet will be a newly built 575bhp Cosworth YB engine, which will drive the rear wheels through a five-speed manual gearbox and a viscous differential. 

Alan Strachan, the boss of CNC Engineering AWS, worked for Andy Rouse Engineering in period, and is now a renowned restorer and builder of classic touring cars. He said: “The cars are great fun to drive, relatively easy to maintain and considerably more affordable to run than Super Touring cars. RS500s are also a great draw for the fans that fondly remember these fire-breathing monsters. The cars will be built and signed off by Andy, just as we did in period.”

Andy Rouse added: “When Alan told me he had acquired a brand new bodyshell, we came up with the idea to build correct continuation cars just as they would have been in our Binley workshop. He was the only person I trusted to build cars that would carry the ARE build plate.”

Each car will cost from £185,000, with options for spares packages and liveries. The first car is expected to be completed in 2022.

What do you think of the Ford Sierra RS500 continuation models? Let us know your thoughts in the comments section...