Top five Cosworth-powered cars
The iconic British high performance engine manufacturer, Cosworth, has been put up for sale.
Owners Gerry Forsythe and Kevin Kalkhoven have instructed UBS to find a buyer for the business, after testing the stock market with a flotation of the company.
Cosworth, who are best known for their association with Ford, was established in 1958 when motor engineers Mike Costin and Kevin Duckworth founded the company.
They worked with Ford to deliver a Formula 1 victory for Jim Clark in 1967 and have enjoyed success ever since with their engines powering numerous Formula 1 cars, touring cars, rally cars and even road cars to victory.
To mark the firm being put up for sale, we've put together our top five cars of all time to be powered by a Cosworth engine.
Ford Sierra Sapphire RS Cosworth
More sedate that its predecessor – the Sierra Cosworth, see below – the two-wheel-drive and 4x4 Sierra Sapphires of the 1990s offered real super saloon performance at an affordable price. But where other Ford Cosworth models left little to the imagination, the Sierra Sapphire Cosworth had subtle, more sophisticated looks.
Mercedes-Benz 190E 2.5-16 Cosworth
This special Mercedes was originally designed to go rallying, but the arrival of the four-wheel-drive Audi quattro meant Mercedes had to abandon their rally programme – their two-wheel-drive 190E Cosworth would have been annihilated. But every cloud has a silver lining and Mercedes detuned the 190E and sold it as a road car while also campaigning it in German saloon car racing.
Ford Escort RS Cosworth
No car since has sported such an outlandish body-kit, but the Escort Cosworth wasn't all mouth and no trousers. The 2.0-litre turbo-charged engine gave the iconic 'Cossie' formidable performance; 227bhp, sub-six second 0-60mph time and a top speed of 140mph. Rally fans, petrolheads and insurance companies alike all loved the Escort Cosworth.
Subaru Impreza STI CS400
Suggesting a Cosworth-Subaru collaboration in the mid-1990s would have been completely unacceptable with both Ford and Subaru battling it out in the World Rally Championship. Skip forward to 2010 and the Japanese giant called on the British manufacturer to 'tune' the Impreza. The result was a 400bhp, 2.5-litre turbocharged monster – just 75 were built at a massive £50,000 a pop.
Ford Sierra RS Cosworth
The original Sierra Cosworth was formidable when it came out in the mid-1980s, offering Ferrari-levels of performance in a practical Sierra body. It quickly came to epitomise the decade. There was also a limited run of an even more hardcore version – the RS500; one of which was recently spotted for sale at an eye-watering £65,000.
What makes your top five? Let us know by posting your comments below
