IF THE CAPRI Perana of the early 1970s was the start of the simple ‘Boer maak a Plan’ approach of shoehorning a V8 into a compact Ford body never designed with that many cubes in mind, then the Sierra XR8 represents the culmination of that philosophy, reaping maximum benefits in terms of a high power-to-weight ratio without making a car unduly complicated or expensive.

IMAGE GALLERY HERE

We owe the XR8 (along with such local classics as the BMW 745i and Alfa Romeo GTV 3.0) to Group One racing which ran as a ‘showroom’ style production car series in the early 1980s. In the final years of the series things started to get out of hand with allegations of cheating rife, including nocturnal skulduggery. In one alleged instance, a car impounded post-race pending a full strip the next day miraculously revealed brand-new mechanicals under the bonnet when the scrutineering garage was unlocked in the morning.

Ford fielded a pair of XR8s, one for stage and circuit ace Serge Damseaux, the other for John Gibb, whose company, Presto Parcels, provided additional funding. As it turned out, 1985 was the last year of Group One, and at the end of the year Ford gave both cars to Willie Hepburn, on condition that he campaign them in the Wesbank Modified series, then running multiple classes based on engine capacity (with adjustments for the rotary engine and ‘newfangled’ technology like multiple valves per cylinder).

Willie grafted large spats on the flanks and a spoiler to the nose though it seems the arrangement evolved to what’s shown here. The nose has all the elegance of a snowplough but, remarkably, it is all a single fibreglass unit – right to the back of the car. 

Attached to the rear hatch is the tall, single plane wing fitted to the Sierra RS500 – the final incarnation of the 2.0-litre turbocharged three-door Sierras, which only Europeans enjoyed. Surprisingly, the aluminium bolt-in roll cage remained, but the bodyshell has been reinforced in other areas to improve rigidity, including welding gussets between the rear struts and the inner bodywork and a subframe across the transmission tunnel. An underbonnet brace joins the strut towers to the firewall.

Willie was ready to take to the track by the start of 1986, squaring off against the likes of Tony Viana in a 24-valve 5 Series Beemer and Ben Morgenrood in a Mazda RX-7. Check out You Tube, and you’ll understand why many greybeards consider the years which followed as the pinnacle of saloon racing in this country.

This car then, is The Animal, circa 1987, first appearing in Sabat colours midway through the season, after a memorable win at Kyalami in blue and white on an Autumny Highveld afternoon.

But hang on, what of the other car? Oh well, it became the guest car for 1987 it seems, driven once by the likes of George Fouche (with Arwa pantyhose backing) and by Brian Cook. It was also used on occasion by Willie himself. Seems that with two cars in the stable, he had the option of using one while continuing to develop the other.

So which one is The Animal, or are they both?