Owned by Kiwi Bruce Miles, the Sierra will be back in action in the Heritage Touring Car races at the upcoming Christchurch Super440 Supercars event.
Seven locally based Sierra RS500s are expected to be among the 38-car field of Group A, Super Touring and early five-litre V8 era machinery.
Miles’ car has recently reemerged from hiding, resplendent in the eye-catching Texaco colours as raced by its builder, Eggenberger Motorsport.
Steve Soper and Pierre Dieudonne drove it to victory for Eggenberger in the opening round of the 1988 European Touring Car Championship at Monza.
It was then dispatched to Australia and fielded by new owner Allan Moffat in ANZ colours, winning September’s Sandown 500 with Moffat and Greg Hansford at the wheel.
Moffat, Hansford and Klaus Niedzwiedz also dominated much of that year’s Bathurst 1000 before the car succumbed to late-race overheating.
Niedzwiedz then joined Moffat for victory in the car at the following month’s Fuji 500 in Japan – an event held on Moffat’s 50th birthday that proved his career swansong.
Moffat’s team campaigned the car during the remainder of the Group A era – including in four more Bathurst 1000s – before selling it on.
Racer and car collector Miles snapped it up from Moffat in 1993 and, with two other Sierras in his possession at the time, only briefly raced it.
“I bought it because it was a Texaco car and I’m gaga on Texaco cars,” Miles reflected to Speedcafe.
“I took it out and raced it a couple of times around ’95/’96 after that it just sat in a nice, dry shed.
“I just thought it was nice to own.”
Miles decided to take the car out of storage in 2019 and get it ready to run on track. The car is largely original but required a fresh engine.
“I don’t think Moff had a lot of money because when we got it, it had a mismatched piston or rod in it. We spent about $55,000 doing an engine,” said Miles.
“Once we’d finished that it was during COVID and we had to wait for ages for parts and then it got a misfire, which we eventually sorted.”
The car has undergone shakedown running and will be raced at the Christchurch event by Craig Innes.
Miles will compete in the those races aboard one of his BMW Super Tourers, declaring himself too old for the brutal Sierra.
“It’s pretty physical. It hasn’t got power steering,” he said.
“I had a drive when we were running it in and I thought it’s a good way for an old man to have a heart attack!
“I’d like to sell it and put the money into a nice road car.”
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Miles flagged an asking price for the car of around $850K AUD.
Its history with both Eggenberger and Moffat means it will likely be sought-after in Europe as well as Australia and New Zealand.
“If it goes back to Australia someone might put it back to how Allan raced it,” he said.
“The double history is good for it, that’s for sure.
“It’s a museum piece, really. Because it sat around for so long it’s an absolute time warp.”
The Christchurch grid is also set to feature Sierras originally fielded by Andy Rouse (Kaliber), Colin Bond (Caltex), Dick Johnson (Shell), Mark Petch (Peanut Slab), Tony Longhurst (B&H) and Kevin Waldock (Playscape).
That includes the return of Lance Coupland’s DJR6 following a restoration to repair damage caused by a fire at George Begg Festival last April.
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