Engine Punk

This is my Ford Sierra XR4x4, parked without concern on a muddy verge at a speed hillclimb last year - well, in a muddy verge for it was so wet. This old car is a bit of a monster - impertinent hot hatches come by but I real them when it comes to Hamburger Hill on the A30. Their little four pot screamers may match my old V6 for power but don't have the torque. They're probably more economic to run though - 28 mpg is good for my monster. But it's a sophisticated monster. With its four-wheel drive, fuel injection, and anti-lock brakes, this 25-year-old car was very sophisticated for its day. Having usurped to be XR4i from the range of performance Fords, the XR4x4 was in turn superseded by the Ford Sierra Cosworth but it wouldn't go away. The XR 4x4 was too useful. It wasn't as highly strung as the Cossie and was a very good tow car. Its engine was relatively lowly stressed and was the ideal powerplant when the car eventually entered the twilight world of the old, f...