The British Touring Car Championship strayed from God’s light starting in 1990, switching to its . Other series followed suit a few years later, and Group A’s touring car golden years came to a close.

Every year, Jalopnik’s most Chosen members – well, just me this year – have brought you the very best of Group C and GT1 racing from the 1980s and 1990s. We even did a Group B rally theme once. But for some reason we’ve never covered arguable the most successful racing formula of all. It’s the awkwardly-titled , worthy of celebration.

But before they did, Ford raced the Sierra in the BTCC, homologated as part of Group A regulations. There is so much to say about these things, including how Ford always sought to bend the rules with homologation, but I think it is also important to just see and hear the car perform as a car. Not just as a race car, competing for victory, but as a car that brakes and steers and responds to the driver.

For that we have Tiff Needel and old, old Top Gear to give us a guide.