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Behold: the one-off Ford Sierra RS500 ‘Carbon Piranha’ restomod

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Behold: the one-off Ford Sierra RS500 ‘Carbon Piranha’ restomod | Top Gear

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It’s being built by Vision148, which is planning on turning the touring car legend into a sub-one-tonne, carbonised freak of nature

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Behold: the one-off Ford Sierra RS500 ‘Carbon Piranha’ restomod

# data.attributes.metatag[].attributes.content
It’s being built by Vision148, which is planning on turning the touring car legend into a sub-one-tonne, carbonised freak of nature

# data.attributes.metatag[].attributes.content
Behold: the one-off Ford Sierra RS500 ‘Carbon Piranha’ restomod

# data.attributes.metatag[].attributes.content
It’s being built by Vision148, which is planning on turning the touring car legend into a sub-one-tonne, carbonised freak of nature

# data.attributes.metatag[].attributes.content
Behold: the one-off Ford Sierra RS500 ‘Carbon Piranha’ restomod

# data.attributes.metatag[].attributes.content
Behold: the one-off Ford Sierra RS500 ‘Carbon Piranha’ restomod

# data.attributes.metatag[].attributes.content
It’s being built by Vision148, which is planning on turning the touring car legend into a sub-one-tonne, carbonised freak of nature

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Your eyes do not deceive you: this is a one-of-one, carbon-bodied second-coming of the brilliantly bonkers Ford Sierra RS500. Dubbed the ‘Carbon Piranha’, it’s being built by a consortium of British OEMs which are together called ‘Vision148’.

That’s not a random number either; it’s a direct reference to the donor car in question, chassis number 148 of the 500 ever made. At present, said car looks about as usable on the road as a tin of sweetcorn, but there’s a clear pathway for how the project will progress from here with input from the various contributors.

First, ASM Auto Recycling will dismantle the car and brainstorm which parts need to be 3D scanned and recreated using recycled carbon fibre. Then, the reigns will be handed to Yasid Design, which will oversee the actual reimagination and visualisation of the Carbon Piranha.

The last act will send the car to Silverstone’s Digital Manufacturing Centre to complete the final rebuild and polish. Cosworth will also be involved here to toy around with the powertrain and a few other bits and bobs, like topping up the washer fluid chamber.

Though no official outputs have been discussed at this stage, we do know one number that’s being targeted: a curb weight of under 1,000kg. If true, that means the Carbon Piranha would chop over 200kg from the original RS500, which is hardly in need of a diet itself.

And since Cosworth is having a fettle with what will likely be a rebuilt version of the turbocharged 2.0-litre four-pot, we’re expecting an increase to the standard car’s 224bhp. A wishful thinker would hope for it to be upped close to the 500bhp output which saw the RS500 dominate touring car racing… but we wouldn’t be quite that optimistic.

Right, time to break down its design. The tasty retro-futuristic upgrades include even bigger wheel arches than the original car, more crevices and indentations than we can count and striking new light signatures. All this’ll be Yasid Design’s good doing.

The closed wheel covers are also properly neat - particularly with the deeper dishes at the rear - while that whale-tail wing and boot lid spoiler duo have been redesigned. We also suspect some extreme aftermarket suspension has been thrown on, evaporating the ride height to all of one millimetre. Looks ace though.

Ian Howe, the founder of Vision148, said: “Our viewpoint is to give fans the chance to see the RS500 differently, with a modern eye. Even those who weren’t born when the original car was produced but have a connection with cars and modern ideas.”

And here’s a word from the global director of Cosworth, Nick Greenway: “Cosworth is celebrating over 65 years and it all started with Motorsport, which led us through Ford ownership, Cossies and the aftermarket. We know that there is a passionate fan base out there for the Cosworth brand, and what better way to celebrate a road and race icon than through the Vision148 RS500 project.”

We already know that mission Carbon Piranha is around eight months in, although no completion date has been set as yet. Want to know the best part? You can now apply to become a member of the project’s club, and doing so means you could be in with a chance of winning this very car once the rebuild is complete. Wouldn’t that be something.

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Your eyes do not deceive you: this is a one-of-one, carbon-bodied second-coming of the brilliantly bonkers Ford Sierra RS500. Dubbed the ‘Carbon Piranha’, it’s being built by a consortium of British OEMs which are together called ‘Vision148’.

That’s not a random number either; it’s a direct reference to the donor car in question, chassis number 148 of the 500 ever made. At present, said car looks about as usable on the road as a tin of sweetcorn, but there’s a clear pathway for how the project will progress from here with input from the various contributors.

First, ASM Auto Recycling will dismantle the car and brainstorm which parts need to be 3D scanned and recreated using recycled carbon fibre. Then, the reigns will be handed to Yasid Design, which will oversee the actual reimagination and visualisation of the Carbon Piranha.

The last act will send the car to Silverstone’s Digital Manufacturing Centre to complete the final rebuild and polish. Cosworth will also be involved here to toy around with the powertrain and a few other bits and bobs, like topping up the washer fluid chamber.

Though no official outputs have been discussed at this stage, we do know one number that’s being targeted: a curb weight of under 1,000kg. If true, that means the Carbon Piranha would chop over 200kg from the original RS500, which is hardly in need of a diet itself.

And since Cosworth is having a fettle with what will likely be a rebuilt version of the turbocharged 2.0-litre four-pot, we’re expecting an increase to the standard car’s 224bhp. A wishful thinker would hope for it to be upped close to the 500bhp output which saw the RS500 dominate touring car racing… but we wouldn’t be quite that optimistic.

Right, time to break down its design. The tasty retro-futuristic upgrades include even bigger wheel arches than the original car, more crevices and indentations than we can count and striking new light signatures. All this’ll be Yasid Design’s good doing.

The closed wheel covers are also properly neat - particularly with the deeper dishes at the rear - while that whale-tail wing and boot lid spoiler duo have been redesigned. We also suspect some extreme aftermarket suspension has been thrown on, evaporating the ride height to all of one millimetre. Looks ace though.

Ian Howe, the founder of Vision148, said: “Our viewpoint is to give fans the chance to see the RS500 differently, with a modern eye. Even those who weren’t born when the original car was produced but have a connection with cars and modern ideas.”

And here’s a word from the global director of Cosworth, Nick Greenway: “Cosworth is celebrating over 65 years and it all started with Motorsport, which led us through Ford ownership, Cossies and the aftermarket. We know that there is a passionate fan base out there for the Cosworth brand, and what better way to celebrate a road and race icon than through the Vision148 RS500 project.”

We already know that mission Carbon Piranha is around eight months in, although no completion date has been set as yet. Want to know the best part? You can now apply to become a member of the project’s club, and doing so means you could be in with a chance of winning this very car once the rebuild is complete. Wouldn’t that be something.

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It’s being built by Vision148, which is planning on turning the touring car legend into a sub-one-tonne, carbonised freak of nature