Merkur XR4ti Racing

my boyfriend has an ex Andy Rouse Merkur XR4ti still in its original touring car spec minus paint job.

Fantastic! I was inspired to start a similar thread but you beat me to it ;D


1988 Merkur Scorpio (Canada) by IFHP97, on Flickr

;D

The reason for the thread? Cos I desperately need a shave and I've run out of blades for my Merkur razor


Merkur HD Razor by PhotoBal, on Flickr

The tripe people post on Facebook, eh? ;D

1987 Merkur XR4Ti (USA) by IFHP97, on Flickr

Merkur XR4Ti #254 waiting to race by boozysmurf, on Flickr

MERKUR XR4TI by Navymailman, on Flickr


Merkur XR4Ti by Dewayne Fennell, on Flickr

rmad, that first one you posted is awesome... In fact there are nicer Merkurs in this thread than I've seen Sierras in a long time ;D

One of my favourite Team Blitz quotes was when faced with a Merkur owner and the discussion topic of NOS body panels compared to Capri stocks, he replied, "You Merkur guys are f*&ked" paused, looked away then back, saying "no you really are..."

The American Merkur owners are a very dedicated bunch in the face of the obvious Fox body Mustang choices

Very interesting...is this what became of the 'mystery' shell that popped up on the ten-tenths and passionford forums a few years ago?

Or is it the show car that was built for the Cologne motorshow?

Andy Rouse Engineering built 2 XR4Tis for the 1985 BTCC season (plus the show car which was only built to display standard). The cars were not 'real' US-spec Merkur XR4Tis, but were RHD Sierra XR4i shells with Merkur bumpers and engines (apparently the main difference is the chassis rails are longer on the US-spec shells).

Despite missing the first race of the season due to a homologation delay, Andy won the BSCC in the primary car (#1, with his usual ICS sponsorship),

which he then sold at the end of the season to David Oxton/Motorsport Pacific for the 1986 New Zealand enduro races (with Andy co-driving) and ATCC. It then moved on to Mark Petch who entered it for Robbie Francevic and Leo Leonard at Bathurst, and then the trail goes cold (possibly converted into a Cosworth/ RS500 at some point after 1986, as Petch did this to an ex-Eggenberger XR4Ti he also had - it was then later 'thundersalooned' for the TraNZam championship):


The second car (#15, sponsored by BT Radiopaging) was entered in 'feature' races in the 1985 season (like the GP support races and TT) and driven by Klaus Niedzwiedz or David Sears (Rex Greenslade and Tony Trimmer drove it at the Silverstone TT, as Sears was codriving with Rouse). This became Andy's #1 car for 1986 BSCC season where he finished 3rd (here it is in the Donington 500 ETCC round, co-driven wih Sears):

Apparently this shell was converted to Cosworth spec and used as a development car in preparation for the 1987 season, then raced by Pete Hall:


ARE also built 5 2.3 Turbo engines over 1985-86 for the cars. At the end of the 1986 season these were sold off to Dick Bailey in Ireland who used them in his Dax Rush hillclimber.

If the OP's boyfriend 's car is one of these two then he is sitting on a potential goldmine.

As fantastic as the TransAm and IMSA GTO Merkurs are, the rear lights are probably the only parts carried over from the road car...

Haha! The last cat with the purple Jetta front bumper is mine!
I'm originally from Manchester but I re located to LA in 2009 and knowing how cool my Dad's XR4 was when I saw the XR4ti over here with a turbo standard knew I had to have one.
I took me nearly a year to find one as they're quite rare on the West coast.

I rode on my bike to go and get her.


She snapped a cambelt on the way home but Lima engine are non interference so no damage done.


The bodywork is good compared to UK cars but a bit rough for a west coast car as it spent a lot of time near the beach.

I needed more air to th radiator as its always super hot here.


That was the first mod.