{"id":18041,"date":"2011-01-20T12:14:58","date_gmt":"2011-01-20T12:14:58","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.influx.co.uk\/wordpress\/?p=18041"},"modified":"2023-01-23T16:12:53","modified_gmt":"2023-01-23T16:12:53","slug":"cosworth-ford","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.adrianflux.co.uk\/influx\/features\/cosworth-ford\/","title":{"rendered":"Cosworth & Ford"},"content":{"rendered":"

Image via Lotus<\/em><\/p>\n

The legendary Ford Cosworth DFV (Double Four Valve) V8 engine is, by a mile, the most successful F1 racing engine of all time.<\/p>\n

Cosworth was founded in 1958 by Mike Costin and Keith Duckworth to build racing engines. They started by making versions of the Ford Kent engine for use in Formula Junior<\/a> but the DFV story began when new 3-litre regulations were written for F1 beginning in 1966.<\/p>\n

Lotus boss Colin Chapman persuaded Ford\u2019s Walter Hayes to bankroll Cosworth\u2019s V8 development programme to the tune of \u00a3100,000 and the engine made a winning debut at the \u201967 Dutch GP at Zandvoort in Jim Clark\u2019s hands. It changed the face of F1 and, said Ken Tyrrell, was the reason the sport developed in the way that it did.<\/p>\n

Ken wasn\u2019t involved in F1 in \u201967 but was weighing it up and became an instant DFV fan when he was flown out to that Dutch race. \u201cIt was clear that the DFV was the only engine in the race,\u201d Tyrrell said. \u201cEverything else was old-fashioned rubbish. You had to have one.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/figure>\n

Chapman fought tooth and nail to retain Cosworth\u2019s exclusive use for Lotus but that, of course, made no commercial sense to Cosworth, or Ford, and it was a battle Chapman lost. The engine was made available to anyone who happened to drive to Cosworth\u2019s Northampton base with a cheque for \u00a37500 in his pocket.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou could come away with an engine that would win you the next Grand Prix in the right hands, which was fantastic,\u201d said Tyrrell.<\/p>\n

The engine was introduced too late in 1967 to stop Denny Hulme winning the championship with his Brabham-Repco but from 1968 to 1982 inclusive, the DFV would be responsible for 12 of the next 15 world champions! From Clark\u2019s Zandvoort win until 1983, when Michele Alboreto\u2019s Tyrrell<\/a> scored the DFV\u2019s last success in Detroit, the engine won 155 grands prix.<\/p>\n

The championship success story over those 15 years reads like a roll call of the great and the good of the sport. Graham Hill (\u201968), Jackie Stewart (\u201969) Jochen Rindt, posthumously (\u201970), Stewart (\u201971), Emerson Fittipaldi (\u201972), Stewart (\u201973), Fittipaldi (\u201974), James Hunt (\u201976), Mario Andretti (\u201978), Alan Jones (\u201980), Nelson Piquet (\u201981), Keke Rosberg (\u201982).<\/p>\n

Fascinating BBC footage of a DFV assembly below<\/p>\n