How the sands of time slip thru the hour glass, as its come to my attention that the most prosperous customer Formula 1 engine of all time has just recently celebrated its fortieth birthday.
“Power for the People” appears an suitable headline since that’s precisely what the magnificent Ford Cosworth DFV lump turned out to be. As the ubiquitous Double Four Valves V-8 power plant became the mainstay of Privateers competing in Formula 1.
Interestingly the Ford Motor Co. ponied up ,000 for the Northampton engine manufacturer to design and produce this legendary power plant for exclusive use by Lotus in 1967 for the onset of the three liter era.
The legendary engine manufacturer was the genesis of Mike Costin and Keith Duckworth. With Costin being the brother of renowned aerodynamicist Frank Costin, whom applied airplane aerodynamics to the development of early 1950’s racing chassis such as Maserati, Lotus and Vanwall.
While Cosin claims that Colin Chapman wanted exclusivity for eternity. Fortunately Cosin’s partner, the departed Duckworth told Chapman to go jump in a lake! As the three liter engine would turn into the mainstay of Formula 1 for two decades.
Whilst garnering 155 Grand Prix victories, enroute to becoming the second most successful engine in history. (Eclipsed only by Ferrari) The maiden win came on June 4, 1967 at Zanport. (Holland) With the aging lumps final victory at Detroit in 1983 at the hands of Michele Alboreto aboard a Tyrrell.
A total of 47 distinct Constructors utilized the Cossie in the course of its lifespan, winning twelve World Championships with Lotus, Matra, Tyrrell, McLaren, Williams and Brabham.
After its initial span of success from 1967-74, Ferrari’s Flat 12 cylinder boxer engine proved to be the DFV’s Achilles heel with Niki Lauda at the helm. Yet it was once once more Colin Chapman resurrecting the Cosworth power plants ascension to power with the development of the groundbreaking Lotus 78.
As the ground effects era was ideally suited for the packaging of the compact 90 degree V-8, whilst the Flat 12 was unsuited for ground effect tunnels. Thus the DFV returned to glory for an additional half decade prior to the start of the Turbo era.
The DFV would soldier on a further decade as the power plant for F3000 from 1988-95. Making 1 last gasp for the initial 3.5 liter typically aspirated era in 1989 just before fathering Ford’s resurgence in Formula 1 with the three liter HB series, These lumps ultimately powered Michael Schumacher to his quite initial World Championship in 1994.
Sadly Cosworth’s 39 year run in F1 came to an abrupt close with the abandonment of the 2.4 liter V-8, which was the very first engine to rev over 20,000 RPM’s. When Williams chose to switch to Toyota power at the end of 2006, Leaving Cosworth without any buyers for the present season.
Although I by no means saw the original three liter era in combat, they’re undoubtedly wonderful to witness as vintage F1 grids in today’s Historic racing as the engines snarl a symphonic rhapsody of low mechanical revolutions.
Recall that these engines needed manual shifting along with employing overhead valve trains. As it appears quaint to notice the different chassis antiquated dashboards with a big tilted RPM gauge rotated so when the tach needle hits high noon. The engine is at its 9,000 RPM redline…
