Cosworth Plans

[TedN]

The engine that powered a third of Formula One’s grid on Sunday at the Canadian Grand Prix could be on the streets of Toronto and Edmonton by 2012 for the Honda Indys.

And it could even be in the endurance racing sports cars of the American Le Mans Series at Mosport International Raceway by next season.

In an exclusive interview with the Toronto Sun, Cosworth general manager Mark Gallagher said Sunday that it is the goal of his company to be building race engines for a number of North American racing series with the next year.


Link (http://www.torontosun.com/sports/autos/2010/06/13/14377526.html)

Ted

[pchall]

The absence of long term memory...


But Gallagher said that he dislikes the David vs Goliath analogy because Cosworth has been in the business of making horse power for nearly half a century.

“Don’t forget that for 40 years — up until 2004 — we were owned by Ford and that left the company with a great legacy of manufacturing,” he said. “And because of the kinds of facilities we inherited, we can build a much more affordable engine.”

Randy the Bull Rider has only mentioned 2.4L I4 and V6 turbos as engine possibilities so far. No mention of turbocharged V8s.

If memory serves, Cosworth was an independent company that did work on Ford and other engines for racing (GM's Opel, Vauxhall, and Chevy come to mind). They designed a number of Ford F1 engines under contract (DFV, DFY, DFZ, DFR, HB, and the GBA 1.5L turbo) up until Ford acquired a controlling interest in 1998. That ended when Forsythe and Kalkhoven bought Cosworth in 2004.

Too bad the internet now has the ability to change history. That little bit of mispoken material will get propogated and become "truth" in time...

By the way, Cosworth was founded in 1958, so the origins of the the company date back 52 years.

[oddlycalm]

If memory serves, Cosworth was an independent company that did work on Ford and other engines for racing (GM's Opel, Vauxhall, and Chevy come to mind). They designed a number of Ford F1 engines under contract (DFV, DFY, DFZ, DFR, HB, and the GBA 1.5L turbo) up until Ford acquired a controlling interest in 1998. That ended when Forsythe and Kalkhoven bought Cosworth in 2004.

Too bad the internet now has the ability to change history. That little bit of mispoken material will get propogated and become "truth" in time...

By the way, Cosworth was founded in 1958, so the origins of the the company date back 52 years.
Yes, he completely leaves out the UEI and Vickers ownership as well.

The point he was making, and what he should have said, was that Ford invested a lot of money in Cosworth that resulted in production ability and capacity that was unique outside of big auto companies. They can make all the pieces from the block up and they can do it in volumes that are more like production volumes than specialty shop volumes. They had the first masterless cam lobe grinder outside of a major auto company 20yrs ago (when they cost nearly $1 million tooled).

At one time Cosworth had an engine manufacturing capacity equal to (or better than) Ferrari but since then Ferrari has spent a fortune to modernize. He neglected to mention that since 2004 investment at Cosworth has been nil.

Losing Champcar and F1 killed their cash flow. Cosworth has a window to get themselves fully back in the game. Some of the machinery that Ford bought is now 20yrs or more old so time is not on their side. Metal manufacturing is not a business where changes come every month of every year but it does change over time and machines wear and loosen with age.

oc

[Andrew Longman]

Yes, but even before ownership Ford had a long term "special relationship" with Cosworth. Ford badged racing engines were largely Cosworths and Cosworth racing engines were largely badged as Fords.