Wednesday, October 25, 2017

While Cosworth Celebrates Anniversary, Others Cry out for Turning the Clock back...



Jimmy Clark piloting a Lotus 49 Cosworth DFV racecar in the 1967 Belgian Grand Prix. (Image source: alamy.com)
As it seems somewhat appropriate that a Niederlander' 20yr old sensation was celebrating his birthday by winning the Malaysian GP, the same year that another legendary engine was blowing out its own Birthday candles...

Ah, as Y'all know, My how Father Time Screams By! As has it already been a decade here in Nofendersville since I noted the ubiquitous Cossie' Double four Valve (DFV) celebrating its fortieth birthday...


Although sadly, it's now been four years since a Cosworth naturally aspirated V-8 lump' appeared on the Formula 1 grid.

When the lowly Tail-gunner Charlies'; Err Marussia Racing soldiered onto a tenth place finish in the coveted Constructors championship with the Cosworth CA2013 2.4-liter V-8 bolted to the backside of its MR02 chassis, chauffeured by rookie Gran Primo Pilotes' Max Chilton and the late Jules Bianchi.


Alas, as it's been in the Nofendersville hopper so-to-speak, the thought of Cosworth celebrating its 50th Anniversary of the legendous' DFV came full circle for Mwah upon Max Verstappen's Malaysian Grand Prix victory this year on the weekend of his 20th birthday.

Since after all, history denotes that the legendary Jimmy Clark won first time out for the then unproven Ford/Cosworth DFV 3.0-liter normally aspirated V-8 lump in the rear of Colin Chapman's Lotus 49 at the Sandwort circuit in Holland, June 4, 1967.


As the Cossie' DFV and later variants would go onto tally a staggering 174 Grands Prix victories, before going silent in the win Colum beginning in y2k, (2000) seventeen Bloody years ago!

Since I still cannot ascertain if this tally includes Johnny Herbert's surprise 1999 European Grand Prix win for Stewart Grand Prix with the V-10 ford lump', the lone V-10 Cosworth victory...

 Before quietly leaving the F1 grid at the end of 2013, with little fanfare as Cosworth's owners didn't wish to spend the requisite capital to develop a Backmarker 1.6-liter V-6 Power Unit for 2014.

And although modern history reflects that la Scuderia, nee Ferrari is the most successful engine manufacturer ever, credited with a staggering 228 wins, 212 Poles and 242 Fastest laps, as of this year's Japanese GP.

With Ferrari just five races shy of an astronomical 950 Grands Prix starts, along with their staggering 16 Constructors and 15 Drivers championships to boot, the Prancing Horse's amazing tally comes courtesy of the range of multiple engines its built over its seventy years of contesting Formula 1.

Since Ferrari's engine's architecture includes six, eight, ten and twelve cylinder versions, normally aspirated, turbocharged, KERs to today's PU era vs. Cosworth's singled eight cylinder lump...

Yet it's the famed Silver Arrows that's completely turned Formula 1 on its head so-to-speak, with its utter dominance of the current Power Unit (PU) era.

As Mercs' currently batting a whopping 92% win ratio in the past 75 races, thru the 2017 Japanese GP. Having won a staggering 61 races over the past three years, with four races remaining this season.

Naturally, Lewis Hamilton leads the way for the Silver Arrows dominance with a whopping 39 wins, having just scored his eighth W' of the season at Suzuker', whilst reigning F1 World Champion Nico Rosberg notched 20 wins during the PU era for Merc', with his 2017 replacement Valtteri Bottas having claimed his first two Grands Prix victories in the silver cars.

To put into perspective Mercedes might, Hamilton has now won more than half of the entire grids total wins of the past three years! With this season's six victories to date being the most scored in a campaign by the opposition...

As 'lil Sid Viddle, aka Sebastian Vettel has won four times for la Scuderia with the Red Bull Boys having claimed one W apiece.

As all seven of Scuderia Ferrari's (2014-17) Power Unit era wins come courtesy of Vettel, while the 7 Red Bull Racing wins currently reside in Daniel Ricky' Ricciardo's favour, with the Aussie' having stood atop the podium five times vs. his team-mate Max Dutchboy' Verstappen's two.

As it's seemingly a long time ago when Chris Horner, Deeter Majestik' and Dr. Helmut Marko were basking in the glory of four consecutive F1 championships with le Reggies' similarly dominant 2.4-liter KERS V-8 engines, before Red Bull very unwisely gave Renault the Shiv!


Naturally, it's Chris "the Pied Piper" Horner beating the Drum for engine change, since the future supply of Power Units seems somewhat murky for the Milton Keynes outfit at the moment, but seriously?

Mr. Horner's pitching the possibility of reverting back to a V-10 or GASP! V-12 engine! And why would the major manufacturers wish to revert to utilizing normally aspirated lumps' without any of the de riggour electronics, i.e.; ERS or KERS?

As what happened to technical innovation, when Cosworth at FoMoCo's behest simply built a more technologically advanced mouse trap some half century ago...


Kudos to No Fenders F1 Newshound Jonathan for sending me the DFV celebrates 50th anniversary story, which served as the catalyst for this post...

 
Nice to hear Peter Windsor's voice once again on the video...