Cosworth Engine Specs

Cosworth is based in the United Kingdom, and supplies engines to four Formula One teams during the 2010 season: Williams, Virgin, Hispania Racing F1-Team, and Lotus. The Federazione Internazionale de l'Automobile (more commonly called the FIA) governs Formula One, and all engines competing in the sport must comply with its most current regulations. Unfortunately, full engine details are guarded with the utmost secrecy by F1 teams, but bare specs are available per the sporting regulations.

  1. Materials

    • Cosworth's CA2010 engine features a head and a cylinder block made of cast aluminum alloy. The pistons are made of forged aluminum, while the crankshaft is made of steel. The eight spark plugs used in the ignition system are provided by Champion.

    Design

    • Cosworth lead engineer James Allen notes that Cosworth engines have a motorsport pedigree that stood engineers in good stead when designing the CA2010. After all, they had 176 race wins and 23 championships under their belt, so Cosworth obviously knew how to build good engines. Allen stresses that it was the combined experience of Cosworth engineers over time, passing that information down, that led to being able to create a fairly competitive package right out of the box, as Cosworth had been out of F1-level competition for quite a few years. The CA2010 is a four-stroke, 32 valve, normally aspirated V8 engine with 2,400 cubic centimeters of displacement. It makes in excess of 300 brake horsepower per liter and weighs over 95 kilograms. To comply with the 2010 F1 Technical Regulations, it is limited to 18,000 revolutions per minute.

    Performance

    • As of August 3, 2010, though Cosworth-engined cars were not at the front of the Formula One pack, they did not experience any engine failures throughout the first 12 races of the season. Reliability is incredibly important in F1, as it is in other forms of motorsport. Since Cosworth had been away from designing engines for F1 for a number of years, this can be considered an auspicious return for the engine supplier. Mark Gallagher, Cosworth F1 business unit general manager, believes this is especially encouraging, given the FIA's rule for 2010 about allowing each F1 driver the use of just eight engines over the course of a single season. More engines can be used, but fees and penalties will apply. The Cosworth-engined F1 teams do not have any reason to fear penalization because of their engines.