Cosworth Put Up For Sale

[Petroltorque]

Unfortunately the state of the global economy means you can no longer rely on a single niche area to survive. Hence the need to diversify into other areas. That does not preclude a major manufacturer opting to buy them; particularly if the can see a road car use for hybrid turbo technology. MacLaren are not going to buy Cosworth. They'd first have to find the purchase cost which could be anything up to $100 million and then they'd need to find as much again to develop an industry leading engine. To be frank I see MacLaren forging a partnership with an existing Manufacturer.

[astracrazy]

it could be a could option for mclaren if they want there own engine program

[Raptor22]

McLaren Cosworth has an historic ring to it....

Purchase cost can be funded if the merged entities net worth exceeds the investment. McLaren are a well backed team

[ScottB]

Making F1 engines can be quite profitable, but only if you can sell them to several teams.

So while Mclaren making their own engines in whatever fashion is one thing, I suspect they'd have to get one or two other teams to buy them too, now I'm sure FI and Marrussia could be persuaded into it given the amount of Mclaren technology both use, but still.

I suspect Mclaren are more likely to try and either get a new manufacturer backer, or convince someone else to do the building for them then brand it themselves, as they do with their road car engines. Unless the engine goes back to being a key performance differentiator between the teams, building their own engine seems like a lot of risk in return for little tangible reward.

[Just_a_fan]

Cosworth died years ago. It's just taken this long for people to realise it.

They haven't made a decent F1 engine since 1994 (there were 2 lucky wins in 1999 and 2003 but they were historical aberations).

They are a company famed for 2 things, the DFV and the YB (the engine in the Ford Sierra Cosworth etc.). The HB (Schuie's engine for his 1994 title) was overshadowed by Renault's RS-series engines in the 90s (titles in 92, 93, 94, 95, 96 and 97).

The road car side was divested several years ago.

Can't help but think that Keith wouldn't be happy at the sight of what's become of his company...

[Raptor22]

Cosworth died years ago. It's just taken this long for people to realise it.

They haven't made a decent F1 engine since 1994 (there were 2 lucky wins in 1999 and 2003 but they were historical aberations).

They are a company famed for 2 things, the DFV and the YB (the engine in the Ford Sierra Cosworth etc.). The HB (Schuie's engine for his 1994 title) was overshadowed by Renault's RS-series engines in the 90s (titles in 92, 93, 94, 95, 96 and 97).

The road car side was divested several years ago.

Can't help but think that Keith wouldn't be happy at the sight of what's become of his company...

The Engine in Schumi's b194 had HB origins but was called ZETEC-R and paid for by Benetton. It had a pneumatic valve dveloped from the last version of the HB used in 1993 (which TAG paid for)

[Tommy Cookers]

Cosworth died years ago.

Can't help but think that Keith wouldn't be happy at the sight of what's become of his company...

I thought they were murdered

they designed and made a 20000+ rpm engine
then their competitors ganged up to rig the rules, by inventing the concept of a rev limit (lower than 20000 rpm)
like writing a rule against the length of Usain Bolt's legs !

when Cosworth went turbo KD said he chose a V6 so it couldn't be banned (ie by rivals, who were all making V6s)

[PlatinumZealot]

http://www.autosport.com/news/report.php/id/103495

A sad day for such an iconic name in motorsport as a whole and indicitive of the present market in motorsport.

What will become of Cosworth?

That is what you get for having such a boring company name and not making enough products for the aftermarket when you easily could.

[Petroltorque]

Cosworth died years ago. It's just taken this long for people to realise it.

They haven't made a decent F1 engine since 1994 (there were 2 lucky wins in 1999 and 2003 but they were historical aberations).

They are a company famed for 2 things, the DFV and the YB (the engine in the Ford Sierra Cosworth etc.). The HB (Schuie's engine for his 1994 title) was overshadowed by Renault's RS-series engines in the 90s (titles in 92, 93, 94, 95, 96 and 97).

The road car side was divested several years ago.

Can't help but think that Keith wouldn't be happy at the sight of what's become of his company...

The Engine in Schumi's b194 had HB origins but was called ZETEC-R and paid for by Benetton. It had a pneumatic valve dveloped from the last version of the HB used in 1993 (which TAG paid for)

I'm afraid you've got the wrong end of the stick here. The Zetec-R engine used in 1994 was a Cosworth engine wholely funded by the Ford Motor Company, FoMoCo for short. The engine was developped in close alliance with Ford's R and D facilities in Dearbon, Michigan.
The same applied to the Ford HB V8 used by Benetton in 1993 as the Ford Works team and MacLaren was supplied as a customer. Mansour Ojeh's Techniques D'Avant Garde group had long since pulled the plug on it's engine funding program. Your statements represent a considerable revision of the facts.

[Raptor22]

The Cosworth fitted to the Mp4/8 had a TAG ECU. The engine had mapping that allowed the McLaren automatic gearbox to inetgrate seamlessly with the Ford Engine. TAG paid for the engines, and reworked them with TAG ECU's.

Ford was not funding the HB's development, it customers were. Benetton paid for the upgrade to the HB to make it the Zetec-R

Both the HB and Zetec-R had nothing to do with America. They were designed and built in England by Cosworth.

[FW17]

The Cosworth fitted to the Mp4/8 had a TAG ECU. The engine had mapping that allowed the McLaren automatic gearbox to inetgrate seamlessly with the Ford Engine. TAG paid for the engines, and reworked them with TAG ECU's.

Ford was not funding the HB's development, it customers were. Benetton paid for the upgrade to the HB to make it the Zetec-R

Both the HB and Zetec-R had nothing to do with America. They were designed and built in England by Cosworth.

Benetton was a factory Ford operation, they got the latest development engines. Mclaren was a customer, therefore they got an older spec.

[Petroltorque]

I'll never forget at the end of the 1994 season, the head of Ford Global Motorsort said and I quote " The biggest kept secret of the season was the fact that a Ford badged engine won the championship".

[C_Stonehouse]

One thing that concerns me about this news is the engine supply for Marussia and HRT. I assume they have a contract for 2013 which should be honoured, but what about 2014?

[Raptor22]

The Cosworth fitted to the Mp4/8 had a TAG ECU. The engine had mapping that allowed the McLaren automatic gearbox to inetgrate seamlessly with the Ford Engine. TAG paid for the engines, and reworked them with TAG ECU's.

Ford was not funding the HB's development, it customers were. Benetton paid for the upgrade to the HB to make it the Zetec-R

Both the HB and Zetec-R had nothing to do with America. They were designed and built in England by Cosworth.

Benetton was a factory Ford operation, they got the latest development engines. Mclaren was a customer, therefore they got an older spec.

Yip but budget for developments partly came from Benetton. Ford was really only just putting their brand on the engines because it was based on the original DFV and they own the intellectual rights to the engine and developments.
Part of the problem with McLaren getting the same spec engine in 1993 was that Cosworth would be in a pickle providing McLaren with an Engine Benetton had part paid for, hence they got an uprated HB minus the ECU. McLaren bolted their own on. Senna made a meal of it in 1993. For 1994 the point is moot of course since McLaren ran grenades that year

[FW17]

Prodrive boss David Richards has admitted he is interested in buying F1 engine supplier Cosworth.

It emerged last week that HRT and Marussia supplier Cosworth, currently owned by well-known US racing names Gerry Forsythe and Kevin Kalkhoven, is for sale.

And former BAR and Benetton boss Richards, the majority owner of Prodrive, told the Daily Mail: "We’ve just started to take a look at Cosworth although I think they have rather over-priced themselves as I understand they don’t own the brand and they will be out of the formula one business within 12 months.

"Nonetheless, worth a look," he added.

Paddock rumours persist that Cosworth, having entered the aerospace and defense sectors after losing premier F1 customers Williams and Caterham, will bow out of F1 when the current V8 rules end next year.

Cosworth declined to comment on the Daily Mail report.

Like the many times he tried to enter F1, customer car, new team, renault, honda in the last few years. DR is smart man, knows when to walk away the the price isn't right (for him).