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Jimmy Clark piloting a Lotus 49 Cosworth DFV racecar
in the 1967 Belgian Grand Prix. (Image source: alamy.com)
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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...
Formula 1 at Crossroads says Christian Horner, urges Liberty Media to get next Engine Formulae right
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...