Cosworth DFV
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The Ford-sponsored DFV (Double Four-Valve) engine was a Formula 1 engine first produced in 1967 for Colin Chapman's Team Lotus. The engine was a 90 degree 3 litre V8, and produced over 400 bhp from the start, reaching over 500 bhp by the end of its remarkable Formula 1 career.
History
Following the change to a 3-litre formula at the start of 1966, Colin Chapman approached the Ford Motor Company with the idea for the engine, which had to be specially made so that it could take the stresses it would face through being a structural part of the car. Ford then approached Keith Duckworth, previously a gearbox engineer at Lotus but now running his Cosworth company with Mike Costin, and paid him to design and build the engine for them.
The engine was not due to be ready until the third race of the 1967 season at Zandvoort, but its debut proved electric. Graham Hill put his DFV-powered Lotus 49 on Pole position by half a second, and Jim Clark stormed home to win. Clark took three more wins that season, but reliability problems left him 3rd in the drivers' championship, 10 points behind Denny Hulme. The progress of the engine was documented in a film produced by the Ford Motor Company's film section, entitled "Nine Days in Summer".
The engine was so competitive that at the end of 1967 Ford had to gently explain to Colin Chapman that he would no longer have a monopoly on it in 1968, but the Lotus boss took it with good grace. What followed was a golden age, where teams big or small could buy an engine which was competitive, light, compact, and relatively cheap.
Lotus, McLaren, Matra, Brabham, March, Surtees, Tyrrell, Hesketh, Lola, Williams, Penske, Wolf and Ligier are just some of the teams to use the DFV, and in 1969 and 1973 every World Championship race was won by DFV-powered cars, with the engine taking a total of 155 wins from 262 races between 1967 and 1985.
The onset of the turbo era in the early 1980s put an end to the DFV's F1 activities, as even with modifications the 15-year-old engine could not hope to compete with the vast power being put out by the new 1.5 litre turbocharged engines. Michele Alboreto took the DFV's last F1 win in a Tyrrell at Detroit in 1983, and Martin Brundle was the last person to race in F1 with a DFV, also in a Tyrrell at the Austrian Grand Prix in 1985.
F1 variants
The DFV had two major upgrades over its life, first with the DFW and then the DFY, last used in 1985. With the new 3.5 litre normally-aspirated formula running alongside the 1.5 litre turbos in 1987, an enlarged version known as the DFZ was introduced, powering Tyrrell, AGS, March, Lola and Coloni chassis that year. A separate constructors' award for the non-turbo runners, appropriately named after Jim Clark, was won by Tyrrell.The DFZ proved the basis for the DFR, which was supplied to Benetton, Ford's exclusive works team in 1988 before the DFR became available to all customers in 1989, with the Benetton Team also using this engine until the introduction of the brand new HB at the French Grand Prix. The DFR struggled on until the 1991 season finally being eclipsed by the higher revving abilities of the new pneumatic valve gear engines such as the HB, and was last used in that year's Australian Grand Prix by the Footwork, Fondmetal, Larrousse and Coloni teams, nearly a quarter of a century after the DFV's first race...
Other formulae
The DFV's legendary success was by no means limited to Formula 1, with the engine being used in sportscar racing with some modest success. The engine won the Le Mans 24 Hours twice, first in the Gulf-sponsored Mirage driven by Jacky Ickx and Derek Bell in 1975, then with the surprise winners Rondeau in 1980, driven by Jean Rondeau and Jean-Pierre Jaussaud.The DFV was also the engine of choice when the Formula 3000 series first began in 1985, winning every race that year. the DFV and its variants continued racing in F3000 for a decade, Pedro Lamy taking the last win for a DFV in top-class motorsport, at Pau in 1993, its 65th F3000 win in 123 races.
Stateside success with the DFX
A 2.4 litre turbocharged version of the DFV, known as the DFX, was produced in the late 1970s and went on to dominate American Indycar racing in much the same way the DFV had dominated Formula 1, winning the Indy 500 10 years running from 1978 to 1987, and winning all USAC and CART championships between 1977 and 1987.Major successes
DFV normally-aspirated 3.0 litre 90 degree V8F1 Drivers' Champions (12): 1968 Graham Hill (Team Lotus), 1969 Jackie Stewart (Matra), 1970 Jochen Rindt (Team Lotus), 1971 Jackie Stewart (Tyrrell), 1972 Emerson Fittipaldi (Team Lotus), 1973 Jackie Stewart (Tyrrell), 1974 Emerson Fittipaldi (McLaren), 1976 James Hunt (McLaren), 1978 Mario Andretti (Team Lotus), 1980 Alan Jones (Williams), 1981 Nelson Piquet (Brabham), 1982 Keke Rosberg (Williams)
F1 Constructors' Champions (10): 1968 Lotus, 1969 Matra, 1970 Lotus, 1971 Tyrrell, 1972 Lotus, 1973 Lotus, 1974 McLaren, 1978 Lotus, 1980 Williams, 1981 Williams
Le Mans 24 Hours winners (2): 1975 Jacky Ickx/Derek Bell (Mirage), 1980 Jean Rondeau/Jean-Pierre Jaussaud (Rondeau)
Formula 3000 Champions (6): 1985 Christian Danner (March Engineering) 1986 Ivan Capelli (March Engineering) 1987 Stefano Modena (March Engineering) 1988 Roberto Moreno (Reynard) 1989 Jean Alesi (Reynard) 1992 Luca Badoer (Reynard)
DFX turbocharged 2.4 litre 90 degree V8
Indy 500 winners (10): 1978 Al Unser Sr (Lola), 1979 Rick Mears (Penske), 1980 Johnny Rutherford (Chaparral), 1981 Bobby Unser (Penske), 1982 Gordon Johncock (Wildcat), 1983 Tom Sneva (March), 1984 Rick Mears (March), 1985 Danny Sullivan (March), 1986 Bobby Rahal (March), 1987 Al Unser Sr (March)
USAC Champions (3): 1977 Tom Sneva (McLaren/Penske), 1978 Tom Sneva (Penske), 1979 A. J. Foyt, Jr. (Parnelli*)
CART Champions (9): 1979 Rick Mears (Penske), 1980 Johnny Rutherford (Chaparral), 1981 Rick Mears (Penske), 1982 Rick Mears (Penske), 1983 Al Unser Sr (Penske), 1984 Mario Andretti (Lola), 1985 Al Unser Sr (March), 1986 Bobby Rahal (March), 1987 Bobby Rahal (Lola)
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