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[Bubbie]

So I know Cosworth has been around a long time. They had a great history during the prime days of CART... But I am scratching my head about them this year.

All the new teams came in and ran Cosworth powered cars. All three were dogs. Now I can chalk some of this up to them being new (car design, aero, etc)... But the engines just seemed way down on power - watch on the straights and the other cars just run away from them. I would have thought that wringing the most power out of an engine was simpler than all the aero fiddly that is used for corners. Or is it that they do put out the same BHP, but the poor aero slows them even on the straights? Specifically I use Monza and Canada as an example where the cars are basically no aero and these cars are still dogs.

There are some seriously smart folks on these boards that can quote all sorts of engineering specs and whatnot... So can some of you explain it to me? Is Cosworth really that terrible an engine builder, or was it just because they are new back to F1. Will they have a future with any teams in the future?

[vaptin]

William's used cosworth, they did alright.

Also, the new teams didn't have F-ducts.

[cap-dude]

I seem to remember a very quick Hulkenburg during Monza this year. Can't remember Williams suffering many engine failures either. They're surely doing something right then.

[7UpJordan]

Have you forgotten that Williams were running the Cosworth this year? They're a better way of judging the engine.

It was pretty bad to start with, all the new teams and Williams complained of poor traction, massive drop-off in power as the engine wore on and it was very thirsty (which probably contributed some-what towards Virgin building too small a fuel tank) but it all started to improve by Valencia. New engine mapping settings, gear ratio settings and general reliability upgrades fixed some of these problems, although the big problem this season - particularly in Williams' case during the early stages of the race and off the line - has been the thirstiness of the engine and having to run more fuel.

The power output has been pretty immense, the Virgins were quickest through the speed traps in P2 at Monza, Williams did better at circuits that the Toy-slow-ta cost them so much at in 2009.

But the big boon for Cosworth is that none of the engines have failed this year. Any mechanical failures for the Cosworth runners have usually been down to the cars itself. Unlike Ferrari engines which have failed left right and centre.

[Hansy]

It was pretty bad to start with, all the new teams and Williams complained of poor traction, massive drop-off in power as the engine wore on and it was very thirsty (which probably contributed some-what towards Virgin building too small a fuel tank) but it all started to improve by Valencia. New engine mapping settings, gear ratio settings and general reliability upgrades fixed some of these problems, although the big problem this season - particularly in Williams' case during the early stages of the race and off the line - has been the thirstiness of the engine and having to run more fuel.

Hmm, that kind of explains why Williams' pace as of late always seems better in qualifying than in race...

[bud]

More to the car than just the engine. The new teams could have had Ferrari, Mercedes or any other engine and still be 5 seconds off the pace.

[scotty]

I think they did well, all things considered. You have to remember that they had to start off with this engine that was 3 years out of date...

[Robert12010]

i think that cosworth have done a good job this year, with all the engine comittments (williams, HRT, virgin and lotus), so well done to them

[Denthúl]

I seem to remember a very quick Hulkenburg during Monza this year. Can't remember Williams suffering many engine failures either. They're surely doing something right then.

Yep. A fresh Cosworth engine is quite powerful and fast but, like last year's Toyota unit, seems to drop off dramatically after its first race. Hopefully their 2013 engine will be better.

[Jabberwocky]

I was reading an interview with mike gascoyne and he said the Cossie engines are good the problem was the xtrac box's

[kaizensuru]

I was reading an interview with mike gascoyne and he said the Cossie engines are good the problem was the xtrac box's

what's the "xtrac box's"

When I read the thread title I inmediatly thought about Williams.

Didn't seem too bad what they did in their first season in F1.

[Denthúl]

I was reading an interview with mike gascoyne and he said the Cossie engines are good the problem was the xtrac box's

what's the "xtrac box's"

When I read the thread title I inmediatly thought about Williams.

Didn't seem too bad what they did in their first season in F1.

Xtrac are the company that supplied gearboxes to the new teams this season. I think they also had a standard supplier for hydraulics. Both were bad, it would seem.

[Robert12010]

I was reading an interview with mike gascoyne and he said the Cossie engines are good the problem was the xtrac box's

what's the "xtrac box's"

When I read the thread title I inmediatly thought about Williams.

Didn't seem too bad what they did in their first season in F1.

Xtrac are the company that supplied gearboxes to the new teams this season. I think they also had a standard supplier for hydraulics. Both were bad, it would seem.

hence the reason theyre so pleased to be getting red bull hydraulics a winnig desgn too

[Fred_C_Dobbs]

...Didn't seem too bad what they did in their first season in F1.

Don't know if you're referring to Williams or Cosworth but Williams Grand Prix Engineering Ltd. has been racing F1 since 1977. And Cosworth built its first F1 engines in 1967. Both have won multiple WDCs and WCCs so this was hardly the first season for either.

[texasmr2]

Good season for Cosworth imho.