THE GREATEST ENGINE OF THEM ALL! The Story of the Ford-Cosworth DFV (1967-1984)

In 1965 Colin Chapman, anticipating Coventry's withdrawal from Formula One, asked Ford to build him an engine. They declined, but after some convincing from Ford UK, they agreed to fund the project. The project produced the DFV, a cheap, off the shelf engine that could just be thrown into any car, or have a car built around it.
Into the 80s, even with the turbos, the engine was still being used, and the overall DNA of the engine continued into the 1990s as the last V8s started to be ditched in favour of V10s which had the perfect blend of power and fuel consumption.
So how good was this thing? Let's have a look.
Enjoy! And remember to like and subscribe for more!
Wikipedia Commons images used under the following CC Licenses:
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[@AidanMillward]

I know some people are going to have a bit of a moan that I’ve done this before, but when you had a load of videos taken down a couple of years ago, it makes sense to complete the set again. I do two remakes and people act like I’ve been doing it for weeks 🤣

[@Margarinetaylorgrease]

Some people are very, very bad people.

[@stickdeath1980]

Dam it you beat me too it lol

[@rodawallace]

We got you bruv.

[@BOABModels]

Many people don't realise how much time and effort goes into making a KZbin video. Those copyright hits can sting.

[@precesionnoreaster1507]

I know that you're primarily a European racing history channel but could you do a video like this for the Offenhsuser 4 cylinder with roots in american racing as far back as the 1910s and was competitive until the late 70s and even made a start in 1981

[@visionproductionsnz7828]

The fact that the last championship win for the DFV was the 1982 Drivers Championship making a span of 14 years for the actual DFV engine - ignoring derivatives - of WDC and/or WCC titles. Also one of the major factors that kept the Cosworth competitive against more powerful V12s and flat 12s was the need to carry less fuel, added to the lighter engine. All in all, correct - the DFV was the greatest Formula One engine of all time, and they still sound magnificent!

[@CoyoteFTW]

Even after the DFV was retired, Ford continued to race with both turbo and naturally aspirated engines culminating in the Ford Zetec R V8 which powered Michael Schumacher to his first F1 World Championship in 1994. Ford remains, to this day, the 3rd most successful engine manufacturer in F1 history behind Mercedes and Ferrari despite leaving the sport in 2004

[@AndyFromBeaverton]

The little engine that could. Enzo sure hated it.

[@jdbb3gotskills]

That ford badge sure irritated him I bet lol

[@Slamgod]

That’s for sure. What a motor!

[@paulallen8109]

@@jdbb3gotskills What irritated him more than anything is that what he considered "small garagistas" could beat his factory racing cars for a *fraction* of the budget he spent on designing and building them. I recall reading somewhere that Williams had 1/8th of the budget Ferrari had in 1980, Williams was based in an old carpet factory Frank Williams had purchased for little money and the team itself was small even by the standards of 1980. Despite this they dominated the 1980 season with their excellent Williams FW07. Without the DFV the era of privateer teams winning titles and a heap of upcoming teams being genuinely competitive probably never would have happened. Ford was smart enough to understand that whatever constructor won it could claim rights to be "powered by Ford". Your average consumer wrongly believes the engines make F1 cars win. Ford had no issues with sharing their wins with the constructors. Ferrari on the other hand had zero interest in allowing its engines to power the cars of other constructors. Fearing those privateers beating them using their own engine would certainly look bad. For this reason Ferrari never allowed their engines to be used by any other team while the old man was still alive. To my knowledge the first non-Ferrari team to be allowed to use a Ferrari engine was Minardi back in 1991. So while 15 different constructors won with Ford (Cosworth) power, only 1 other team has won with Ferrari power. A single race. The 2008 Italian GP won by Sebastian Vettel in his Toro Rosso Ferrari.

[@d.e.b.b5788]

Oh, if only Enzo had enough sense to buy Offenhauser engines for his chassis.

[@AndyFromBeaverton]

@@d.e.b.b5788 If Enzo did that, Italians would have hung him faster than they did Mussolini.

[@scrubsrc4084]

One of my last jobs in the foundry I worked in was to cast a very early dfv block using the original tooling and it took some seriously old school techniques to get it to cast properly. When we asked where the moulds and core blocks came from the guys just shrugged.

[@bloqk16]

Ah! Since you did foundry work . . . I found it remarkable, given the complexity of the DFV, with how the manufacturing managed to "tool up" from doing a handful of engines in 1967 to expand the production for the 1968 F1 season and beyond.

[@roberthill2219]

@@bloqk16 Henry Ford II got involved and assisted Cosworth with the best and brightest casting engineers that FoMoCo had to offer....

[@larrythorn4715]

I assume this was relatively recently, rather than back when the DFV was brand new? I'm curious to know, if you are aware, why they went back to cast something so old? Restoration perhaps?

[@stuartd9741]

@@larrythorn4715 Indeed. Historical accuracy? But also an original (cast) DFV would also be.... extremely valuable .....?

[@larrythorn4715]

@@stuartd9741 no idea. I imagine it must have been for something like a historic GP build but how can we really know lol

[@davidhall2327]

Bit of a lightweight documentary. The DFV was the design of one man. Keith Duckworth who buried himself at home to do the detail drawings by hand. No cad then. The BDA engine was used to perfect the cyl head porting and valve layout. The early engines were unreliable in the gear train driving the valves. The problem was vibration. Keith designed a shock absorber quill gear drive to absorb vibration curing the gear breakage issue. A masterpiece of design. He approached everything with original thought. Truly a genius designer.

[@terryjacob8169]

The FVA, not the BDA, served as Keith Duckworth's test excercise for the DFV's port design and combustion chamber configuration.

[@zanemurcha9742]

The Formula 3000 category was named after this engine. Because it was 3000cc, and it remained in that class until 1995 with it's final win occurring at Pau in 1993. 10 years after it had outgrown it's usefulness in F1 and 28 years after it first powered a racing car, the Cosworth DFV was still in professional motorsport. This engine had a more successful and longer career than 90% of all racing drivers and teams!

[@edalder2000]

The DFV was God's own engine. 25 years in top rank racing will never happen again.

[@R4M_Tommy]

Porsche's Metzger engine started its life in Group 5 in the 70s, went in Group 4 cars, ran through the Group C era, the GT1/LMGTP era in three different cars, and GT2/GT3 un until the 2010s. It also went into several generations of road cars.

[@roberthill2219]

Repeat after me.... Hemmmi.... see my other comment....now in continuous use and winning races since 1964....not to mention making 7000hp on 90% Nitromethane these days...

[@precesionnoreaster1507]

@@roberthill2219 i would agree but a top fuel hemi is verry far from a wedge chrysler

[@roberthill2219]

@@precesionnoreaster1507 yes it is... but it's not from a 66 to 71 Street Hemi which was installed in over 14,000 Dodge and Plymouth cars... make mine a 68 Dodge Charger R/T... triple black like the one in 'Bullet'...

[@anthonyxuereb792]

A bit dramatic

[@millennialchicken]

The DFV is not a creation of man, but a gift by god. I even saw a DFV for sale at a car boot once, should got it and made a coffee table out of it.

[@Jejking]

Blasphemy. The only use in that category is putting it in a coffee car, and running the hell out of it like it's supposed to

[@LimitPro1]

Had you bought it you could have tried and made contact with Cosworth to make it a working engine again

[@Yvolve]

Just a block would fetch a good price nowadays. Super rare but very desirable.

[@robert8984]

First win of the DFV engine: Jim Clark - Last win: Michael Schumacher, 26 years later. This engine saw several generations of the greatest of all drivers. I cant stretch this enough. The same engine (beside upgrades) won F1 races for Jim Clark and Michael Schumacher. Thats insane.

[@ventisette.]

Michael Schumacher actually used a HB, which had absolutely nothing in common with the DFV.

[@marklittle8805]

One of the sweetest sounding race engines ever built. And as it turns out, it always made good and usable power and managed to stay competitive for two decades...and variants won everywhere...truly magic

[@BritIronRebel]

Hearing that engine in an F-1 car might actually rival sex! 😆

[@beagle7622]

I saw Jim Clark alone at Sandown Park in Melbourne, driving the Tasman Version of the Lotus 49 in Feb 1968 . Only car on the track , late in the afternoon. The exhaust noise was bouncing off the grandstand and advertising bill boards. I remember the sound as just glorious. Jim was dead 6 weeks later. It devastated me.

[@d.e.b.b5788]

Nope, they didn't 'win everywhere'. Chrysler's second generation hemi has dominated drag racing for over 50 years now. Rumor had it that a private company purchased the tooling to build them, and they are still in production, somewhere.

[@marklittle8805]

@@d.e.b.b5788 drag racing is unique. But for one basic motor to win in F1, sports car and IndyCar, not to mention hill climb specials and do so over three decades is unique. The Hemi that went on to win in NASCAR and drag racing changed block sizes and engine sizes, not to mention migrated from an Iron block 330ci to the massive all aluminum Top Fuel and Funny car motors that are almost twice that size. I am a big Hemi fan but that motor that was originally in the old Chrysler 300 of the fifties isn't the drag motor with 10000hp on nitro methane of today. The Cossie DFV, DFY, DFX and XB had the same bore spacing, aluminum block and layout and just changed displacement slightly by adjusting the stroke and bore

[@d.e.b.b5788]

@@marklittle8805 That 1950's hemi and the one from the mid 1960's are two different engines. But the 60's one IS the same block as what's still running today. Like the DFV, only the displacement has been altered a bit. But the basic engine is the same. Over time, metallurgy will upgrade the components, and other improvements will be made, just as the DFV of the late 60's isn't the same DFV that raced two decades later.

[@davidchurchill]

If my memory is correct, Jackie Stewart, Alan Jones and Keke Rosberg all won their first Grand Prix using the same engine but wit a few rebuilds in between

[@LeoWuerde]

First ever win for the DFV on 4th June 1967, during his debut race in the Lotus 49/R2, Dutch GP at Zandvoort, driven by the unmatched icon of the sport: JIM CLARK - By far the greatest driver ever - no doubt. He is and was "The Best of the Best" (Fangio, Senna, Prost, Stewart and countless others about Clark). No other driver in history until today was so superior as Clark - No other driver as so much "Grand Slam" - Pole/Win/Fastest Lap/Leading every lap of the race - like him. And all that from just 72 starts... ! This man is the Olymp of driving - the Michelangelo of racing - a dynamic art at the highest level. So smooth, so precise, so fast....simply out of this world. One, who won in Spa by 5 minutes (!) in monsoon rain with only one hand at the wheel (!) because of gearbox trouble...One, who takes back a complete lap (!) in Monza and back into the lead... One, who took pole on the original 22,8 km Nürburgring track by 9 (!) seconds and more....One who won Indy by 2 whole (!) laps...For eternity and by lightyears unmatched in the sport. That`s just four examples of his mesmeric unique genius..

[@zak_7354]

We used to race DFV’s in a Spice sportscar in the early 90’s tuned by Nicolson Mclaren. Couldn’t win races with the turbo Porsche, Toyota and Nissan’s, but in qualifying and on tighter circuits we held our own. And the rasp of that na V8 was quite unique! A great engine.

[@chucks6879]

I met Walter Hayes several times he was very much involved in the Cobra and later getting Ford back racing in NASCAR in 83. Nice bloke

[@212MPH]

That old Cosworth double four valve was Cosworths finest hour.

[@unspiek4245]

Great video, thanks. I was told years ago that Costin and Duckworth based the design of both the F1 and F2 engines on the geometry of the English Ford 4 cyl. Kent engine, a 5 main bearing pushrod motor which was extremely reliable. By doing this Cosworth was able to save a lot of development time. Amazing to think that a low-budget engine project intended as a stopgap could dominate racing for decades - pure genius.

[@chrishenniker5944]

The geometry is based on the Ford Kent Engine, the British equivalent of the small block Ford? How did they do that?

[@stefeniedavidmusic]

I remember going to the Canadian and US grand prix in 72/73 and it seemed like everyone had a Ford Cosworth (yes, Cevert was killed at the 73 US GP). You should have heard them scream on the first lap at the end of the straight at Mosport in Canada. What a sound. Never forget the excitement.

[@stefeniedavidmusic]

In those days, you could walk right behind the paddock, no special pass and stand at a cable fence and look right into the garages 20 feet away. And turning around, I once stood right beside Mrs Fittipaldi wearing her big Brazilian hat in the paddock. No security, no problems, no worries. They had the Canadian Grand Prix of course, but also Formula Atlantic races and, who could forget the CanAm series. Denny Hulme, Peter Revson, Mark Donahue ... Mosport NE of Toronto, would get crowds of 100 thousand people. No lie. What a great time to live in.

[@Fitch93]

in 1977 a man called Rufus went to Cosworth and asked about getting their assistance to put a turbo on the DFV to race at Indy with, they basically laughed at him. So he decided to do it himself, when it proved that it had some potential Cosworth jumped whole hog onboard and the Cosworth DFX was born, and it was a Top tier competitive engine until nearly the 2000's.

[@briankearn6991]

Keith Duckworth hated turbo engines.

[@terryjacob8169]

I think you're referring to Rufus 'Parnelli' Jones.

[@MarkHouston72]

It really was THAT great, it killed off all major engine manufacturers (except Ferrari) and make F1 essentially a spec engine formula for a decade, but in return made it cheap enough for almost anyone to build a competitive car. Makes you think......

[@bbayerit]

Great analysis of a great piece of machinery. I only regret that you didn't have an audio clip of the engine's sound ... pure excitement!

[@alecbrown66]

Thank you Aidan for reminding all the younger petrol heads of this classic and foundational F1 engine, without which modern F1 might not exist

[@Tminus89]

I have stood a meter away from one starting up in a pitbox, unforgettable experience

[@d.e.b.b5788]

Stand a meter away from an old 1960's Ferrari racing v12 at Goodwood or another vintage racing venue, and prepare to be blown away by the sound. Nothing like it.

[@MrSniperfox29]

Ford - It would look silly if one team is using an overpowered engine to win everything, nobody will take us seriously Mercedes - What?

[@BigCat553]

Currently Mercedes supplies engines to more teams than the others do, and the costcap means other teams don't have excuses anymore for building a underperfoming chassis or having bad aero on car

[@dee3368]

Lol

[@jimmydesouza4375]

@@BigCat553 A cost cap..?? Gawrsh, it's not like that can be easily bypassed or anything...

[@detectivepayne3773]

@@BigCat553 they supply customer engines that don't have the same power output or engine modes as they do, the dfv lotus got back in the day was the same dfv everyone else could buy

[@66PHILB]

Walter Haynes of Ford UK said to Colin Chapman in late 1967, you know we'll have to sell it to other teams or we'll just kill off the whole thing. What a pity said Colin... he knew Walter was right.

[@robertkeefer1552]

The DFV is surely a masterpiece. Perhaps some inspiration was derived from the Ford Series 4 Indianapolis engine developed in late 1963. That engine is a wonder as well.

[@CoyoteFTW]

Some inspiration was derived the bases of the DFV also has similarities to the Ford capri engine which is where Cosworth actually started modifying Ford engines specifically Ford Anglia 105E for formula 3 and formula 2. Cosworth built engines for both of these categories, basing them on the Ford 1500cc, 5-main-bearing block. They were immensely successful. Duckworth presented his sketches to Harley Copp, engineering director of Ford of Britain and a seasoned judge of racing matters. Copp was impressed by what he saw and by the possibilities it held for a most logical program combining Formulas 1 and 2. A series of meetings followed between Copp, other Ford of Britain technical brass, Duckworth, Costin, Chapman and his chief designer, Maurice Phillippe. Every aspect of the idea was explored and finally, in November of 1965, the program was blessed with an allocation of $280,000 rest is history

[@rwlewko]

I'd love to see a similar treatment of the Offenhauser engine!

[@Loulovesspeed]

@Robert lewko - The Offy engine, as I'm sure you know, was a large displacement 4 cylinder with a single block and head, so it could run a compression ratio of some 15 to 1, more in the area of diesel engines. With fuel injection and hemispherical cylinders it produced about the same horsepower as the V8 Cosworth Ford engine!

[@TheFarCobra]

I was hoping to hear a bit more on the DFX (?) in Indy cars. Maybe another video in future chronicling the Indy evolution from Offy to Cossie to Chevy/Toyota/New Ford, eh?

[@billshiff2060]

Offenhauser Is a contender here with it's first Indy win in 1935 to it’s last win in 1976! 46 years!

[@aldo-228]

My all time favorite F1 engine! The sound was magnificent!

[@Miklos82]

An excellent video, thanks for posting. It reminded me of something I read back in the early 70's in R&T referring to the combination of a Ford Cosworth and a Hewland transmission as 'The British Grand Prix car kit'.

[@amazeddude1780]

Prior to the Cosworth, Indy cars had a couple of long running engines: the Offenhauser and the Miller/Drake variants. I believe the engine even won in F1 in the 1950's. Good story there.

[@BOABModels]

Amazing engine - I just built a 1/20 scale replica for the Tyrrell P34 Six Wheeler I'm making.

[@JohnSmithShields]

There was one of these running in a demonstration at the British GP last year. To quote Clarkson, it made a dirty, dirty noise.

[@dankmemesmeltexistentialdr2769]

Made everything else sound shit didn’t it? Can’t beat that meaty sound

[@monaad6061]

You could say the engine had an even longer life if you consider the DFX and its variants. The DFX was dominant in indycar racing much like the DFV and even went on to be the spec engine of Champ Car until it merged with IRL in 2008. Also, the DFX was before the DFY/Z hence the naming scheme.

[@alaeriia01]

Was there a DFW?

[@monaad6061]

@@alaeriia01 You're gonna have to ask wikipedia lol

[@alaeriia01]

@@monaad6061 Apparently there was. It had a shorter stroke, much like the later DFS.

[@AidanMillward]

@@alaeriia01 they always had a sale on those engines. And interest free credit with nothing to pay for the first year.

[@senorsoupe]

That's not strictly true. The DFX/DFS series engines faded out in 1990 and 1991 (the last entered in 1992 I think). In 1992 Ford and Cosworth introduced the Ford XB which was a new design, intended to compete with the Chevy/Ilmor engines that had come to dominate the sport. The engines used by Champ Car are descendants of those Ford XB engines introduced in 1992. Legend has it that Gerry Forsythe still has a barn full of them

[@SkywalkerGLM]

Should do a series on the Offenhauser. Long INDYCAR heritage.

[@andynixon2820]

When I saw one in person I couldn't believe how tiny it was - it took a while to believe it .

[@waynejohnson1489]

Excellent Aidan. Thanks

[@jeffatturbofish]

Bless you for bringing this one back. This engine is a work of art.

[@jimmungai1938]

A lot of people don’t realize one of the advantages of a overhead cam engine you don’t have the weight of the push rods and also you don’t have to work the intake ports around the pushrods that’s huge but it’s an interesting story thanks for the good information is a Jim mungai from Kennerdell Pennsylvania

[@bluenomad73]

The DFV was an incredible machine. The Ford-Cosw. HB made many notable victories possible in 1993. In 1994, the new successful Zetec-R was already used in the blue Benetton of the Ford Cosworth. From this year on, the HB was only a cheap customer engine.

[@sirhenners204]

There is a 1967 documentary on the DFV called First Time Out, which features a good chunk of race footage of the 1967 Dutch GP, as well as footage of the Cosworth factory

[@coyotehater]

The original version of this was the first of your videos I watched. Glad you got it re-uploaded! Thanks!

[@mgrzx3367]

Thank you so much for what you teach me. I've know of the DFV for decades but always needed some extra history of it. You do great work and I never miss an upload. Arigato gozaimasu sensei.

[@healingenso7923]

RIP Colin Chapman. I still love you. Sorry Enzo, Frank et al. You are all chasing the Colin Chapman genius.

[@joezeit7391]

Great presentation.

[@Trebuchet48]

In -- 1971? Not sure! -- I attended an SCCA regional event at Seattle International Raceway. Entered in the "Formula A" category was local VW dealer and occasional F1 racer Pete Lovely, in an ex-works Lotus 49 Cosworth. That was 50 years ago and it's still best sound I ever heard in my life. If only the current cars could sound like that.

[@testopatia106]

Fantastic Aiden Superb.

[@bdjm8595]

Excellent overview, took me back to early years of following F1, thanks !!!!

[@JustGeminis]

Aidan !!! Can we get a video about the Isuzu Formula 1 engine :D

[@stuartd9741]

Is that a thing?

[@waynevictory5208]

Love the information set forth in this monologue

[@neilaquino5294]

Hi Aidan! Didn't you upload a story time eps. on this (God's Engine) a few yrs. ago? Was that taken down due to copyright or you took it down for a remake? Thanks! Good job! Keep it coming! Much love from a Filipino fan! 🇵🇭🥰

[@AidanMillward]

It was one of the copyright casualties. Figured I might as well do it again in the current style of video and add bits that I didn't know the first time round.

[@roberthill2219]

@@AidanMillward Let the haters hate, keep doing what you do, your insights into racing history combined with your dry sense of humor make your channel one of my favorites on KZbin, right along side Casey Putsch, Slot Car News and... Salty Cracker! Reeeee! LOFL!

[@andyhastings5950]

Cosworth also teamed up with GM to build a special engine based on the Vega. It was extremely fast. This was in 1972. The project ended when GM could not source the ZF transmission and built there own 4 speed. The problem was the new transmission could not handle the extra horses. I know of this as bought a 72 model Lord I wish I had the knowlage of how much these go for now. I sold it to purchase a 'Vett.

[@Loulovesspeed]

If you liked the feel of a Cosworth Vega, you would have loved the modern equivalent of it which was the SVT Focus, with a 2 liter F.I. twin cam pumping out 170 HP. Connected to a German made Getrag 6 spd. close ratio tranny, that car was a great package of power and superior handling. The head was made with input from Cosworth Engineering and the engine was turbine smooth, even at 7,100 rpm! My 2002 was the 73rd one built and I wish I still had it!

[@andyhastings5950]

@@Loulovesspeed I probably would.

[@minibus9]

great video. The DFV was also used in f3000 for quite a few years

[@aaronaaronsen3360]

I don't remember if I saw the first one but it still nice to hear. Great video as always, thank you Aidan.

[@Tom_Hadler]

Even though I knew of Costin & Duckworth, it has only just dawned on me that's where the name Cosworth is derived!

[@chetmarcotti4953]

Awesome history, thanks

[@weslittlereptilefamily3418]

You're the best. You could re-do all your videos and I'd watch them all again

[@LoganHunter82]

Could you do video about Hart and Judd engines? The last true privateer engine suppliers

[@JohnSmithShields]

Seconded

[@magikjoe3789]

Thirded. With a side order of please, from Birmingham

[@strangelove9608]

@@magikjoe3789 Fourthed

[@murlock666]

Agree. Especially as you can still buy a Judd V8/10

[@bernardwarr4187]

Sixth. I remember seeing a metro 6r4 in the late 80’s that was an 8r2 Hart engine. In the dry, was incredible

[@ryanmcconkey282]

Just found your channel love it

[@johncunningham4820]

The Cosworth " Double Four Valve " is indeed the Greatest Race Engine ever made . I would love to drop one in a Cobra Replica . 6 speed Tremec .

[@UrMomsChauffer]

I would have to argue that the small block Chevy has been used more, for longer, making it a more successful engine. The Chrysler Hemi is a close competitor as well. Good video none the less.

[@mikehipperson]

Never heard of a Chevy or Chrysler F1 engine before pal! What racing series were they in?

[@UrMomsChauffer]

@@mikehipperson well pal, he didn't specify that the engine was only used in F1. He mentioned several other series in which it was raced, and how long it was in service. The Chrysler Hemi has been in as many series, and has been used steadily, in some derivative for almost 70 years. The small block Chevy has been used in more series for about the same amount of time. He said most successful engine of all time. He didn't just put it down to F1.

[@alaeriia01]

Fun fact: a small block Chevy V6 running on propane was used as the lift motor for the late, great High Speed Thrill Coaster at Knoebels once the original lift motor broke. The ride operator would control the speed of the lift manually and it could get up to 35 or 40 MPH, transforming what was nominally a kiddie coaster into something totally ridiculous.

[@UrMomsChauffer]

@@alaeriia01 that is interesting to know. Knoebels isn't far from where I live.

[@henkverzeijl1525]

@@UrMomsChauffer That's because that title would then probably go to the Ford 1600 Kent engine, which has been in use on the road and in motorsport, in countless different forms since the late '50s, and are still relatively mass produced and supplied by Ford Racing to this very day. People still build Lotus twin cams and Cosworth FV and BD series of them for competition use, and are still winning events even... A DFV is basically 2 early 1500cc versions of them stuck together and sharing a crank, so plenty of design aspects were taken from that humble little 1.5 (and later 1.6) OHV road car blocks.

[@66PHILB]

In 1980 the DFV ruled the world of motorsport. It won the F1 Drivers & Constructors championships with Williams, in DFX form it won the Indy 500 & the Indy Car drivers championship in the Chaparral 2K and the DFV won the Le Mans 24 Hours in a Rondeau. What an amazing achievement 13 years after its debut.

[@Mtlmshr]

Without a doubt the worlds most winningest engine, to this day I keep a laminated drawing of the DFV proudly on my race shop wall of fame!

[@slamtailsuspension1933]

Good summary of the greatest racing engine. The HB was 75 degree V angle (vs 90) so really was a clean sheet design by Geoff Goddard. The greatest legacy of the DFV was the combustion chamber design that was copied by all eventually, and still is by car manufacturers for decades, that being flat top piston, (with valve cut-outs into the flat top) and "pent-roof" shallow included valve angle. Also the "quill hub" design that dampened out the huge harmonic resonant torque that the cam gear-train suffered, and which broke the gears in the earlier engines.. From the '94 season a new engine called the EC (or Zetec R) was the works Benneton engine, and a customer engine after that season to others..

[@claytonbrown7622]

Simply sensational, as always - thanks Aiden

[@RSDX99]

The Ford Indy engine was also used in Sprint cars for a while. I also saw a front-engined Ford at the Vintage Indy car races at the Speedway 3 years ago.

[@smitbar11]

C H E V R O L E T rules the roost

[@EffequalsMA]

Everybody loves the DVD, except EF....its just such a goid story. Two mates in a shed build a championship winning engine.

[@DonWan47]

Remarkable engine. The best ever.

[@ianwynne764]

Lovely Aidan. Thank you.

[@nehylen5738]

I wouldn't have thought a line of race engines could last for so long. I guess it was that good! Something struck me about what you said on the HB series though: it's pretty clear in my mind that the HB series, while it still was handed over to clients teams from 94 (HB8), was not used by Benetton that year: they had a new Zetec-R line engine, and it was advertised as quite a significant upgrade over the HB series during the 1993-94 interseason. In which case the last GP won by a HB engine would be Senna at Adelaide 1993.

[@bloqk16]

The pinnacle of the DFV in sports cars was winning at Le Mans twice. For Indy, the engine was remarkable to adapt to turbocharging and methanol fuel. The fuel economy to HP ratio is what made it dominate at Indy, as the rules set by USAC at the time favored the V8 engines (Cosworth and The Foyt-Coyote) over that of the inline four cylinder Offy engine.

[@davidciesielski8251]

Thank you

[@ingopaul67]

I had a Ford DFV poster on my bedroom wall when I was a kid, it celebrated the 150th win of the engine (sometime in the early 80s I think) and showed all the winning cars. Its probably in my parents loft somewhere. A Madonna poster replaced it when I reached my mid teens.

[@mets137781]

Fords final middle finger to Ferrari. The vengeance that Ford took was somewhat incredible. Destorying their sportscar program and making this thing freely available the entire F1 grid.

[@andyharman3022]

You need to do the Offenhauser. First run at Indianapolis in 1936, it last won the race in 1976, and last entered in 1980. At the end there were actually two competing versions of the same basic design: the Offy, and the DGS (Drake-Goosen-Sparks). Ultimately, it was fuel consumption regulations that killed it. It successfully spanned the naturally aspirated and turbo eras, first winning as a turbo in 1968. The crankcase and lower end were stupidly strong and able to withstand 1000 hp and 40 psi boost years before F1 went turbo.

[@rudolfabelin383]

The engine, the myth, the legend. Want one.

[@andresferrari5859]

The Ford Cosworth V8 in all its variations has to be among the the best and greatest engines ever made. Lets not forget that the original engine has origins with the Cosworth Lotus Cortina 4 cyl. DOHC, essentially being 2 of those engines on a common crankshaft, with lots of creative engineering.

[@tinypurplefishesrunlaughin8052]

What? Is it a double Zetec ?

[@chrishenniker5944]

Why couldn’t Ford make a baby block Ford out of two Kent engines, such as a two litre for street use? If it was in a Mk1 Cortina or Consul Capri, could have been the hot one.

[@Rob-fx2dw]

You can read the book on the DFV - "Such Sweet Thunder" if you can find a copy.

[@nickjacobs1770]

Great video. But now can you do a video on the Hewland gearbox, that was usually mated to the D.F.V.

[@66PHILB]

That would be great! 1970s F1 was built on on the DFV/Hewland package. I always liked Mike Hewland's straightforward system for naming his gearboxes. His F2 one was the FT200, the DG stood for Different Gearbox. He had trouble with designing the early F1 FG series. FG stood for F*&@ing Gearbox!

[@brettburns9321]

my mon great video thanks. got through a cosworth documentary without saying cossie legend my mon. Great work adian

[@danielcgomez]

Great video Aidan! I had no idea that the DFV(and its variants) was around for that long!

[@Johnnycdrums]

Me either.

[@craigjovanovich6450]

Nice addition to your first video on this engine, sir. Enjoyed!

[@razorsitch9882]

Absolutely no question that the DFV was and always will be the single greatest contribution to motorsport by anyone, or two someone’s, ever

[@middleclassthrash]

I support this content.

[@t.s.racing]

Looks and sound ? Is that what this generation considers significant? Thank God I'm a really old Engineer 🙏

[@LacasseEric]

I was first introduced to the Ford Cosworth DFV through the Michel Vaillant comics. In one of the books, there's a story about a privateer team using it's DFV engines as a way to smuggle drugs. That team was partly influenced by Lord Hesketh, and partly by Randy Lanier. The villain was cramming cocaine inside the cylinders of his spare engine.

[@Johnnycdrums]

I thought you were going to say that they adapted the DFV to some sort of marine application. Oh, how my mind jumps.

[@Troy_Tempest]

The 426 Hemi is the greatest engine ever built. 1964 and still kicking arse

[@ernesttravers7517]

Great video

[@goldenrotorracing]

I remember seeing the Cosworth in Indycar racing against the Buick V-6 engines as well. Hardly anyone knew that Buick was using a production based engine with pushrods making amazing power holding a single lap record at Indy and even taking the pole, but issues with the popoff valve would be their undoing and crashes as well.

[@chancevonfreund1156]

Yes the Buick had to decrease the boost for the race to make it more reliable. In qualify trim it was great. I believe it's best finish was 3rd and that wasn't bad.

[@arkhsm]

It was a 3.4 with more allowed boost vs a 2.65 litre though !!

[@chancevonfreund1156]

Also, a production block not designed for racing!

[@bobteachesphoto6379]

Also according to a friend working for Buick at the time, the fuel and spark mapping/advance was a tricky combination to get right and it was finicky with air temp, charge air temp and other atmospheric conditions, but when they ran, wow did they ever run fast!!!

[@shenmisheshou7002]

I love F1 cars from this era. They were elemental; four wheels and a pencil body with no wings or ground effect. Simple and beautiful. At the time, Formula 1 was not well known in the US, so it is understandable that Detroit would say no. Ford in the UK and Europe could clearly benefit by the old "Win on Sunday, sell cars on Monday" marketing tactic and I suppose this is the argument that Hayes used on Ford leadership in Detroit. The Cosworth was a superb engine and coupled with Champman's design genius, the results are not surprising. Cosworth does deserve a lot of the credit. I love F1 cars from this era. They were elemental.

[@hanshoogendyk2203]

And possibly by the end of 25 years there was one single bolt that was still the same as the original engine. All the same an excellent engine

[@jamesh9678]

Fantastic video!! I loved every second.

[@Kidderman2210]

1.48: The company was called "Coventry-Climax", not "Coventry". They also made fork-lift trucks and fire engine pumps.

[@uranodas]

I love the sound of a flat head

[@trentsotelo8697]

This is good, but the classic 2018 Storytime with Rock music was just great. Got my hooked ever since.

[@LEXICOGRAFFER]

Missing here, and disappointingly so, is some real talk about...guess what......The Engine! Meaning it design, its component parts etc with close-ups expanded views and related info.

[@raosiddharth4726]

Thank you for the content like this

[@John2E0GTU]

I liked the A series as used in the original Mini. A rallying genius.

[@Gnrnrvids]

Another top notch video Aidan

[@DiogeneDeSin0pe]

Thanks for another great video. I know it's farr from real life but I built a replica of the prototype 4 cylinder version (fva) in automation, no tunning, just stoping it from self-destruction. Then tested it in BeamNG, that thing was awesome. Maybe I should do the V8.

[@robertrich663]

You didn't mention that the Cosworth BDA engine for F2 was also part of the Ford deal. So the £100k bought 2 engines for Ford, best deal ever made, just putting synchromesh on 1st gear on a production car cost way more than that!

[@0055Micky]

Cough cough, RS1600, RS1800, RS200