Cosworth EC

The Cosworth EC is an eight-cylinder racing engine 3.5 liter displacement built by Cosworth and financed by Ford , which was used exclusively by Benetton in the 1994 Formula 1 World Championship under the name Ford Zetec-R . Michael Schumacher won the drivers' world championship with the EC this year. The version reduced to 3.0 liters, Cosworth ECA , again called Zetec-R, appeared at Sauber in the 1995 season , but was far less successful there. After only two years, it was replaced in 1996 by the newly designed ten-cylinder Cosworth JD engine in the function of the works engine. As a customer engine, the ECA played practically no role.

History of origin

EC designer: Cosworth

Financier: Ford

The British engine manufacturer Cosworth, founded in 1958 by Keith Duckworth and Mike Costin , was represented in the Formula 1 World Championship for 17 years from 1967 with the 3.0-liter eight-cylinder naturally aspirated engine DFV . The DFV, funded by Ford, was freely available and dominated Formula 1 in the 1970s. Cosworth only lost its dominant position in the early 1980s when expensive and powerful turbo engines began to rule the world championships. Cosworth operated the Turbo Formula 1 only half-heartedly and could not build on old successes with the GBA, which was only completed in 1986 . When the FIA allowed naturally aspirated engines again for the 1987 season , Cosworth set up the DFZ within a few months , an eight-cylinder naturally aspirated engine that was derived from the now 20-year-old DFV. In the following year, a further developed version appeared with the DFR . At the same time, Cosworth designed the HB in 1988 , a completely new naturally aspirated engine that was again designed as an eight-cylinder but no longer had any similarities with the DFV. As a so-called works engine, the HB initially went primarily to the Benetton team from 1989, while the other Cosworth customers were supplied with the outdated DFR until 1991 (so-called customer engines). It was not until 1992 that Cosworth began regular customer business with HB engines; however, these were each significantly older versions than Benetton. Cosworth and Benetton could not intervene in the fight for the world championship even with the latest versions of the HB. The HBs had significantly less power than the ten and twelve cylinder engines from Renault and Honda; Depending on the source, the power deficit was 70 to 100 hp. Only Benetton and McLaren (1993) won some world championship races with the HB engine; the other teams only achieved positions outside the podium. In 1994, in its last season, the meanwhile clearly inferior HB had become the “engine of the poor”.

Since 1991 Cosworth worked on a successor for the HB series. Initial considerations were directed to a twelve-cylinder engine; Corresponding press releases were distributed on the occasion of the Grand Prix of Canada in 1991 and repeated until the spring of 1992. After Cosworth had already started detailed work, the twelve-cylinder project was unexpectedly abandoned at the end of 1992. Instead, the successor to the HB was an eight-cylinder engine, which took over some of the detailed solutions from the unrealized V-12 Cosworth. Ford sponsored the engine with £ 14 million. It was published exclusively by Benetton in 1994 and had the factory code EC, but was referred to in public as the Ford Zetec-R for marketing reasons .

In its original form as a 3.5-liter engine, the EC was only in use in 1994. At the same time, Cosworth continued to have the old HB eight-cylinder in its range this year. Because the FIA , in the wake of the fatal accidents of Roland Ratzenberger and Ayrton Sennas at the 1994 San Marino Grand Prix, reduced the capacity limit to 3.0 liters for the 1995 season, the EC had to be revised after its first year. For a short time, Cosworth considered using the rule changes as an opportunity to get out of Formula 1. Together with Ford, however, the decision was made to continue the program. Work on the 3.0 liter version of the EC started late. The new version was called the factory-internal ECA and, after Benetton switched to Renault, went exclusively to the Swiss Sauber team in 1995. The ECA was only in use there for one year. From 1996, Cosworth instead provided a newly designed ten-cylinder engine as a factory engine.

From 1995 to 1997, Cosworth's customer teams received mostly simple eight-cylinder engines from the ED series , which had only slight similarities with the EC. However, a slightly simplified version of the ECA, which differed from the regular customer engine ED, went to Forti Corse in 1996 and to Mastercard Lola in 1997 . Both racing teams were financially troubled and stopped racing in the current season, Lola after the first world championship run. The ECA was therefore unable to prevail against the regular customer engine ED.

EC: The 3.5-liter version (1994)

technology

For the third generation of naturally aspirated engines after the DFV / DFZ / DFR and the HB, Cosworth once again opted for the eight-cylinder concept. The main reason was the assumption that by restricting the moving parts compared to ten or twelve cylinders, the overall weight and also the friction losses could be reduced. Like its predecessor, the EC has a cylinder bank angle of 75 degrees. Cosworth changed the relationship between bore and stroke in favor of a very large bore. The factory specified dimensions of 99.75 × 55.9 mm; this results in a displacement of 3494.8 cm³. The EC has the largest bore of all engines of the 1994 season; Only Renault's RS6 ten-cylinder (98 mm) achieved similar values . The large bore also had an effect on the length of the engine: at 620 mm, it was just as long as the ten-cylinder engines from Honda , Peugeot and Renault; Ilmor's V10 , which ran as a Mercedes in the Sauber team in 1994, was even 25 mm shorter. Like all other 1994 generation engines, the EC had two overhead camshafts for each bank of cylinders, and there were two intake and two exhaust valves for each cylinder. The camshafts were driven by chains and gears. The engine electronics came from Ford. For the EC, Cosworth used expensive special materials for the first time: The combustion chambers were coated with ceramic, the connecting rods and valves were made of titanium and the pistons were made of a magnesium-copper-nickel alloy. One flask weighed only 305 grams. Nevertheless, at 135 kg, the weight of the EC was roughly on par with the current ten-cylinder engines. The engine output of the EC was estimated at around 755 hp in the racing and 765 hp in the qualifying trim. This means that the EC lacked around 30 hp on the most powerful ten-cylinder engines.

The EC was a very expensive motor to run. An overhaul was due after 350 km, so that an engine didn't even last a full weekend.

Racing use: Benetton

Benetton B194 with EC motor

The Benetton team, led by Flavio Briatore and Tom Walkinshaw , had been a preferred partner of Cosworth and Ford since 1987 and during this time received the latest and most powerful engines exclusively. The Cosworth HB engine, which has been in use since 1989, was considered reliable, but despite continuous further development, depending on the source, had a considerable performance deficit compared to the ten or twelve-cylinder engines from Renault and Honda, so that Benetton had no prospect of winning the in the early 1990s World Championship had. In 1992 and 1993 , Benetton finished third in the constructors 'championship with the HB, while Benetton's top driver Michael Schumacher was third (1992) and fourth (1993) in the drivers' championship.

For 1994 the newly designed EC went again exclusively to the preferred customer Benetton. At the start of the season it was widely expected that Ayrton Senna and Williams- Renault would win the drivers and constructors' championship again. The Benetton management asked for significant further development, but only expected individual victories and no influence on the world championship title. Flavio Briatore gave second place in the constructors' championship as a goal. Schumacher won the first two races of the year while Senna struggled with the new Williams FW16 . After Senna's fatal accident in Imola , neither Williams nor McLaren, the top teams of recent years, were able to compete sustainably with Benetton: Williams was “traumatized” by Senna's death and for the rest of the year mainly played with the young, inexperienced driver pairing from Damon Hill and David Coulthard , who could not fully exploit the potential of the Williams FW16. McLaren had to struggle with adaptation difficulties to the new engine partner Peugeot. Schumacher won six more world championship races after Senna's death, but was also disqualified twice and suspended for two races because he disregarded a disqualification in Great Britain . At the end of the year, eight wins and two second places were enough to make Schumacher the 1994 Formula 1 World Champion with 103 points. However, it is generally believed that this success was based on the special circumstances of 1994 and that Schumacher's first title came about “not because of, but in spite of” the Cosworth eight-cylinder.

ECA: The 3.0 liter version (1995 to 1997)

technology

In July 1994, work began on the 3.0-liter version of the EC. Because of a lack of time, Cosworth could not design a completely new engine. Rather, the engineers only adapted the block of the EC to the new displacement limit. The displacement of the engine called ECA is 2994 cm³. There was no specific information about the relationship between bore and stroke of the engine, now known as ECA. Special materials such as titanium, magnesium and plastics were also used. At 610 mm, the ECA was only 10 mm shorter than its 3.5-liter predecessor, the EC. Most ten-cylinder engines were similar in size. Compared to the EC, the weight of 130 kg was only 5 kg lower. This made it as heavy as the ten-cylinder engines from Renault (132 kg) and Mugen (135 kg), while the V10 blocks from Ilmor (120 kg) and Yamaha (117 kg) as well as the twelve-cylinder engines from Ferrari (118 kg) were significantly lighter were. The maximum speed of the ECA was 15,300 revolutions per minute in qualification mode, while the Renault engine already achieved over 16,000 and the Ferrari engine even more than 17,000 revolutions per minute. The maximum output of the Cosworth eight-cylinder was estimated at 625 to 640 hp. Renault and Ferrari were already at over 700 hp. After the first test runs on the test bench, the ECA was presented to the public in Zurich in January 1995, and the first test drives with Sauber took place in February 1995.

Races

1995: clean

Sauber C14 with ECA engine (1995)

Peter Sauber's Swiss team, Sauber Motorsport , appeared in Formula 1 in 1993 with Ilmor engines, known as Mercedes. At the beginning of the 1995 season, Mercedes entered into a partnership with McLaren that lasted for 20 years. As McLaren insisted on an exclusive relationship, as usual, Sauber dropped out as an engine partner in the future. After Cosworth's attempt to win the Jordan Grand Prix as a future exclusive partner - Eddie Jordan was instead able to take over the Peugeot engines that had previously been driven by McLaren in the autumn of 1994 - Cosworth selected Sauber as the new works team in November 1994, which took over the role of Benetton Formula. The relationship, which also included a personal link between Sauber and Cosworth, was planned for two years.

In 1995, Sauber received the 3.0-liter ECA engine exclusively. It did not harmonize with the Sauber C14 , which was designed in late summer 1994 to accommodate the significantly lighter Mercedes engine. Because the decision in favor of the Cosworth engine was made late, the Sauber engineers were only able to superficially adapt the C14 to the ECA engine. This had a negative effect on driving behavior, which was described as unpredictable ("erratic"); in addition, the aerodynamics of the C14 were not efficient. In 1995, with the ECA, Sauber was unable to build on the successes that Benetton had achieved the previous year with the original EC version. Third place for Heinz-Harald Frentzens at the Italian Grand Prix was the team's best result this year and the only podium finish that the ECA achieved in its three-year history. Over the course of the year, Frentzen was fourth again, fifth twice and sixth four times. His team-mate Karl Wendlinger did not even finish in six races, Wendlinger's substitute Jean-Christophe Boullion only finished in the points twice in eleven races. Boullion's best result was fifth in Germany . At the end of the year, Sauber finished seventh in the constructors 'championship with 18 points, while Frentzen was ninth in the drivers' world championship. In 1995, Sauber was by far the best Cosworth team. Of the four customer teams that used ED engines throughout this year, only Minardi was able to achieve a world championship point. Simtek , Pacific and Forti Corse received no points.

In the 1996 season , Sauber received completely newly developed ten-cylinder engines, which were designated by the manufacturer as Cosworth JD , but were again reported by Ford as Zetec-R .

1996: Forti Corse

Forti FG01B (1996)

Forti FG03 (1996)

The Forti Corse team from Alessandria made its debut in Formula 1 in 1995 , after having been successful in Formula 3000 for many years . The Formula 1 commitment was based largely on the payments made by the sponsors arranged by Pedro Diniz . Forti entered 1995 with a Cosworth ED customer engine and a chassis that went back to the 1992 Fondmetal GR02 . Diniz and his team-mate Roberto Moreno were the slowest drivers throughout the season; when they reached the finish line they had often been lapped five or six times, in Argentina even nine times.

For the second season, Guido Forti entered into a contract for the expensive ECA customer engines, which should set his racing team apart from the other Cosworth customer teams. When Pedro Diniz suddenly switched to Ligier in the winter of 1995/1996 and took his sponsors with him, Forti's financing got into difficulties. The completion of the chassis for the 1995 season was delayed, so that the team had to continue to use the outdated FG01 in a B version in the first five races of the 1996 season . Fortis drivers Andrea Montermini and Luca Badoer had difficulties to qualify according to the 107 percent rule , which had been introduced at the start of the season in 1995 with a view to Forti's poor performance, in order to have a reasonably even field of participants in the races. With the help of the new sponsor Fin First , Forti finally succeeded in completing the new FG03 for the 1996 San Marino Grand Prix , which was also powered by the customer ECA. However, there was no problem-free racing operation with him. Fortis sponsor Fin First did not make the promised payments. The team then collapsed. Montermini and Badoer were only able to do a few laps at the British GP in order to be present. At the subsequent World Championship run in Germany , the Forti never left the pits because Cosworth no longer delivered any engines to the racing team. Then Forti Corse stopped racing. Badoer drove a total of six and Montermini four races with the ECA customer engine. Badoer missed qualification four times, Montermini five times. The best result of the customer engine was two tenth places in Argentina (Montermini in FG01) and San Marino (Badoer in FG03).

1997: Lola

Lola 97/30 with ECA engine (1997)

The British racing car manufacturer Lola Cars had repeatedly designed customer vehicles for Formula 1 teams since the 1970s, but had never been involved with a works team in the world championship. Lola's clients were Embassy Hill (1974 and 1975), Larrousse (1987 to 1991) and BMS Scuderia Italia (1993). After the 1993 season was disastrous, Lola initially couldn't find another customer team in Formula 1. In autumn 1996, company founder Eric Broadley decided to make the first factory Formula 1 commitment, which was originally planned to take place in 1998, but then - probably at the urging of the sponsor Mastercard - was brought forward to 1997 at short notice. Lola did not have enough time to design a new chassis in the remaining months. Therefore, the company limited itself to the revision of the prototype T95 / 30, which had already been built in 1994 for the 1995 season, but was never used. This resulted in the T97 / 30, which Lola equipped with an ECA eight-cylinder. With him, Lola stood out from the Tyrrell Racing Organization, which was the last Cosworth customer team to use an ED eight-cylinder. However, there are indications that Tyrrell's engine, which had been further developed into the ED4, was now at least as powerful as the ECA, which Cosworth had not revised since 1995. For Broadley, the Cosworth engine was only intended to be a temporary solution until a ten-cylinder engine developed by Melling Sportscars on Lola's behalf was ready for use.

Lola's Formula 1 project was poorly prepared and poorly funded. In the opening race in Australia , Lola drivers Vincenzo Sospiri and Ricardo Rosset missed qualifying according to the 107 percent rule by 6 and 9 seconds respectively. At the subsequent race in Brazil, the cars appeared in the pit lane, but they were no longer completed. After failing to qualify in Australia, Eric Broadley announced that he would immediately start designing a new car for Formula 1, but nothing came of it. Two days after the race in Australia, sponsor Mastercard terminated the agreement with Lola, which resulted in the bankruptcy of the racing team and parent company Lola Cars.

statistics

season	team	chassis	No.	driver	1	2	3	4th	5	6th	7th	8th	9	10	11	12	13	14th	15th	16	17th	Points	rank
Cosworth EC 3.5 liter V8 factory engine
1994
	Mild Seven Benetton Ford	Benetton B194	5	M. Schumacher	1	1	1	1	2	1	1	DSQ	DNF	1	DSQ			1	2	DNF		103	2
				JJ Lehto												8th	DNF
			6th	J. Verstappen	DNF	DNF					DNF	8th	DNF	3	3	DNF	5	DNF
				JJ Lehto			DNF	7th	DNF	6th
				J. Herbert															DNF	DNF
Cosworth ECA 3.0 liter V8 factory engine
1995
	Red Bull Sauber Ford	Clean C14	29	K. Wendlinger	DNF	DNF	DNF	13												10	DNF	18th	7th
				J.-C. Boullion					8th	DNF	DNF	9	5	10	11	6th	12	DNF	DNF
			30th	H.-H. Frentzen	DNF	5	6th	8th	6th	DNF	10	6th	DNF	5	4th	3	6th	DNF	7th	8th	DNF
Cosworth ECA 3.0 liter V8 customer engine
1996
	Forti Corse	Forti FG01B	22nd	L. Badoer	DNQ	11	DNF	DNQ														0	-
			23	A. Montermini	DNQ	DNF	10	DNQ	DNQ
		Forti FG03	22nd	L. Badoer					10	DNF	DNQ	DNF	DNF	DNQ	DNP
			23	A. Montermini						DNS	DNQ	DNF	DNF	DNQ	DNP
1997
	Mastercard Lola	Lola T97 / 30	24	V. Sospiri	DNQ	DNP																0	-
			25th	R. Rosset	DNQ	DNP

Legend
colour	abbreviation	meaning
gold	-	victory
silver	-	2nd place
bronze	-	3rd place
green	-	Placement in the points
blue	-	Classified outside the point ranks
violet	DNF	Race not finished (did not finish)
	NC	not classified
red	DNQ	did not qualify
	DNPQ	failed in pre-qualification (did not pre-qualify)
black	DSQ	disqualified
White	DNS	not at the start (did not start)
	WD	withdrawn
Light Blue	PO	only participated in the training (practiced only)
	TD	Friday test driver
without	DNP	did not participate in the training (did not practice)
	INJ	injured or sick
	EX	excluded
	DNA	did not arrive
	C.	Race canceled
		no participation in the World Cup
other	P / bold	Pole position
	SR / italic	Fastest race lap
	*	not at the finish, but counted due to the distance covered
	()	Streak results
	underlined	Leader in the overall standings

literature

• Norman Burr: First Principles: The Official Biography of Keith Duckworth. Veloce Publishing, 2015, ISBN 978-1-84584-528-5 .
• Adriano Cimarosti: The Century of Racing . Stuttgart 1997, ISBN 3-613-01848-9 .
• David Hodges: AZ of Grand Prix Cars 1906-2001 . Crowood Press, 2001, ISBN 1-86126-339-2 .
• David Hodges: Racing cars from AZ after 1993 . Stuttgart 1993, ISBN 3-613-01477-7 .
• Pierre Ménard: La Grande Encyclopédie de la Formule 1st 2nd edition. St. Sulpice, 2000, ISBN 2-940125-45-7 .
• Graham Robson: Cosworth: The Search for Power. JH Haynes & Co, 2017, ISBN 978-1-84425-015-8 .
• Bernd Tuchen: Ford in Formula 1 1965 to 1994. Verlag Dr. Faustus, Büchenbach 2006, ISBN 3-933474-38-8 .

Web links

History of Cosworths Formula 1 engines on the website www.research-racing.de

Individual evidence

1. ↑ With 155 world championship races won, 12 driver and 10 constructor titles between 1967 and 1983, it is the most successful engine in the history of Formula 1.
2. ↑ ^{a b c d e} history of Cosworths Formula 1 engines on the website www.research-racing.de (accessed on January 9, 2019).
3. ^ David Hodges: Rennwagen from A – Z after 1945 , Stuttgart 1993, ISBN 3-613-01477-7 , p. 187.
4. ^ Pierre Ménard: La Grande Encyclopédie de la Formule 1 , 2nd edition, St. Sulpice, 2000, ISBN 2-940125-45-7 , p. 126.
5. ^ Alan Henry: Auto Course 1991/92 . London 1992 (Hazleton Securities Ltd.), ISBN 0-905138-87-2 , p. 60.
6. ↑ ^{a b} Adriano Cimarosti: The century of racing . Stuttgart 1997, ISBN 3-613-01848-9 , p. 468 f.
7. ↑ Adriano Cimarosti: The century of racing . Stuttgart 1997, ISBN 3-613-01848-9 , p. 464.
8. ^ Pierre Ménard: La Grande Encyclopédie de la Formule 1st 2nd edition. St. Sulpice, 2000, ISBN 2-940125-45-7 , p. 152.
9. ↑ ^{a b} Adam Cooper: That Was 1994 . Motorsport Magazine, issue 12/2004, p. 48.
10. ↑ Willy Knupp (Ed.): Grand Prix 94 - Live miterlebt , Zeitgeist Verlag 1994, ISBN 3-926224-58-4 , p. 35.
11. ^ Pierre Ménard: La Grande Encyclopédie de la Formule 1st 2nd edition. St. Sulpice, 2000, ISBN 2-940125-45-7 , p. 574.
12. ^ Pierre Ménard: La Grande Encyclopédie de la Formule 1st 2nd edition. St. Sulpice, 2000, ISBN 2-940125-45-7 , p. 153.
13. ^ Pierre Ménard: La Grande Encyclopédie de la Formule 1st 2nd edition. St. Sulpice, 2000, ISBN 2-940125-45-7 , p. 575.
14. ↑ Michael Schmidt: Ross Brawn on Schumacher's first F1 title in 1994: "Those who drive up front are attacked". www.auto-motor-und-sport.de, December 21, 2014, accessed on January 11, 2019 . 
15. ↑ ^{a b} Willy Knupp (Ed.): Grand Prix 95 - experienced live , Zeitgeist Verlag 1995, 1995, ISBN 3-926224-91-6 , pp. 88–91.
16. ^ David Hodges: AZ of Grand Prix Cars 1906-2001 . Crowood Press, 2001, ISBN 1-86126-339-2 , p. 204.
17. ↑ Willy Knupp (Ed.): Grand Prix 95 - experienced live , Zeitgeist Verlag 1995, 1995, ISBN 3-926224-91-6 , p. 65.
18. ↑ History of Forti Corse on the website www.f1rejects.com (archived version; accessed on January 11, 2019).
19. ↑ Adriano Cimarosti: The century of racing . Stuttgart 1997, ISBN 3-613-01848-9 , p. 495.
20. ^ John Nicholson, Maurice Hamilton: Inside Formula One 1996. The Grand Prix Teams. Macmillan Publishers, London 1997, p. 76.
21. ^ Pierre Ménard: La Grande Encyclopédie de la Formule 1st 2nd edition. St. Sulpice, 2000, ISBN 2-940125-45-7 , p. 606.
22. ↑ ^{a b c} Sam S. Collins: Unraced. Formula One's Lost Cars . Veloce, Dorchester 2007, ISBN 978-1-84584-084-6 , pp. 34-37.
23. ↑ Sam S. Collins ( Unraced. Formula One's Lost Cars . Veloce, Dorchester 2007, ISBN 978-1-84584-084-6 ) incorrectly assumes an ED4 on p. 38 and 41, but cites Eric Broadley on p. 38 who specifically speaks of a Zetec R engine.
24. ↑ Adriano Cimarosti: The century of racing . Stuttgart 1997, ISBN 3-613-01848-9 , p. 398.