03/12/2010
NEWS STORY
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Mat Coch writes
On the wall of his office hangs a photo of Keith Duckworth, one of the founders of the company Mark Gallagher is now at the helm of. While the company has moved on since Duckworth's leadership it remains at the forefront of race engine design and development.
Cosworth is an emotive name in motor racing, conjuring up memories of Jim Clark power sliding his way around the Nurburgring, or perhaps Alan Jones announcing Williams arrival at the pinnacle of Formula One with the team's first title. The company was an institution, the DFV one of the most legendary and revered of all engineering developments within the sport.
Understandably then, it was with a heavy heart the company finally withdrew from Formula One at the end of 2006. At the time it seemed the end of an era, the passing of another giant into the rich tapestry of Formula One history. But, like a phoenix rising from the ashes, they could not be denied and in 2010, after a three year absence, Cosworth returned to the category which had made the company a household name.
Times have changed however. The 2010 Cosworth CA had been developed under 2006 regulations, which permitted engines to redline at 20,000 rpm, not the 18,000 allowed today. When Cosworth initially rejoined the Formula One fraternity it was in the belief the 20,000 rpm limit would be permissible. A late regulation change mandating that all engines must only rev to 18,000 rpm threw a spanner in the works.
It meant a drastic redesign. Mark Gallagher picks up the story: "After three years away from engine supply, to develop an engine, to retune an engine, to meet a very much changed set of rules and regulations compared to where we were in 2006: to make an engine last a lot longer, for the engine to produce good power at a reduced RPM. The CA engine was designed to run at 20,000 rpm, we're now asking it to run at 90% of the level it was design to operate at and yet ultimately to produce more power, to utilise much less fuel, to last a lot longer. Given that the regulations for the new teams when they came into Formula One, when they won their entry in June 2009, they were going to be able to use engines that ran to 20,000rpm, it was only later that that was changed. So in six months flat we retuned an engine to operate in a completely different set of regulations and have done so to the extent that it's a competitive engine, as proven by Williams."
It wasn't all plain sailing however. By Malaysia it had become apparent that there were deficiencies in the engine which needed to be addressed. Cosworth's relationship with its customers, and Williams in particular, was instrumental in resolving the problems and by mid-season the power plant was the measure of all others on the grid.
"The best measure of our competitiveness is how a team like Williams can perform with us," continues Gallagher, "and particularly when they have drivers of the calibre of Rubens and Nico. Williams have given us an enormous amount of feedback. Some of it was pretty blunt at the beginning of the year, particularly when we had some oil system issues, and there were some related degradation problems, but it is because we got the blunt feedback that we were able to do something about it, and we've developed extremely well with them."
That feedback from Williams helped the company find ways to improve the unit, and is something both the Grove outfit and Cosworth acknowledge as being an important factor in the 2010 season for both companies.
Williams Engineering Director Patrick Head believes the close professional relationship they have formed has laid a solid benchmark for the future. Indeed, the opinion from the top brass at Williams, including Technical Director Sam Michael and team owner Frank Williams is that the 2010 chassis was the limiting factor. Had the team produced a better car the partnership could have been more rewarding, evidence being the team's improved performances in the second half of the season, culminating in pole position for Nico Hulkenberg in Brazil.
"We are two British engineering companies with a long heritage in Formula One," Gallagher continues. "We've achieved a lot of success. Unfortunately both for Cosworth and Williams our success is in the past, and we want our success now to be in the future. Getting up to the front, getting championship points on a regular basis then getting top six finishes on a regular basis, breaking through to the podium, winning, that's where we want to be. We're all working hard, and I think people can see the Williams-Cosworth package has moved in the right direction."
Sam Michael, Technical Director at Williams, scoffed at rumours that various engines were up or down on power, believing all four engine suppliers to be on more or less equal footing. What some would gain in power they would lose in drivability or fuel consumption. It was a ringing endorsement of the Cosworth power plant, and a point Gallagher agrees with.
"When certain other manufacturers have complained this year that they ought to have a retune, or they ought to be given the opportunity to become as good as best engine in the paddock, I think that's against probably one or two measures; typically brake horsepower. The reality is if you look at all the engines in the paddock some have good horsepower, some have good fuel consumption and some have good degradation figures. Once you start introducing all of these metrics into the equation you build up quite a broad spread of capability across all the engines. I think the fact the championship battle was being fought out between three of the engines - Ferrari, Mercedes and Renault - and that Cosworth has been able to provide Williams with a competitive engine such as they've been able to qualify, more often than not, certainly since Valencia, into Q3, and obviously secure that pole position... I think one of the remarkable things is that for all the complaints you will hear from people from time to time the reality is the engine formula works extremely well and the engines are very closely matched.
"Degradation is one of the key metrics of engine performance, and obviously we don't disclose our power degradation," he continues. "We acknowledged that there was a higher rate of degradation at the beginning of the season in our engines, which was due to a particular issue which we had at the beginning of the year, which we were able to resolve. I think in the same way that you never have enough brake horsepower, or drivers and teams never have enough brake horsepower, equally engine manufacturers always chase zero degradation. But it's an impossible thing to achieve because metal components moving up and down at a very high rate, albeit with extremely sophisticated lubrication, at the end of the day there is damage with every single movement that takes place."
Expected to last 2,500km, engine management is a key factor in modern Formula One engines, with degradation one of the key performance indicators used to measure the quality of an engine. Cosworth, like all other engine suppliers, invests significant time, effort and resources into monitoring engine wear.
With the engines sealed it's not a simple case of opening the engine and examining the internals to examine its health. Instead samples from lubricants are analysed for minute traces of metal, the presence of specific types and quantities of metals in the oil give an indication as to the health of the unit. Engine builders are then able to asses if an engine is healthy or if a failure is imminent.
"The oil analysis which is undertaken by the lubricants companies is important in that your oil analysis, which is taken after every session, will give you a measure of the health of that engine," Gallagher explains. "Seeing what's in the oil that comes out and, again, to use a medical analogy, that's like a blood test. You're able to tell a lot by looking at the oil sample as to what's been happening, and that gives you an insight."
The results of these tests are the only indications the teams have of engine wear, with exhausts blanked after use preventing the team working on the unit once it's been bolted to the back of a car. Even running the engines on a dyno is barred.
Over the course of an average 2010 race weekend engines were expected to complete up to 500km, about 20% of the engine's life. Once used it was recycled, generally for two more races before reappearing during Friday practice at some point during the season.
Gains in engine performance are now limited to work involving ancillaries, exhaust and air-intakes. While the airbox and block are homologated Cosworth is still able to refine and improve the engine in other relatively minor ways. It was through this process that the company was able to resolve the performances issues which blighted their early season.
With uncertainty over the future engine regulations Gallagher, like Patrick Head, pleads for a considered and conservative approach as the sport continues to claw its way out of the hangover from the global economic crisis. The last thing the sport needs, according to Gallagher, is an arms race as companies invest hundreds of millions of dollars exploring alternative engine technologies. Instead the concept of small block turbo-charged engines is preferable, with Patrick Head suggesting the inclusion of some advanced hybrid technology would be the way forward.
"What's become very clear over the last year is that there is still a lot of pain in Formula One as a result of the world economic crisis," says Gallagher. "A lot of the teams in the pit lane don't have sponsorship ,or have struggled to find sponsorship, and as a result there is a consensus with the four engine suppliers to Formula One that returning to a space race in terms of technology is just not going to happen because that will mean burning a great deal of money. Therefore the new engine regulations will not include a range of freedoms to achieve targets because if they did they would encourage a space race.
"If a new engine formula came in to being and one engine manufacturer ran away with the ball and won all the races we'd actually kill the sport for the other engine manufacturers and, I think, do Formula One a great disservice. What I see happening is that the new regulations, when they come will, I'm sure, be a very responsible set of regulations that will encourage step change technology, some pretty interesting targets, but within the context that there cannot be unlimited expenditure."
As always in Formula One it's not simply a case of supplying a set of regulations, as manufacturers lobby for their own interests. The current debates surround not only the direction engine technology should take but also the position Formula One, as the pinnacle of automotive, engineering and motoring development, should adopt in relation to the road car market. Should Formula One remain unattainable, a concept born from fantasy far removed from the consumer market, or should it position itself in such a way that technology developed in the white heat of battle can be more easily transferred into the production automotive industry?
The outcome of that debate will be critical in the future shape of Formula One, not only from an engine perspective, but also from aligning the sport with the economic, environmental and commercial interests of the sport.
Cosworth feels that it deserves as much input as any of its rivals into the technical direction for the sport, given in 2010 they supplied units to four teams. The independent engine builders, just north of Silverstone up the A43 from the William's factory in Grove, refuse to accept that they're small fry compared with Mercedes, Ferrari and Renault. They see no reason to consider themselves as anything other than a peer on equal footing.
"I think anyone who thought Cosworth would be back in Formula One spending weekends shedding pistons and valves all over the race tracks of the world has been proven wrong," says Gallagher. "We've produced a very competitive product. It's extremely reliable and I think all of the new teams, I know all of the new teams, without exception, would say that if only everything else in their team worked as well as the Cosworth engine they'd be fine.
"We've had a bigger job to do this year than any of the car manufacturers in Formula One, but it's easy for the critics to point fingers and say three of our four teams are at the back of the grid. Actually supplying a third of the grid, and for three quarters of our customers to have never done Formula One before, and are therefore on a massive learning curve, has been very rewarding."
Every day, as Gallagher works away beneath the portrait of Keith Duckworth, he is reminded of the legacy of which he is in control. It's not a role he assumes lightly, the image proving to enhance his determination, dedication and resolve to lead Cosworth back to the pinnacle of Formula One motor racing.
"We are very conscious of the heritage that we are responsible for, and we want Cosworth to be a winning engine supplier in Formula One.
"I joined Cosworth having run my own team in A1GP for four years. I spent two years learning how we shouldn't do things, then I spent two years winning races and we won the championship. I like winning. I liked winning when I was at Jordan, and I was getting very frustrated when Jordan stopped winning, and I left Jordan and I actually left Formula One, because to race and not win is a redundant past time. We need to win, and I want to win, because I believe in winningness comes everything else; comes stability, credibility, comes your future. I think therefore when you're not winning you're just conscious of the fact you're not doing the job that you need to be. So we've got to continue to improve our product in every area we can, obviously within the rules which ban engine development, but we've got to develop as much as we can as an organisation and ensure we do everything to optimise the performance of the engine, to work really closely with our teams to make sure they have the best chance possible to win."
It's a giant killing mentality reminiscent of Mike Costin and Keith Duckworth when they conquered the world with the glorious Ford Cosworth DFV. There's little doubt the founders of the iconic engineering company would approve of the aggressive and determined attitude Gallagher has adopted.