Friday, December 12, 2008

Cosworth win sole-engine deal

Cosworth win sole-engine deal
Friday 5th December 2008

The FIA have confirmed that Cosworth have won the single engine supply deal.

In a bid to cut the costs of competing in Formula One, FIA President Max Mosley recently proposed the idea of a single engine manufacturer for the sport.

And, with the news earlier this week that Honda have pulled out of F1, it appears as if Mosley's idea is set to go ahead with Cosworth, who have previously supplied engines to F1 teams, being confirmed as the company chosen by the FIA.

"We have completed the tendering process and are now in exclusive negotiations with Cosworth together with Xtrac and Ricardo Transmissions (XR) to supply a complete Formula One power train starting in 2010," said Max Mosley in his letter to FOTA and the Team Principals.

"The engine will be a current Formula One engine while the transmission will be state-of-the-art Formula One and a joint effort by two companies which already supply transmissions to most of the grid."

The engine will carry a price tag of �5.49m (€6.42m) per season along with an initial payment of �1.68m (€1.97m) which will be notably cheaper than what the F1 manufacturers currently charge.

These proposals are, however, only an alternative to independent teams and manufacturers will still be allowed to build engines according to their own specifications.

Regardless of whether the teams opt to use a Cosworth-built of self-built unit, all teams will use a standard transmission designed and built by XR.

The FIA plan to include the standardization of chassis components in their cost cutting plans and teams intending to use the standard F1 engine as of 2010 have until close of business on December 11 to notify the FIA.

Reportedly, the FIA will continue with their plans even four teams do not sign up for the Cosworth offer.

No comments: