Cosworth celebrates 50 years of power

Cosworth arrived at an incredible milestone in July of 2008, celebrating the 50^th anniversary of the company. Since it was formed in 1958 by Mike Costin and the late Keith Duckworth in a small workshop in Acton, England, Cosworth has become the most successful engine manufacturer in the history of Formula One. In addition it has achieved enormous success in IndyCars, Champ Cars, rallying, sports cars and touring cars.

The company soon outgrew its little workshop in Acton and moved to north London, where the Ford 105E engine was developed. Cosworth's first race win followed at Goodwood in 1960 with a Formula Junior win for the young Jim Clark. By the mid 1960s the company had moved again, to Northampton UK, and in 1966 and a contract was signed with Ford to develop a new three-liter Formula One engine. The legendary DFV was born. Jim Clark again provided the maiden victory, first time out at the Dutch Grand Prix in 1967. The DFV went on to dominate F1 for 15 years with 155 race wins.

In the 1970s the Cosworth DFX ruled the US Indycar scene with an incredible 151 race wins in a 14-year reign, including 10 driver's championships and 10 Indianapolis 500 victories.

Through the 1980s and 90s, Cosworth continued to provide race-winning power with three World Touring Car titles in 1987, 93 and 94. In Formula 1 the HB engine won 11 races, while in the US Nigel Mansell's CART championship in 1993 and Jacques Villeneuve's in 1995 were both powered by Cosworth XBs. In 1994 the Zetec V8 F1 engine took Michael Schumacher to his first world driver's title.

In rallying the Ford Escort Cosworth and the Duratec-R powered Focus WRC gave Ford yet more success. In 2004 Cosworth still provided the power to 30% of the F1 grid, as well as to the entire Champ Car World Series and the Ford Focus WRC cars.

In 2005, Cosworth powered Red Bull's impressive debut F1 season. In 2006, Cosworth powered the Williams F1 car with a brand new V8 engine which was later acknowledged as the most powerful and highest revving engine on the 2006 grid.

Today, with facilities in both the UK and USA, Cosworth looks foreword to another 50 years with many new and exciting opportunities including high level engineering and manufacturing in the Motorsport, Aerospace, Military and Medical sector as well as broad array of high performance engine components and assemblies.