Cosworth Engine Descriptions

[ L7C Home ]
[ Blatchat ]
[ Lotus Seven Register ]
we support

» Dimensions » Home Page Template » Good Engineering Practice/Torque Wrenches » Find Page » Cosworth Engine Descriptions

In the begining the world was created and God saw that it was good. Then he invented motorsports and it was OK. But God wanted more power so he invented Keith Duckworth and Mike Costin and yea COSWORTH was created and God got a hell of a lot more BHP in his single seater and yea he saw that motorsport was good, no, GREAT! In the begining Cosworth built a head for the '64 1 litre formula, 8 valves and pretty successful, the SCA - Single Cam A series.

But Keith wanted more valves and cams (since the 4 valve Honda was beating the SCA) so designed a four valve per cylinder double overhead cam formula 2 engine, the FVA - Four Valve A series, there's a pattern emerging and it isn't imaginative naming...

And yea did the FVA thrash everything in sight

And so Colin Chapman (you've heard of him) saw the potential of someone who could sit down with a blank sheet of paper and design an engine that would thrash anything it raced against. He wanted to race in the 3 litre formula 1 so with monetary assistance from Ford got Cosworth to design the DFV - Double Four Valve and yea did it thrash everything in sight, there's another pattern emerging there. But the DFV had a flaw, the cog drive to the cams kept breaking (sometimes) so there had to be a better way.

The next engine to be designed was a productionized FVA type engine for, 1600cc, 4 valves per cylinder and the new fangled timing belt drive to overcome those high powered timing problems the BDA - Belt Drive A series (you thought I was kidding about down to earth names !)

And yea it was very sucessful and used for all kinds of motorsport:

Type	Year	Size	Output	Description
BDA	1969	1601cc	120 Bhp	Belt Drive layout similar to FVA on taller Kent block
BDB	1970	1700cc	200 Bhp	Escort RS1600 rally engine, sold as kits
BDC	1970	1700cc	230 Bhp	Fuel injected BDB for Group 2 Escort RS1600, also kits
BDD	1971	1600cc	200 Bhp	Definitive Formula Atlantic Motor, also kits
BDE	1972	1790cc	245 Bhp	Stretched Formula 2 to 2 litre rules, bored to 86.5mm, and fuel-injected
BDF	1972	1927cc	270 Bhp	Stretched again Formula 2, now liners brazed in to cast iron block, very successful
BDG	1973	1975cc	275 Bhp	This was a development of the BDF used in both Formula 2 and rallying. Later on, an aluminium block was developed
BDH	1973	1300cc	190 Bhp	Group 2 Sports cars, shorter stroke on shorter block (based on Ford 1300 cross-flow block)
BDJ	1974	1098cc	150 Bhp	Formula C, short-stroke version for SCCA
BDK				reserved for forgotten project
BDL	1974	1425cc		experimental turbo
BDM	1975	1599cc	225 Bhp	Formula Atlantic, big valve, fuel-injected BDD
BDN	1977	1600cc	210 Bhp	Modified BDD - Formula Atlantic, Canadian Atlantic sealed motors this year only, sold as kits
BDO				not allocated
BDP	1984	1975cc	245 Bhp	ran on methanol (injected) for US midget single seaters, also known as Sprint cars, with aluminium block using the BDG bore/stroke
BDQ				not allocated
BDR	1986	1601cc	120 Bhp	BDA kits sold to Caterham cars for incorporating into the HPC version of a lightweight sports car they produced called a... on the tip of my tongue..., also 1698cc and 170 Bhp.
BDS	1982			modified BDD, 2 litre engine with carburettors
BDT	1981	1778cc	200 Bhp	RS1700T turbo, aluminum block, kits for JQF
"	1981	1803cc	250 Bhp	RS200 BDT units redesigned, rebuilt, and enlarged
BDT-E	1986	2137cc	500 Bhp	Evolution BDT by Brian Hart Ltd.
BDX	1976	5000cc		modified BDA for Formula 5000

The author of this piece is Simon (surname forgotten sorry !), with acknowledgements to http://www.race-cars.com, and http://www.cosworth-technology.co.uk

Roger Swift

Logo is the property of Lotus Seven Club, unauthorised use is strictly forbidden. All other products mentioned are registered trademarks or trademarks of their respective companies. Questions or problems regarding this web site should be directed to sitemanager@lotus7club.com. Copyright 1983-2010 Lotus Seven Club. All rights reserved. Lotus Seven Club is the trading name of Seven Club Ltd., (Company Registration Number 3880568) whose registered office is Horsingtons Yard, Tiverton Place, Lion Street, Abergavenny NP7 5PN