Jaguar C-X75's Cosworth Engine In Production Cars

Published: Tuesday, July 2, 2013, 16:11 [IST]

Here is a clear example of Formula 1 tech directly helping regular production cars. Cosworth, a former F1 engine supplier, had developed a 1.6 liter four cylinder engine. However, when FIA changed its rules and went in favour of V6 units instead of V4s for the 2014 season, the company's customer team, Marussia changed its supplier, leaving Cosworth without a customer and the brilliant 1.6 liter engine without a car.

Fortunately, Jaguar came to Cosworth's rescue and adopted the 1.6 liter, four cylinder, 502 HP engine, which was to make its debut in an excellent hybrid car - the Jaguar C-X75. Now, if you have read our previous stories about the C-X75 you'll know the supercar's fate. While the C-X75 might never go into production, you may remember from the recent C-X75 video that Jaguar plans to make use of the technology for its regular production sports cars.

That statement matches with the ones made by Cosworth's principal engineer Andy Ball, who recently spoke to Pistonheads.com. Ball revealed to the website that their 1.6 liter unit was still very much in the game, thanks to production car plans. "We've being doing development engines. We're still partnering on this. As a road-going engine it could have similar specific power as a Formula 1 engine of 300hp/litre," Ball said. "We're talking with quite a few manufacturers about doing engines of this ilk - downsized, high specific power output engines," he further added.

Though he did not name any specific manufacturer, it is fairly easy to guess at least one name. Rumor has it that Jaguar has plans to build a Porsche 911 rivalling Jaguar F-Type model. The 1.6 liter 4 cylinder Cosworth engine perfectly fits the bill. The story behind this 1.6 liter four cylinder engine sounds really intresting and it's good to know its potential is not going to waste. The thought of a high performance 1.6L Jaguar F-Type, with a 10,000 rpm rev limit already has us excited.