Cosworth is a high-performance engineering company founded in London in 1958, specialising in engines and electronics for automobile racing (motorsport) and mainstream automotive industries. Cosworth is now based in Northampton, England, with North American facilities in Torrance, Indianapolis and Mooresville, North Carolina.  The name is derived from the amalgamation of the surnames of the company’s founders, Mike COStin and Keith DuckWORTH.
Aside from its own success as a provider of engines for race cars, the company has also worked with a number of mainstream manufacturers, equipping them with engines for motorsport and performance models of cars in their ranges.
The best known partnership is with Ford, dating back to the 1960s.  Ford had previously partnered with British company Lotus to produce motorsport and performance versions of its cars. Costin and Duckworth both initially worked for this firm, creating their own company in the late 1950s, still working closely with Lotus. Cosworth therefore provided the 16V head for the engine of the 1970s Ford Escort RS1600, replacing the older Lotus based twin cam unit.  Ford continued to forge a good relationship with Cosworth, with the company’s name eventually appearing on consumer versions of the Sierra, Sapphire, Escort, Granada and Scorpio models of the 1980s and 90s. Cars like the Sierra RS Cosworth and Sapphire RS Cosworth provided incredible performance for not much outlay. Unfortunately, this fact was well known among the criminal fraternity, making the cars very popular with joyriders which, allied to the fact that cars were easy to steal, drove insurance premiums for the vehicles through the roof.
In the 1970s, Cosworth’s Chevrolet based race engine that had powered Chevron and Lola race cars was detuned to power the Chevy Cosworth Vega. The car’s development was delayed but the vehicle did make it into production for 1975 and 1976, being very well received by the motoring press. The car flew in the face of the standard thinking in the US at the time (i.e. that performance was linked to huge displacement) as the engine was only 2.0 litres. Once again, the engine featured a DOHC 16V head and the car’s performance was impressive, dispatching 0-60mph in 7.7s. The Vega was therefore able to hold its own against its European competitors.
Perhaps less well known is Cosworth’s work with Mercedes in creating the 190E 2.3-16 and later 2.5-16 models. This cooperation was driven by Mercedes desire to rally the car. Unfortunately, the rear wheel drive Mercedes was outclassed by the four wheel drive, turbocharged Audi Quattro, so Mercedes turned its attention to the Deutsche Tourenwagen Meisterschaft (DTM) (German Touring Car Championship) motor sport series instead. Cars competing in this event had to be based on roadgoing vehicles, so Mercedes produced a detuned version which was sold to the public.
More recently, the Cosworth company briefly fell under the ownership of Audi GmbH and had a hand in creating the original Audi RS4. Cosworth built the 2.7 litre, biturbo V6 engine which bestowed some 375bhp on the car. This engine was short-lived however - the model was only sold between 2000-2001. The original B5 car was not replaced until the B7 RS4 was launched, which used Audi’s own 4.2 litre V8 powerplant.
Cosworth has also worked in tandem with Subaru, producing the engine for the hotted-up Impreza Cosworth WRX STi CS400 (the number denoting the power output.) Â The company provides Range Rover fettler Kahn with engines for the Khan Range Rover Cosworth RS600, Range Rover Sport Cosworth RS300 and the Evoque Cosworth RS250.
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