Engine performance ?

marcus · 6 Sep 2003, 00:14 (Ref:709694)

Not sure if this has come up beofre this year or not, but now that Ford are supplying engines to the entire grid how close in horsepower are they ?

I mean does dale Coyne's team have the same power as Newmann/Haas ??

or is there different levels of performance depending on how much you paid for the engines??

OK I know Coynes other equipment is old and falling apart and he cant compete at all with Newman/Haas but has he at least got the same horsepower ?

Jay · 6 Sep 2003, 00:57 (Ref:709711)

well...Ford is getting the same amount of money and doing the rebuilds for all of the teams, so I don't think Coyne is getting a raw deal there.

However, the Coyne cars are noticably lower revving down the straights than some of the other cars, this could be becuase of the gear ratios they run relative to the other cars. Not sure...

**GTRMagic** · 6 Sep 2003, 01:52 (Ref:709730)

Perhaps the Coyne cars dont hit maximum warp because they dont come off the turns well enough, which is why the cars are 4 and 5% behind the polesitter of the day.....

Jay · 6 Sep 2003, 02:03 (Ref:709739)

No, that's not it. The Coyne cars are lower revving at the lower ranges. The only other thing I can think of that would cause it is if they were running really messed up gear ratios. Or they're always short shifting for some reason...though I don't htink that's it - they run longer gear ratios maybe?

Emfa · 6 Sep 2003, 04:03 (Ref:709794)

Ahem - back to marcus's original question... The Cosworth's are spec engines, and therefore should all be producing the same power. If they aren't, I suspect that it has something to do with manufacturing tolerances.

Snrub · 6 Sep 2003, 04:37 (Ref:709798)

Ford have said that there are very small differences of a few HP which shouldn't make any real difference in lap time. They have numerous cases where engines that have had multiple rebuilds and are on the final run before a rebuild have been very successfull in races and qualifying. I believe that the engines are distributed randomly and Ford does not select a particular engine for a given team. There isn't any advantage in doing this either.

IMO Ford has done an terrific job with the engines this year. They have been nearly bullet proof.

I may be wrong, but I think the main reason Coyne cars are running lower revs is due to the driver and setup. If they're slow in the corner, it may not justify a downshift. Keep in mind that optimal gear ratios are effected by aero setup. An ineffective or more conservative setup will likely have more wing

corkholio · 6 Sep 2003, 05:00 (Ref:709810)

Theoretically shouldn't the Cossies be bulletproof since they aren't even being pushed to their absolute limit?

I think Coyne sets his cars up to with the durability of parts rather than raw speed in mind. You can give them 50 extra HP and they would probably still be at the back.

Jay · 6 Sep 2003, 05:28 (Ref:709820)

Theoretically, your PC should never break either, as it's not being pushed to its limit either, but it happens. Every time an engine is rebuilt there's a chance there could be a flaw - be it a part, mechanical or human error. All things considered, the Cossies have been pretty bullet proof this year.

You might be right about Coyne. From what I've heard from a DCR crew member, a lot of the guys they've had this year have been useless when it comes to setting up the car (Yoong being the exception) - so they've just given them baseline setups (ie higher downforce, longer gears) to work with. That might have something to do with it.

**GTRMagic** · 6 Sep 2003, 05:38 (Ref:709828)

I wonder if the teams send the teams decode when to send the engine to Cosworth for rebuilding or Cosworth itself looks after them. A lower revving engine should theoretically last longer, so it could well be setup with one eye on the budget.

And I have heard many many good things about Mr Yoong's setup skills, and how disappointed Mr Coyne is that the team doesnt have the sponsorship to run him again.

Crash Test · 6 Sep 2003, 06:13 (Ref:709850)

Any chance that Coyne has lower rev limits to everyone else, or can't you mess with the ECU these days?

Jordi · 6 Sep 2003, 09:44 (Ref:709956)

If the engines are spec, I guess the ECU is as well...

marcus · 7 Sep 2003, 02:01 (Ref:710521)

well that answers my question.

thanks guys , I was only using Coyne as an example.

and I must say its excellent to finally hear something nice said about Alex Yoong , shame he isnt still there I guess.