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The Goodwood Revival – 3
40 Years of the Ford Cosworth DFV

The second commemorative parade of the weekend marked the 40th anniversary of the Ford Cosworth DFV (Double Four Valve) V8, and in true Goodwood style the cavalcade of cars that was mustered to mark the occasion included a matchless mix of the historically significant and the interestingly quirky.

Whilst the DFV raced in the period after Goodwood originally closed for racing, the significance of the DFV’s contribution, the fact that many of the cars present tested at the circuit, and the fact that the Ford Motor Company was sponsoring the meeting, were reasons enough to bring another cavalcade of wonderful racers out on track to display the sights, and more particularly in this instance the sounds, of the DFV era.

And whilst there might be complaints about the tendency of team A or driver B to dominate motorsport from time to time, it’s unlikely that we’ll ever again see the likes of the DFV, which provided the motive power for 10 F1 constructors championships between 1968 and 1981 (Lotus x 5, Williams x 2 and one apiece for Matra, Tyrell and McLaren) plus drivers championships for Jackie Stewart, three times, Emerson Fittipaldi twice, Graham Hill, Jochen Rindt, James Hunt, Mario Andretti, Alan Jones, Nelson Piquet and Keke Rosberg.

It didn’t end with F1 either, the 3 litre V8 going on to power six F3000 champions between 1985 and 1992, as well as a myriad of other projects, including of course a pair of Le Mans 24 Hour wins in 1975 for Mirage and in 1980 for Rondeau – not bad for an engine that was long said not to be suitable for endurance racing!

The cavalcade would see many of the significant F1 cars of the DFV era, including representativees from Lotus (including the original Jim Clark Lotus 49), McLaren, Tyrrell, Hesketh, Surtees and March joined by more than a smattering of Cosworth engined sportscars - no Rondeau sadly, but the De Cadenet that took a fine Le Mans podium finish in 1975 was joined by both a 1973 Mirage and the beautiful but unsuccessful Ford F3L.
GG