Engine agreement

Cars International, the supplier of road and racing cars, has entered an exclusive relationship with engine producer Cosworth to supply and service V10 Formula 1 engines to customers.

Cars International’s workshop, near Membury in Berkshire in the UK, will supply and install the TJ-series 3.0-litre Cosworth V10 that raced in Formula 1 from 2003 to 2006, and most recently with Toro Rosso.

The engine will be particularly appropriate for the pan-European series EuroBOSS as well as for demonstrations and track days in F1 cars. Cars International founder Paul Osborn said: 'There are many late-model F1 cars out there that people find extremely difficult to adapt because they can’t get the existing available engines in them, not just because they are too big but because of the crank height. The Cosworth V10 will be the only modern, compact F1 engine that is available.'

The V10, which would also be suitable for use in a modern Le Mans Prototype car, will be supplied in two formats: 900bhp, which will run for 1200 kilometres between rebuilds; and 750bhp, which will run for up to 1500 kilometres.

Cars International Service director Tim Preston, a former race engineer for the Williams F1 team, added: 'Our intention is to enable a car owner to have the Cosworth (V10) engine installed and use our own gearbox and chassis controller unit.'

The new chassis-controller unit, consisting of an ECU to control the chassis and gearbox and a steering wheel, is scheduled to take its first public outing at the Goodwood Festival of Speed on June 22-24. 'We will be running a Jordan EJ13 at Goodwood,' said Preston. 'This will have the chassis controller and a Cosworth LK engine. Then we hope to run the Cosworth TJ for the first time in July.'