Page 54 - Mar2023

Ford & Red Bull

Together Again

Not So Fast

image courtesy of hando18@pixabay.com

A fter the courting dance between Porsche and Red Bull to field an F1 team fell apart at the last minute
in 2022, a marriage has been finalized between the British based Red Bull F1 Team and America's
Ford Motor Company. The two entities have recently announced that Ford will return to F 1 competition
as an engine builder in 2026 when new engine rules for the racing series take effect.
Ford Motor Company's Executive Chair Bill Ford said of the signed contract, " This is the start of a
thrilling new chapter in Ford's motorsports story that began when my great-grandfather won a race that
helped launch our company. Ford is returning to the pinnacle of the sport, bringing Ford?s long tradition
of innovation, sustainability, and electrification to one of the world?s most visible stages."

Ford and British racing have a history. It was Colin Chapman, the head of Lotus, who first convinced
Ford to pay to develop a new racing engine that would be a structural part of an F1 chassis rather than
an engine mounted in a subframe or engine cradle. He first failed to get interest but in 1967 went on
to persuade the head of Ford's UK public relations division, Walter Hayes, to assist him in lobbying the
American executives in the corporate suites and suits. This time the effort was successful and resulted
in a £100,000 development budget that allowed Cosworth to develop its engine. The money in 1967
was equal to about $1.7 million dollars today.
Known as the DFV engine, ( meaning double four valve) Ford's engine went on to win races not only in
its first season of F1 competition, but remains today the most successful engine of all time in F1
competition. Lotus won four F1 races in its first year running the DFV; then Ford informed Lotus it
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