Cosworth – AUSmotive.com

Cosworth announces Impreza STI CS400

Leading UK motorsport and tuning outfit Cosworth have worked their magic over the Subaru Impreza STI. They said no to the standard STI’s miserable 300PS and 5.2 second 0-100km/h time. They seem to think an STI should have 400PS (295kW), and that it should be able to despatch 100km/h in under four seconds, 3.7 to be precise.

Such belief has led to the birth of a new creationâ€”the Cosworth Impreza STI CS400. Clearly such an impressive boost in power needs more than a few Cossie badges and the lads have turned their attention the engine. The CS400 is not due for release in the UK until June and as such they’re allowing hype to build and aren’t giving away any official details on engine or exhaust mods. We’ll have to stand by for that (or do we?).

Stopping power, on the other hand, has been confirmed to have been developed in partnership with AP Racing. Cosworth seem quite confident that the 355mm six-pot calipers they have fitted to the CS400 will be up to the job.

There will only be 75 Impreza STI CS400s made and we’ll have more details for you sometime between now and June. Like the Focus RS500, though, we’ll just have to admire the pretty pictures and make do with watching TV reviews. There’s about as much chance of the Cossie Rex finding its way down under as there is of Channel Nine making a good version of Top Gear Australia.

Hot on the heels of Honda’s F1 exit due to financial concerns comes news of Cosworth’s exclusive tender deal to supply Formula One engines from 2010. Cosworth, of course, has a rich F1 heritage (YouTube clip above showing an old Williams engine revving to 20,000rpm is just a small example).

With this new tender deal the potential exists for all F1 teams to run Cosworth engines. However, if they choose, teams can still run their own engines, albeit with restrictions.

From 2010 any team, let’s say Ferrari, for example, can choose one of three options. The first is to simply run a supplied Cosworth engineâ€”unlikely. Second, Ferrari could build their own new engine to Cosworth’s specification, with technical information suppliedâ€”unlikely. The third, and most likely scenario, would be that Ferrari continues to use their current engine with the freeze on technical development in place. Such moves may be necessary to bring costs down, but in 2010 a little piece of F1 will die.

Regardless of the engine choice each team makes, all teams must use a standard gearboxâ€”a joint effort built by Xtrac and Ricardo transmissions.

The FIA is hoping to sign a minimum of four teams to run Cosworth engines by as soon as Thursday next week (11 December).

The FIA itself has described current Formula One spending as “unsustainable” and these moves are clearly designed to lower running costs, from P1 right through to the back of the field. And while the Cosworth deal may be a boost to the Northampton job market, the question must be asked: will F1 continue to be the world’s premier series for technical development and innovation?

Max Mosley’s letter to F1 teams explaining the engine and transmission deal is shown below.