PURE is to design and supply engines for 2013.

[gloomyDAY]

http://www.autosport.com/news/report.php/id/91107

This is a pleasant surprise. :)

[Hawkmoon]

I thought the engine rules for 2013 weren't finalised? How are you going to design an engine when parameters aren't set?

I can see a HRT-PURE or a Virgin-PURE on the grid in 2013 but not much else. I don't think Williams or Sauber would be desperate enough to sign with company that has never designed an F1 engine before, even if they were extremely cheap.

[Rollo]

I can see a HRT-PURE or a Virgin-PURE on the grid in 2013 but not much else. I don't think Williams or Sauber would be desperate enough to sign with company that has never designed an F1 engine before, even if they were extremely cheap.

I don't think you can make that claim all that easily:
http://www.autosport.com/news/report.php/id/91107
"Mecachrome will be putting together, manufacturing and constructing the engines - fabricating them. The development is being done by TEOS, IFP and D2T. So we are a very tight team, and being tight means that our costs are an awful lot lower - and that means we should be able to carry over this cost reduction to teams and give them a cost-effective power train."
PURE's engine design is being led by Jean-Pierre Boudy, who worked on Renault's first prototype turbo-charged racing engine in the 1970s and was responsible for Peugeot's F1 engines in the '90s. Pollock added that all the personnel on the project have F1 or Le Mans experience.

It sounds from the outset that this could be a properly well thought out campaign to build engines with a two year lead time.

It might be worth remembering that neither Techniques d'Avant Garde or Porsche had had much experience in building F1 engines, yet after 5 seasons they walked away with 3 Driver's Championships, 2 Constructor's Championships and 25 GP victories.

[Hawkmoon]

I don't think you can make that claim all that easily:
http://www.autosport.com/news/report.php/id/91107
"Mecachrome will be putting together, manufacturing and constructing the engines - fabricating them. The development is being done by TEOS, IFP and D2T. So we are a very tight team, and being tight means that our costs are an awful lot lower - and that means we should be able to carry over this cost reduction to teams and give them a cost-effective power train."
PURE's engine design is being led by Jean-Pierre Boudy, who worked on Renault's first prototype turbo-charged racing engine in the 1970s and was responsible for Peugeot's F1 engines in the '90s. Pollock added that all the personnel on the project have F1 or Le Mans experience.

It sounds from the outset that this could be a properly well thought out campaign to build engines with a two year lead time.

It might be worth remembering that neither Techniques d'Avant Garde or Porsche had had much experience in building F1 engines, yet after 5 seasons they walked away with 3 Driver's Championships, 2 Constructor's Championships and 25 GP victories.

That's true I suppose but I can't see Red Bull dumping Renault for the new guys. Of course 2013 is about the best time to enter the sport as the existing manufacturers have to start from the same clean slate. Stranger things have happened than a new company providing world beating engine first time out. I just wouldn't bet on it.

[aryan]

"PURE's engine design is being led by Jean-Pierre Boudy, who ...was responsible for Peugeot's F1 engines in the '90s"

Now THAT was a success, wasn't it?!

[SGWilko]

PURE's engine design is being led by Jean-Pierre Boudy, who worked on Renault's first prototype turbo-charged racing engine in the 1970s and was responsible for Peugeot's F1 engines in the '90s.

Hmmm - Renaults' first attempts at turbo charging F1 engines resulting in many failures....

Peugeots' firsts attempts at normally aspirated F1 engines resulted in many failures....

[Dave B]

Pollock's involved, so how long before the usual suspects start linking Villeneuve to a comeback? :p

[Hawkmoon]

Pollock's involved, so how long before the usual suspects start linking Villeneuve to a comeback? :p


And five minutes after said comeback evapourates Dave Richards will be blamed for JV's failure to get back into the sport. Again.

[Malbec]

I can see a HRT-PURE or a Virgin-PURE on the grid in 2013 but not much else. I don't think Williams or Sauber would be desperate enough to sign with company that has never designed an F1 engine before, even if they were extremely cheap.

I'm not sure whether Cosworth are going to carry on for 2013 and beyond, after all they are only competing now because they had an existing V8 to modify for the current regulations. They may not wish to invest in designing an all-new engine just to supply a couple of tailend teams that may or may not even be around after a few years, especially when another strong reason for their entering F1 ie being a pawn in Mosley's games has disappeared. PURE might have some eager customers not prepared to get a full-on customer deal with the big boys like Ferrari and Renault.

[V12]

Definitely a nice surprise this - will be good for Cosworth (who I hope stick around) to have some competition in the customer engine stakes like back when Judd and Ilmor (pre-Mercedes) were involved.

Guess we'll see how it pans out though.

[Bagwan]

Pollock's involved, so how long before the usual suspects start linking Villeneuve to a comeback? :p

Not long , Dave .

JV's site has been "under construction" for a while now .
And , all's quiet .

Shhhhhh .

[call_me_andrew]

"The reality is that if you have 400-450 employees such as Mercedes have or 300 in the case of Renault - then your overheads are extremely high,"

I remember when USF1 made a similar argument.

[gloomyDAY]

Gilles Simon leaves FIA to join Pollock's PURE engine company - F1 news - AUTOSPORT.com (http://www.autosport.com/news/report.php/id/93432)

Something smells fishy...

[Dave B]

Guess we'll see how it pans out though.

Not very well, it seems:


Craig Pollock's PURE company has been forced to suspend development of its engine for 2014, AUTOSPORT can reveal, on the back of an issue with its investors.
The Cologne-based operation is hoping to provide a supply of customer power units for the new 1.6-litre turbo engine V6 era, but it has been forced to cease work due to a funding issue.


Source: PURE suspends 2014 engine development after funding issues - F1 news - AUTOSPORT.com (http://www.autosport.com/news/report.php/id/101562)

[Garry Walker]

It seems anything Pollock touches turns to ****. Kind of the opposite of Midas one could say.

[zako85]

I thought that the turbo V6 engines were going to be used starting in 2014. Something isn't right ...

[Koz]

Look at the date of the first post. :)

[Knock-on]

It seems anything Pollock touches turns to ****. Kind of the opposite of Midas one could say.

When I was reading this earlier, I was thinking EXACTLY the same thing! The touch or Merde rather than Midas :D

[Garry Walker]

When I was reading this earlier, I was thinking EXACTLY the same thing! Great minds think alike.


The touch or Merde rather than Midas :D

I actually laughed out loud over that. Good one.

[Knock-on]

Great minds think alike.




... or "Fools seldom differ" :D

[Malbec]

It seems anything Pollock touches turns to ****. Kind of the opposite of Midas one could say.

Read the PR release, its PURE BS. The bridging finance is supposed to be in place by the end of July but they're going to suspend work in August?

At least this lays to rest any conspiracy theories that PURE had a deal with a manufacturer like VW or Hyundai, such a company wouldn't let funding drop through a hole like this.

[aryan]

Okay with PURE gone, let's turn our attention to Cosworth.

The only reason Cosworth is in F1 right now was because of Ford's ownership of Jaguar and them, and Ford wanted to put 'their own' engine in their F1 car. Cossie already had a suitable V10 that they chopped two cylinders off and turned it into this V8, and then they went private and then the GFC happened and teams became cost conscious and so Cossie realised that they could turn over a handy profit by selling their already-designed and available engine for cheap to these new teams (and Williams for a while).

Which leads me to wonder, is Cosworth going to supply engines in 2014? Do they already have a development program going? Do they even have the funds to invest in such a venture?

If Cossie isn't there, who is left to supply Engines in F1? Sure Ferrari is always going to be there, and I think Renault is also enjoying being a successful engine provider, but who else? Is Merc definitely going to be there come 2014? With all these rumour about Merc being pissed off at Bernie for not offering them a good deal for the next Concorde agreement, what would happen if Merc leaves? Can we end up in a situation where in 2014, we only have 2 engine manufacturers?