View of a Coventry Climax Engine in a Lotus at the Silverstone Classic 2017
The FWMV V8, developed from FWMC using a crossplane crankshaft, was designed in 1960 and ran for the first time in May 1961. It produced 174 bhp (130 kW) from :1 compression ratio and made its debut on Cooper T58 at 1961 German GP in August. Initial developments resulted in 181 bhp (135 kW) at 8500rpm soon after, but Jack Brabham at Cooper and Stirling Moss at Rob Walker Racing Team suffered over-heating problems while enjoying a great amount of power for the rest of the season. The problem was diagnosed to originate in the thermal expansion rate of the cylinder sleeve causing the Cooper Ring in between the block and the head to leak. With this problem solved in the 186 bhp version, having a larger " intake valves (" previously), FWMV started to score GP victories, ending the 1962 season with 3 wins for Lotus, 1 win for Cooper, 5 second places and 4 third places, in addition to 7 pole positions and 6 fastest laps. For 1963, Coventry Climax was able to convince Lucas to supply the cogged belt driven fuel injection system originally developed for BRM with then-unique sliding throttle plates with four round intake bores cut out. With the larger bore (from 63 mm to 68 mm) and shorter stroke (60 mm to mm) compared to , notable changes include the increase in conrod length (from " to " center to center, with a shorter piston crown height) and the switch from crossplane to flatplane crankshaft, which surprisingly did not increase vibration in the higher RPM range because the longer conrod length counteracted the increase in secondary vibration inherent in flatplane design. The flatplane crank was adopted partly due to Rob Walker's proposed successor to the 4WD Ferguson P99 Formula 1 having a front engine layout, which could not accommodate exhaust pipes that merge with pipes from exhaust ports on the opposing banks on crossplane arrangement, but this project did not materialise.
Size: 5616px × 3744px
Location: Silverstone Circuit, Towcester, United Kingdom
Photo credit: © John Gaffen / Alamy / Afripics
License: Licensed
Model Released: No
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