This week's Grapevine brings you information fresh from the paddock on: BMW Powering Up for 2004 Jordan Struggling with Ford

BMW Powering Up for 2004

Not one to take a rest from any challenge, BMW have been hard at work on their 2004 challenge for the most of a year, since agreeing to run each engine for a whole weekend in the forthcoming season. And again, they are basically running ahead of schedule.

The specifications for the new engine don't seem to be much different to the previous version - a direct consequence of the increased longevity requirements; however, comparing the goals to others along the grid, they seem to be relatively ambitious.

Before deciding what else would be achievable, BMW and Williams had to agree between them how many miles should be considered representative of a weekend, hence the life span of the engine. Even that was complicated by decisions on how far the engine would have to be run flat out, and how much it could be de-tuned to preserve longevity; and then, the profile of the circuits had to be considered too. Bearing in mind the toughest test of engines in terms of running full throttle are mostly after the season's mid-point, but the start of the year includes some of the hottest events on the circuit.

Final decisions on the performance of the engine required significant work from Williams on how much more effectively they can cool an engine in the new chassis, compared to the old. The better they can do it, the tighter BMW can make their tolerances, which has a fairly significant effect on performance - in every department. Having decided how much the engine can be cooled, the complicated decisions that decide dimensions, power and mass are derived by balancing the pursuit of absolute power against the payoff in terms of mass, fuel efficiency and engine longevity.

In the final analysis, BMW and Williams appear to have concluded that they need to run a little over twice the race distance for an event, despite being quoted at nearer three times the distance. They are expecting all the front-running teams to be aiming at similar mileage, so there is no real advantage to be gained there.

Tactically, the surprisingly competitive form of Renault revealed the advantages of an efficient and light engine. Despite being down on power, their engine solution permitted the aero package to be optimised around the lower unit, but just as importantly, the engine was relatively light (despite being beefed up to solve torsional rigidity issues) and offered a very low centre of gravity. As a side effect of the lower power delivered, the engine was inherently more fuel-efficient than higher revving rivals, offering the option of running less fuel or running further than the competition.

Needless to say, BMW's expectations are for most of their competitors to resolve reliability problems by detuning troubled engines. This is not quite the penalty it might be, as the effective increase in fuel economy can be built in to race strategies. The lack of power would certainly be a factor in terms of speed-trap times, but the loss of 25bhp at the top end of the power curve, whilst uncomfortable, would not be an unmitigated disaster. Of course, it is precisely in this region that BMW are expecting the front runners to show their advantage over the competition: and they aim to be the best of the lot.

Whilst the actual numbers are closely guarded, BMW appear to be looking at starting the new season close to where they finished the last. In Australian qualifying, the manufacturer aims to offer their drivers the option to get run the engine up to 19,250 rpm, and they expect to deliver over 900bhp at that point. Development plans for the season are aggressive, though fewer major steps than in 2004 are indicated. This might be related to the wider scope - BMW are delivering most of the power train - but doesn't seem to have any implication on the standard delivery of incremental increases between events.

BMW's genius over the last three years in particular has been out-performing power requirements, whilst delivering an engine that is reliable, rigid, and to specification for dimensions and mass. However, as the current points system rewards consistent finishes ahead of occasional race wins, being reliable is vital: if they innovate to deliver extra power at the cost of reliability, Williams are going to be less than happy with the results.

Jordan Struggling with Ford

It is not exactly a secret that Eddie Jordan is not entirely happy with his Ford engine deal, though there is more to the story than a dismal performance from the engine in 2003. Speculation that Jordan had arranged a supply of Mercedes customer units for ten million dollars in 2004 now looks wide of the mark, as the Irishman is unable to get out of paying for a Ford supply: that contract runs for another year.

The sums involved are not trivial, either. A supply of Jordan spec customer Ford engines is apparently available for sixteen million dollars - for an engine that really didn't offer the performance enjoyed by any of the works backed teams all season. Not a patch on the twenty-five million or so a Ferrari unit would cost, but still a big dent in the budget for an under-achieving unit.

Of course Jordan is not impressed: he has argued that considering the performance of the engine, and that he delivered a win in 2003 despite the handicap, he ought to be paying considerably less. Ford were, apparently, fairly receptive to the idea; however, they were only prepared to offer a lower price in return for more prominent advertising on the car - apparently, they wanted the engine cover and nose both to be the home to large Ford logos. As these areas are normally offered to major sponsors in return for a heap of cash, Jordan was not impressed by the idea, and rejected it as an affront to his sensibilities. Any sponsor paying for that space would have to come up with a considerable sum. Jordan would rather have the space empty than effectively give it away to Ford.

Adding insult to injury, there appears to have been a connection between making the logo space available, and a step forward in performance from the engine. The implication that the engine could be improved in return for some stickers on a car brought up the obvious question, 'so why not improve it now?' Evidently, it comes down to money. With Ford living in troubled times, Cosworth's budget is nothing like perfect, so they are boosting it via income from the customer units. This is spent on improving the works engine and developing for the future, so there is no budget worth the name for improving the customer engines. It would appear that the advertising space would mean that next year there would be a bigger customer development budget.

The prognosis for 2004 looks little better than 2003. Contractually, Jordan is entitled to Jaguar's 2003 engines, but the worry is that this is precisely what Cosworth will deliver. Should this be the case, then achieving a realistic number of miles over the weekend will require the team either to do almost no running, or to be de-tuned to the point where they are uncompetitive. Clearly, this is not a good situation.

Given Ford's reluctance to let the contract lapse, Jordan is going to have his work cut out, either negotiating his way out of the contract so he can take on a more cost-effective solution - Mercedes, reluctantly, could deliver - or to compel the manufacturer to provide the same engines they are offering Jaguar. Failing to do so will leave Jordan no chance to do anything other than help Minardi prop up the grid for another season.