THE ROYAL AUTOMOBILE CLUB AWARDS COSWORTH THE 2024 DEWAR TROPHY
The Royal Automobile Club’s coveted Dewar Trophy was awarded to revered British manufacturer Cosworth, for developing ultra-high-performance internal-combustion engines to power some of the world’s most exciting ‘hypercars’.
The Northamptonshire-based company, whose history runs in parallel with Britain’s rising dominance since the 1960s of Formula 1, was highly praised by the Dewar Trophy judging panel. Not only for the design, development and manufacture of normally-aspirated engines that give extraordinary levels of performance, but also for the business strategy behind them.
The power units are at the heart of the most exciting road cars of this automotive era, including the Aston Martin Valkyrie, Red Bull RB17 and Gordon Murray Automotive (GMA) T50. Cosworth is also producing the V16 engine for Bugatti’s upcoming Tourbillon hypercar.
Commenting on the Dewar Trophy award, Dr Florian Kamelger, Cosworth CEO, said: “We are incredibly proud to receive the Dewar Trophy. It is a testament to the hard work of our talented team and the innovative solutions we are bringing to market. As we continue to evolve and redefine the future of luxury automotive performance, this recognition underscores Cosworth’s commitment to delivering technologies that are at the forefront of automotive excellence.
“What sets Cosworth apart is, I believe, our strategic and process-driven engineering approach, one that ensures excellence in both the final product and the way it’s conceived, designed, and brought to life.”
The Dewar Trophy has been associated with numerous British automotive design achievements over many decades. Named after Sir Thomas Dewar, it was originally presented in 1904 and today It is awarded for ‘An outstanding British technical achievement in the automotive industry.’
It is awarded at the discretion of the Royal Automobile Club’s Technical Committee, in any year when its panel of experts believe there are contenders of sufficient merit. Previous winners have included Dunlop, Jaguar, Ford, YASA and JCB. Cosworth won it for the first time in 1969 for the performance of its DFV Formula 1 power unit.
Bruce Wood, Managing Director of Cosworth, added: “Our recent collaborations with some of the world’s most prestigious automotive and motorsport brands have been pivotal in securing the Dewar Trophy and further highlight Cosworth’s leadership in high-performance automotive engineering.
“We believe that the obituary for internal combustion engines is being written prematurely; while electric mobility is part of the future roadmap, there remains a crucial space for high-performance internal combustion engines in niche applications such as hypercars.”
Cosworth’s highly advanced engines are very high-revving and produce exceptionally high specific power outputs. Yet they also have to be manufactured in numbers that would be too large for most specialists, and too small for a major carmaker. Today, Cosworth’s commitment to innovation is reflected in its continuous investment in state-of-the-art development technologies and capabilities.
Through developing the ability to design, prototype and manufacture these production road car units, Cosworth has shown true innovation, and is another great British success story worthy of the Dewar Trophy accolade.
Ben Cussons, Chairman of the Dewar Technical Committee, said: “It is testament to the innovative nature of the British motor industry that the Royal Automobile Club is able to award the Dewar Trophy to a previous winner. Fifty-five years since it last won, Cosworth has demonstrated how it has used its outstanding design, development and manufacturing capability to become the world leader in normally aspirated ICE hypercar powertrain production. Truly an organisation that never rests on its laurels.”