That Equinox documentary was fascinating, I hadn’t realised the depth of talent involved in the Ford Beatrice project – spot the youthful Ross Brawn clambering all over a wind tunnel model for example.
The realisation as to how far things have moved along in thirty one years is startling. The engine blocks were investment cast made from hand carved wooden moulds – Cosworth had to employ craftsmen to transfer a drawing to carved wood accurately. Moreover, getting the engine started on the 1960s era dyno was a manual exercise to manage timing, fuel mixture etc. The car’s wings were supported by high tension cables attached to hardpoints on the chassis, which probably did nothing at all for the aerodynamics.
Seeing engineers with voltmeters trying to locate the fault preventing the cutoff switch from working was an eye-opener. Just six years later, engineers were having to plug laptops into cars to start them, deal with electronics managing active suspension, semi-automatic gearboxes and pneumatic valves.
