JUNE 7, 2003

GM and Cosworth

General Motors is now admitting that it is willing to make an "extraordinary response" because of the uncompetitive nature of its Chevrolet Indy Racing League engine and rumors continue to suggest that this assistance could come from rival Ford's Cosworth racing division.

"This is an extraordinary situation and it requires an extraordinary response," said Chevrolet's Rick Voegelin at the Texas Motor Speedway where IRL is racing this weekend. "We are committed to fixing the problem and we'll take exceptional steps to help our teams be competitive."

The Chevrolet IRL program manager Joe Negri was in Europe this week for meetings and it is believed that one of these was with Cosworth. Chevrolet has been humiliated this year by the new engines produced by Toyota and Honda and the engines are so far behind that it does not look like development is going to help. Companies with the potential to do something about the problem are thin on the ground although it is believed that Menard Cheever Engineering, which as TWR Engines, used to build the Infiniti engines (a Nissan brand) last year may be in a position to do something while Cosworth is also believed to have an engine under development.

It is unusual but not impossible that a deal could be done between GM and Ford as it is worth remembering that at the moment Mercedes-Benz offshoot Ilmor is building the Honda IRL engines...