Originally Posted by a.k.a

There was a great program on channel 4 in the eighties called equinox and they followed the beatrice team and cosworth developing a 4 pot turbo engine for a f1 car based on a BD alloy block engine.

Every time they tried to give it some beans on the dyno it shit itself big time - it turned out the block was twisting and siezing the engine, and that was on the dyno without the extra stresses of being sat in a car. In the end they scrapped the idea and built a v6 instead.

Cosworth seemed quite vague in answering Marks questions which does suggest its quite correct that they are only marketing it.

If cosworth had built it then no doubt they would have made another batch of 200 blocks as well, and this has not happened

I think when people compare it to other alloy blocked engines they must remember they were designed as alloy blocks from the outset.

Probably ideal for a lightweight mid spec engine, but not for a big bhp beast