This is a single cylinder F1 engine – 20,000rpm, 300cc, 90bhp!

V6 engines dominate Formula 1 right now, and the smallest F1 engines have ever really gone is four-cylinders. But Mike Fernie has had Cosworth digging around in their storage units to find not a triple, or a twin, but a SINGLE cylinder F1 mule engine, used to create the glorious 3.0-litre V10s of the early-2000s. Imagine what this thing would have sounded like at 20,000rpm!

[damienlee]

I always thought the Italians would be the last ones to keep the v12 torch burning. Love to see the folks at cozzie still care aswell.

[Leon-vpvb]

That single cylinder 300cc, 90bhp, engine needs to go in a motorcycle!

[KingEddo]

Cosworth never ceases to amaze me. They are absolute geniuses!

[dellstudio]

20k RPM. That’s over 333 rotations a second. Insanely fast!

[ISSTI]

Massive props to Cosworth for giving you guys all this behind the scenes access

[ATLRIOT]

That guy from Cosworth was great on camera. More of him, and there history please!

[hussamjamil]

We need those 3 cylidners fitted to smaller cars, smaller production you imagine?

[Dave-dm]

Back during WW2, Rolls-Royce and Ricardo developed the Merlin and Griffon engines using V twin and single cylinder test mules. Merlins were known to throw con rods at high revs. But the test mules never did. It was eventually realised the test V-twins used the full size oil pump - no worries. The pump was too small to feed the V12. Bigger oil pump and no more thrown con rods.

[Zorro]

The fact that 12-cylinder engines are considered as belonging to a different time is a travesty.

[gabrielhoy]

This single cylinder truly is "The Little Engine that Could".

[ironhead]

That single cylinder would make one heck of a go kart engine

[robertgirdwood]

Now to put this in a 2022 crf 450 frame 👌

[petertennant]

Hello mate, I'm Pete (diesel mechanic & enthusiast) just watching your vid and thought I'd add that while working for Scania Truck & Bus I had the opportunity to visit Scania's R&D department in Sodertalje, Sweden and was exposed the concept of creating 1 cylinder "mule" engines as part of the Proof of Concept phase of developing new engines &/or fuel systems. Before then I had no idea of that part of the process!!
Nice work on your vids!
Cheers,
Pete (Melb, Australia)

[coreygolpheneee]

Sell that 3 banger as a crate motor, i have a feeling those 3 pots are the best sounding engines on earth

[chloehennessey]

That single cylinder engine is pretty cool! I used to run junior dragsters and when you first start out you get a single cylinder engine. It’s a Craws Racing 3 1/2”.
I’ve done 280 passes on the engine. It’s roughly 70 HP. Seeing 90 out of a single cylinder isn’t very hard. What’s hard is making it last at that amount- and making it economically viable.

[lawnmowerdude]

I’ve always wanted to see a single cylinder version of a full size vehicle engine.

[MyWatchIsEnded]

So when is cosworth going to add one of their 3 cylinder engines into a Mitsubishi mirage?

[limpetr]

Its an amazing thing, but as the Cosworth guy said, it would be pretty hopeless as a road car engine. Nothing that revs to 20, 000 RPM is going to any useful work at less than 10, 000 and will probably need 15, 000 before it properly wakes up. Which is fine in a race, but a complete pain in the backside on the commute or going down the shops. In a road car it would be lumpy, gutless, and generally horrible.

[brianzaborowski]

I put one of these on my lawnmower, what a life saver. Now I can cut all the yards in my whole neighborhood faster than I used to do my own. Same goes for my snowblower in the off season. Great little workhorse!

[incorrectbeans]

Drivetribe: "Single cylinders, historically, sound horrendous."

Norton Manx: "Am I nothing to you?"