Cosworth ECU History

Coming the first quarter of 2009 will be the first of a series of ECUs from Cosworth. The EC Pro ECUs are being manufactured by Pectel which is a division of Pi Research. Pi is a sister company of Cosworth and is part of the Race Power Group. Much like how Cosworth is at the forefront of engineering and motorsports, Pi and Pectel are at the forefront of engine control and data acquisition system for many different industries and motorsports including F1, WRC, Aerospace, Marine, Touring Cars, Military, etc.

While Cosworth is not necessarily known for electronics, we have been designing our own engine controls for many years now. The DFV F1 engines used a mechanical injection system of our own design. The move from mechanical injection to electronic fuel injection prompted the need for Cosworth to design their own engine controls. When this transition occurred in the early 1980s, Cosworth assembled an electronics section to engineer, manufacture, and service their own ECUs. Sometime in the early 2000s, Cosworth started to team up with Pi Research to develop ECUs for race engines. This partnership lasts even today with the Mazda MZR Formula Atlantic engines.

When the Cosworth Performance Parts division discovered a need for a high performance ECU, it was only natural for Cosworth to team up with Pectel once again. The first offering will be for the 2008 Subaru Impreza STi with the twin AVCS EJ257B engine. This ECU will only work on STis sold on the North American continent. Here's a list of features:

Cosworth by Pectel EC PRO ECU:
Designed for full OEM harness and system integration: Plug and Perform. Base calibration supplied to run a stock engine including all ancilliaries and external functions including air conditioning. 100% Ready to dyno tune for your engine specifications after installation. There is no need for replacement of OEM wiring harness or sensors and will will function in both air flow and speed density modes. Makes use of OEM dash and diff controller.

56Mhz processor: Higher performance timing accuracy and control
Ethernet comms: Fast data offload and high quality data viewing on PC
Internal logging memory pre configured: Logging essential channels at correct rates for performance analysis by your dealer
Internal logging for user: Additional logging for monitoring & development
Knock monitoring: OEM MIL lamp indication of Detonation levels (with user defined levels based on RPM and Boost)
Calibration select (e.g. Fuel save, Test, Race): Use of the OEM SI Drive switch for selection of 3 alternate calibrations (calibration selectable for boost, fueling, ignition, rev limit, ALS setting, VCAM target, Fly-By-Wire pedal mapping, and overrun fueling cut-off individually selectable for Intelligent, Sports, and Sports-Sharp).
Pectel ALS (Anti lag system): OEM switch used for ALS mode select
Standard Motorsport design: Machined Aluminum case and professional motorsport specification electronics.
External wideband supported: Compatible with most popular brands
Internal wideband supported:WBL kit: Requires Cosworth by Pectel NTK sensor, requires 3 extra populations and 2 pin relocating
Thermocouple support : TC Kit can be fitted for monitoring or control strategy e.g. exhaust over temp enrichment, auto ALS disable. Requires two blank pins on OEM harness populating.
Variable CAM: Fully programmable pre-configured full quad camshaft support
External Comms support: Optional Motorsport dash
Designed for off road use only: No OBDII monitoring

This ECU will be sold by select Cosworth dealers only on the North American continent. These same dealers will also be trained to handle tech support of the EC PRO. While the ECU will be user programmable (e.g. fuel, igntion, boost, config tables), full access is only given to these same authorized select Cosworth dealers. Target pricing should be under $3500.

Here is an ECU and  CDI box from the 1991 version of the DFS CART engine.

That's quite a few RPMs isn't it?

Here's a more recent Cosworth ECU that was used from 1999-2006 seasons of the Champ Car/CART Cosworth XFE engines.

In the 2007 Champ Car season, Cosworth switched over to the more modern Pectel SQ6M ECU to control the XFE engine. Similar technology is used in the Cosworth by Pi EC Pro ECU (sans mil spec connectors of course).

This is the Cosworth EC Pro ECU. It's coming soon! While you may believe that Cosworth is a "new kid on the block" with ECUs, we have in fact been creating, designing, and engineering ECUs far longer than the rest. You can bet that all of our and Pectel's motosports experience is right inside the EC Pro.