LONG BEACH, Calif. -- MG Rover and Engine Developments Ltd., builder of Judd racing engines, will jointly provide engines for the CART FedEx Series starting next year.

The England-based companies formed a technical partnership to produce the new 3.5-liter, non-turbocharged powerplants that will replace the current 2.65, turbocharged engines used in CART.

An announcement late last season of the new engine rules angered current CART engine suppliers Ford and Honda, and both announced they would leave the Champ car series at the end of the 2002 season. It is expected Toyota, which also supplies engines for CART and will also be in the rival Indy Racing League in 2003, will continue to compete in CART.

CART executive VP John Lopes said Saturday that Cosworth, a subsidiary of Ford Motor Co., has committed to provide engines to the series but is still seeking a technical partner whose name would go on the engines -- similar to the MG-Judd deal.

He added that two other engine companies have indicated they will supply engines for the Champ car series in 2003.

The new engine announced Saturday will be dubbed MG XPower and, according to John Judd, managing director of EDL, will power anywhere from four to 10 Champ cars in 2003.

"We just want to build an engine and go racing," said Judd, whose company has built Champ car engines in the past and currently is building sports car engines. A Judd-powered car won the Rolex 24-Hour race in Daytona Beach, Fla., in February.

There will also be all-new chassis in CART in 2003, and Lopes said an announcement about manufacturers will probably be made in June although "that situation is still in flux."

Diversity reigns
New CART president CEO Chris Pook says the Champ car series needs to keep its oval races to be successful.

In answer to team owner Bobby Rahal, who told media members on Friday he would like to see CART become a road-racing series, Pook said, "I feel we have to keep the oval racing element because it's part of the diversity of CART.

"I understand where Bobby is coming from. He's an old oval racer. The value of the series, though, is in the diversity of it. We have found a niche market for ourselves and it works."

Pook was referring to CART's global reach, with nine of 20 races outside the United States in 2002.

CART's schedule includes races on temporary street circuits -- such as Sunday's Toyota Grand Prix of Long Beach -- permanent road courses, short ovals and superspeedway ovals.

Three of the six oval events on the current schedule are in the United States -- Milwaukee, Chicago and Fontana, Calif. -- with the others in Motegi, Japan, Rockingham, England, and Lausitz, Germany.

New view
The first CART race on Fox will feature a highspeed view of the track never seen before on TV. Paul Tracy will wear a new "Driver-Cam," a miniature camera mounted inside his helmet.

The new camera, which provides a driver's-eye view through the visor of Tracy's helmet, was used in practice and qualifying sessions for the Long Beach race.

Coverage is scheduled to start at 3:30 p.m. EDT.

Spark plugs
There is no defending champion in Sunday's race. Helio Castroneves, who won from the pole in 2001, is now in the IRL. ... Former Long Beach winners in Sunday's field include Michael Andretti (1985), Jimmy Vasser ('96) and Tracy ('93, '00). ... Alex Tagliani goes into the race with three straight top-five finishes.