Engine Developments had been one of the first firms authorised by Cosworth to rebuild and maintain DFV engines, and the company had developed engines for Honda's Formula Two and CART programmes through the early to mid-1980s. The Judd AV, a turbocharged V8 for Honda's CART effort, ran from 1986 and demonstrated the company's independent engineering capability. The Formula Three thousand BV V8 that followed served as the natural basis for the CV.
The CV was expanded from the BV architecture to meet the 3.5-litre Formula One engine formula for naturally aspirated cars. It used a conventional 90-degree vee angle, in common with the Cosworth DFV family. At its debut in 1988, the engine was producing approximately 570 bhp, with development raising output to around 590 bhp by the end of the season. This compared to approximately 610 bhp from the contemporary Cosworth DFR V8 used by Benetton and approximately 670 bhp from the Honda V6 turbo. Despite the comparative power deficit versus the Honda, the CV was generally the most powerful of the non-turbo engines through 1988.
March Engineering was the first team to sign for Judd engines, and reigning World Constructors' champions Williams also turned to Judd for 1988 after losing their Honda supply. Ligier also purchased CV units for the season.
Judd's F1 debut year produced a series of strong results. Nigel Mansell scored the engine's first Formula One podium when he finished second in the 1988 British Grand Prix, a race run in wet conditions at Silverstone. Further podiums followed: March driver Ivan Capelli initially crossed the line third in Belgium (later officially confirmed third following the post-season disqualification of both Benetton cars for illegal fuel), and Capelli subsequently finished second in Portugal and Mansell second in Spain.
The most dramatic moment of the season came at the Japanese Grand Prix, where Capelli's March briefly passed Alain Prost's McLaren-Honda for the lead on lap 16 of 51, making it the first naturally aspirated car to lead a lap of a Formula One Grand Prix since 1983. The Honda's power advantage reasserted itself within a corner, and Capelli's engine subsequently expired. The CV also demonstrated a speed-trap performance that regularly exceeded that of the Ford DFR, with Mauricio Gugelmin recording the fastest naturally aspirated speed of the season at 312 km/h during qualifying for the German Grand Prix at Hockenheim.
For 1989, Judd developed the all-new EV with a narrower 76-degree vee angle to produce a more compact unit, while CV production continued as a cheaper customer alternative, with power raised to around 610 bhp. Lotus and EuroBrun were the CV customers in 1989, with Lotus finishing sixth in the Constructors' Championship. EuroBrun continued as the only CV user into 1990, and the Life team eventually acquired CV units during 1990 to replace their failed in-house W12 design. The CV was effectively rendered obsolete within the Judd range by the EV for serious competition, though its lower cost kept it in service for budget teams.
The Judd CV's contribution to the 1988 Formula One season was outsized relative to the resources behind it. As a privateer engine competing against works Honda and Cosworth products, it enabled Williams to remain competitive through their Honda-less transition year, provided March with a genuine front-running package, and demonstrated that a small British engineering firm could produce a viable Formula One unit. The CV laid the foundation for all subsequent Judd Formula One engine programmes and the broader sports car engine family that the company developed through the 1990s and 2000s.