jaje

http://www.autoblog.com/2010/04/15/r...turbo-engines/

Maybe more rumor than truth but interesting possibility.

ltc

And in a related story, the FIA will contact Visteon to supply the entire F1 grid with onboard external audio systems, so the fans will be able to hear the single cylinder hybrid diesel electric F1 cars as they go by:

http://www.sae.org/mags/AEI/7567

I will accept an engine proposal such as this as long as Max Mosley is standing at the end of the main straight and is driven over by one of these F1 cars...I will pay for the new front wing

paradisenb

Don't get your panties in a wad boys. These are the same reactions we get to all types of evolution. 2 cylinder reduction? - OMG the sky is falling - The end of F1...... Get over it. These engines will be just as fast, if not faster, than their older brothers (see what today's engines are doing)

Pushing the envelope of what is possible is what I like most about F1 engineering. Consider the possibilities and the discovery of what could be. Vanilla world? Not for me. Tomorrow? --Bring it on!

Larry Herman

Isn't this coming from the same group of idiots who say that it is imperative to reduce costs in F1?

Bob Rouleau

As I recall the last 1.5 liter Renault turbos were making around 900 HP. This was before they went to 3 liter normally aspirated engines to slow the cars down

Bryan Watts

And the 1.5 liter BMW Turbos were making upwards of 1300 hp in qualifying trim...they could only estimate based on fuel/air because the dyno only read 1100 hp. I've read some estimations as high as 1500 hp.

Best part about it? BMW drove around the countryside and pulled old, rusting M10 blocks out of junk cars to use for their race motors. They figured the old blocks were better than brand new ones.

Scootin159

The 900hp figure was in race trim, in qualifying trim they were able to get upwards of 1500hp. And this is 1986 engine technology. Two years later they were running 3.0L n/a motors that they could only get ~550hp out of. Fast forward to 2005 and they were up to almost 900hp out of those same 3.0L n/a motors. Given this scale, they should now (theoretically) be able to build race motors with about 1500hp and qualifying motors with upwards of 2400hp.

This isn't likely to REALLY happen though, as that would require using two or three new motors per weekend, and they're sure to keep the "8 engines/year" rule, citing costs. However, I think this would be great if the DID do this. Even make the engine program completely "libre" for 5 years or so to promote development. With nearly twice as much HP for the race, and slightly less downforce next year, we could really see some passing.

jaje

If they went back to 1.5 liter inline 4's - Honda would surely come back to F1. They need to support the legion of Civics with eBay turbo kits on them running 400whp.

RajDatta

Another interesting titbit, the blocks were welded to the cylinder head to stop the head from lifting at high boost pressures . Can't get better sealing that that!

krystar

damn i want a honda F1 swap in my acura.....

Larry Herman

Think that they ground their welds?

U4EEAH

Smart ***

Larry Herman

Sure beats being a dumb ***. Oops, there I go again.

kurt M

Thanks for the laugh!

C.J. Ichiban

now we're talkin