The F1 Technical Developments Thread

Apparently the "new"-turbo-era might be on the doorstep soon...

F1 teams close to agreeing new 2013 engine formula

F1 teams are close to agreeing upon a new engine formula for the six-year period beginning in 2013.

Until then, development of the current 2.4 litre V8s will remain 'frozen', to be replaced thereafter by similarly powerful engines that use less fuel, emit less pollution and are affordable for the small teams.

Spain's El Mundo Deportivo newspaper said an in-principle agreement has been reached for a four cylinder, 1.5 litre engine equipped with a twin-turbo and direct injection.

The new formula would reportedly also involve KERS.

"If F1 has to develop something helpful for real (road) driving conditions, then the best solution is for an engine that is turbocharged and GDI (gasoline direct injection," Ferrari CEO Amedeo Felisa told Autocar magazine at the Beijing Motor Show.

"That is what we would support," he said.

Mercedes' Norbert Haug agrees that smaller engines are likely for reasons of consumption and emissions, but warns that high technology needs to remain a crucial focus.

"If you fly from Europe to Japan on a 747, you would use more fuel than an entire F1 season. We need to see the whole picture," he insisted.
Sauce....

This is getting even more interesting now... 1,5-liter Turbo engines and KERS, might well be mighty fast, using the KERS to boost accelleration before the turbo's (very high) boost arrives. This combined with no traction control will call for very careful right foots....
 
I have no problem against the return of turbo engines. Problem is those cunts at FIA want to cap the power down to around 600~650bhp.

Seriously... wtf? underpowered F1 car?? I completely agree with Christian Horner on this matter.... Once you start capping on engine power, everyone can jump in an F1 car and have a go.

Bring back 1000bhp, throttle control & tyre management FTW.
 
It'll start out with lower power but teams will fiddle with the engines through whatever way possible and it can easily get close to 750-800bhp.
Would this also mean that we will go close to how the cars in the 80's looked?
i.e.
ffbc7b73.jpg

If it does, then I'm all for it!
 

This "article" seems to be a round-up of quotes that appeared on autosport during the last few weeks... anyways, i don't really care about the engines used in F1 as long as the produce lots of power and are loud.

@MadCow: Engine power has been capped in F1 ever since the turbo era cars got too dangerous. Every kind of rules governing the engine (like, say, making them NA 2.4 liter V8s) is intended to cap power output. That would not be changed. With an estimated power output of around 780HP before the engines being restricted to 19000 RPM in '07 the most powerful evolution of V8s was not that far away from the 650HP that you seem to be pulling out of thin air.

The last generation of V10s reportedly put out around 980hp, having started at around 650. There is always room for improvement, so putting down rules that let the team start at 650HP is the only way to insure that there's some time before brutal cars like the late group B rallye cars will be possible and the regulations thus will have to be changed again.
 
. Would this also mean that we will go close to how the cars in the 80's looked?

I think that has more to do with the aero (ground effects, how much aero is from the wings etc), cooling characteristics of that time period and also the safety factors which were applied during the 80's (less side impact position). I guess it would be like comparing the V8 cars of the 1970's with the current V8's. Do they look the same? Not really.
 
Well, the airbox might stay. There is no reason a turbo can't inhale its air from there. The 80s turbos were v6 engines and had a turbo on each side of the engine and inhaled the air from a snorkel on each sidepod.

With inline 4 engines (i still hope it'll be v6 engines, or the manufacturers can freely choose), the airbox as is can provide air to the engine and the car appearance would remain unchanged.

V6 engines would also mean shorter cars. Inline 4s would twist too much, a V engine is much better with coping with torsional stress.
 
No one said anything about inline 4s. Why not try V4 or even Boxers?
 
How about either straight six, V6, or a boxer. I'd love the array of different exhaust notes.
Either way this change will entice more engine suppliers into the sport, which is good for the sport.
 
Well... just what I thought.

And they won't be able to tinker with the engines, because in all likelihood, they will freeze the engines.
 
They'll get into it through "reliability upgrades" or "performance equalization" just as they do with the V8 formula.
 
That won't make a huge difference though. They will only be as powerful as the most powerful motor and that will still be sub 700 bhp.

I dunno, it just all seems extremely underwhelming to me :\

We live in a world where things are becoming increasingly standardised and it really really sucks...
 
Instead of a power output limitation why not introduce the budget cap they intended to use then? Say you are free to built whatever you like (within reason) but have 60m budget. Just putting it out there. :)
 
What currency would it go by? Would it be 60mEuros? 60mUSD? 60mGBP?
It makes huge differences when converted.
How would it be monitored too?
What if a team goes over the budget? What happens to them?
These are the reasons the cap was tossed.
 
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