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Formula 1 engine question

jayjaya29

jayjaya29

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Okay, how the hell do the engines of Formula 1 cars have their engine revs so high, like 18,000RPM!!! Just thinking about 18,000RPM is just mind boggling, I mean just think, the fuel and air mixture goes in, combustion, then it has to be pushed out. I know there are more cylinders to give it some time, but its still crazy.

So what I am asking is how these engines can achieve such high RPMs, is it a certain piece in the engine or what. Any info would be appreciated. Thanks.
:)

And oh yeah, the sound of these engines is like my favorite sound.
 
jayjaya, i have a few audio files on F1 cars, reving speeding past etc.

add me to msn and ill send them to you when im on. i also love F1 engine sounds :thumbsup:
 
i thought it had to do with having incredibly light internals + a very short stroke. so the parts arn't moving that far

TF
 
The_Finn said:
i thought it had to do with having incredibly light internals + a very short stroke. so the parts arn't moving that far

TF
Click to expand...

Thats it. The less reciprocating mass in an engine (pistons, conrods etc) the easier it is for an engines internals to change directions.
 
Note that they don't exactly last long either :D Motorbikes can reliably do RPMs in thge mid teen thousands.
 
F1 engines only work at those high revs, they don't have any power below 10K RPM

in that way, it isn't hard to get high revs at all, especially with a short stroke

and the fact that their are more cylinders to give it more time, isn't true
the RPM measured, is the rotation of 1 piston, during which time, the others also made a full cycle

the amount of revs you can achieve is limited by 3 factors:
- the amount of air you can get through the headers
- the bore
- the stroke

granted enough fuell is fed, an engine will rev up until it can't suck in more air
imagine you have 2 engines with the same stroke, but the second engine has double displacement (=double bore).
given the same setup, the first engine will need (and will achieve) twice the revs of the second to get all the air through.

so, big displacement + short stroke (+ enough air) = LOTS OF REVS
 
I think they also have gas shocks instead of valve springs because normal springs wouldn't hold up to that kind of punishment.
 
Ahh I see, so basically its the short stroke that achieves all the RPMs. I knew that they had basically no power at low revs. So they make up for the short stroke by having more revs, makes sense now. Thanks.

And I added you to my list Justin.
 
Yeah exactly what everyone else just said. That and they idle at 7000rpm and have not much torque either.
 
Yeah... repeating stuff said in Torque V HP thread. Its a low torque engine due to the smaller moment arms but because of the sky high revving of the engine it is able to create large power figures.
 
Whenever there is a restriction on engine displacement size on any racing league, the race cars tend to have very high revving engines. The lack of displacement and potential for higher power output is compensated by high engine revs.

F1 engines don't have very high torque output relative to its horsepower output. However, not much torque is needed to push around 500kg of exotic lightweight material. F1 engines have a large bore but very, very short stroke.

Before they banned the beryllium alloy, the engine block would theoretically be light enough to float in water! Light and very precisely made materials all contribute to making F1 engines so "revvable."

Street cars have valves that are spring loaded. F1 engines have hydraulic valves which are pressurized prior to starting the engine.

Speaking of high revving, F1 engines IDLE at 4000rpm! This means that the engine is close to stalling if it goes below that.

They used to have 1.5 liter 4-cylinder turbo engines that produced something like 1200hp. When they banned turbos, they went to V12 engines. When they banned the V12, they went to V10. When they will ban V10's, they'll go V8. Each time, the redline was increased to make up for lack of displacement.

People say they want F1 engines in their road cars. HA!
They'll have to spend close to a million dollars to rebuild it every 1000 miles or so. Plus, the engine won't have enough torque to push a road car that would be 2 to 3 times heavier than an F1 car.
 
Also these engines were made with enormous precision.. Extremely well balanced I mean. If a regular car engine would have the same precision you could probably rev it to double the rpms you can now, but then it would also cost 1000 times what it costs now ;)
 
Wow, some of the past concepts that they had are amazing!!! Engine blocks that float in water, 4 cylinder turbo engines making 1200HP!!!! Crazy.
 
Here's a sounds clip that really shows you what F1 engines are about

My dads mates does work for the toyota F1 boss and was at a test day last year.

Please be gentle on my connection (right click save target) http://ruuman.serveftp.net/japan_engines.mp3

Enjoy

Ruu
 
jayjaya29 said:
Thanks!

Haha they played when the saints come marching in with the sounds. Hahaha.
Click to expand...

yeah pretty impressive,the pickup on thoose engines is amazing
 
just got back from zolder (the race track)
it was world superseries by renault

and there was an initiation with one of their F1 cars

i wasn't expecting that amount of grip, power, noise, ...everything :shock:
it was the first time i see one (driving) in real life, and my conclusion is that it doesn't show on TV how insanly fast those things go


the other races held were formula renault 1600, 2.0 en 3.5
and renault megane trophy -first time they raced- they are RWD mid-engined cars with a 3.5 V6.
and there was a renault old timer meeting (the old renault alpina rules!)
 
Yeah I've only seen F1 at the good wood festival of speed (which if you happen to be in the UK I seriously recomend you go too) It was the 2nd fastest up the hill, against the old audi group B rally car (goddam was that fast)

But nothing compairs to the noise and speed, must go to one soon
 
Yeah, well considering I'm still in high-school, I gotta a bit of time before I can actually go, but I really want to go eventually.
 
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