4 cylinder turbos out, 6 cylinder turbos in (theoretically)

[I am evil Homer]

So what - Renault have come and gone as they pleased in the past........

Because they supply a fair few teams and want to supply one more. Who would step in? Cosworth?!?!

[Robinho]

hopefully it appears that Renault are on board with the new rules, agreed they've gone before, but at the moment they supply the fastest team, one other competitive team as well as an improving Lotus. Likely to add one more to the list too. There are not many alternatives these days, and at the moment I don't think Cosworth are at the level or Renault, Mercedes and Ferrari. At the moment we need a 4th competitive engine supplier IMO

[Big Ben]

2014? The world will end 7-8 times by then

[nigelred5]

2014? The world will end 7-8 times by then

LOL.

[DexDexter]

I actually don't understand what the reasoning is behind specifying the cylinder configuration in the rules.
The last time we had turbo engines, there were inline-4s, V6s and V8s and they all had their own distinctive engine notes.

According to Honda's research in the late 1980s, the ideal size for a cylinder in an Otto cycle engine is about 298cc (I did see the calculations once, hooboy!); therefore at 1.6L ideally the best engine config would either be an inline-5 or a V5. To the best of my knowledge, only Honda and VW-Audi have put V5 engines into production. I5s have been used by far more companies.

The reason is simple: they speficy the the cylinder configuration to even out the playing field just a little bit and to avoid excessive cost that would go into research to find out which is the optimum cylinder configuration. The differences between the engines could be huge if the rules were more free.

[Bruce D]

the ideal size for a cylinder in an Otto cycle engine is about 298cc

So then what you're saying is that a 4.8L V16 engine would be the best. Gets my vote!

[AndyL]

So then what you're saying is that a 4.8L V16 engine would be the best. Gets my vote!

How about a 1.5 litre V16? If they got 600bhp out of one in 1947, then surely 1200+ should be no problem now. That would really be something.

[bluegem280]

According to Honda's research in the late 1980s, the ideal size for a cylinder in an Otto cycle engine is about 298cc (I did see the calculations once, hooboy!); therefore at 1.6L ideally the best engine config would either be an inline-5 or a V5. To the best of my knowledge, only Honda and VW-Audi have put V5 engines into production. I5s have been used by far more companies.

Agree, V5 isn't common configuration. It's not real V engine, but rather a VR5 engine, five cylinders sharing a single bank. Four cylinders doesn't sound so good for an F1 car, but the turbo might help it sounds better. The best choice perhaps would be 1.8L V6 turboed engine.

[AndyRAC]

Personally, I’d love to see a mix of V6, V8, V10 & V12 engines. Not going to happen however. The car industry is going to small capacity turbo charged engines – Motorsport has to follow – WTCC, WRC have gone 1.6T engines, now it’s F1’s turn to follow suit.

[555-04Q2]

Generally speaking V8's are the best engines for racing. They sound good, are pretty reliable, powerful, easy to get more ooommmfffff out of etc etc.