New engine regs for 2013

[Wasted Talent]

It's good news that F1 will move away from the technology of the last century and try to stay high-tech instead of being a dinosaur.

Yes, agree with this as well.

WT

[wedge]

It's good news that F1 will move away from the technology of the last century and try to stay high-tech instead of being a dinosaur.

Turbo's were used in the late 1970s so F1 is still a dinosaur in that regard.

If you want to talk about dinosaurs then it should be NASCAR who stuck with pushrod V8s for decades which have no bearing on current engines; whereas in F1 the engine building technology has been transferred onto their road cars.

I just found this article:

http://www.motorsport.com/news/article.asp?ID=396025

This part made me laugh: "We have a very good engine formula."

Only Bernie Eccelstone could look at annoying rev limits and a maximum of 8 engines used in a season and say, "That's very good."

I do think that if they are to use turbocharged engines, 1.6 liters may be too large. A 1.6 liter engine with 1.5 atmospheres of boost has the effective displacement of a 4 liter engine.

I suppose if it ain't broke, don't fix it?

[Giuseppe F1]

Silly question......if we do indeed go to Turbo engines, will this mean no need for an airbox on top of the drivers helmet, and will we simply have a roll-hoop?

I love the look of the airbox set up of current F1 cars and so imagineing if now no need whether the new gen of F1 cars will look a bit like the old CART cars in this area?

[ioan]

Acually it was 50 years ago but you didn't put a time frame on it.
I am sure somehow Ferrari can manage to figure out how to build a relatively small turbo engine, just like everyone else.

Sure they will, the question is how much time and money they will need to catch up with those who produce up to date 4 cylinder performance engines.

[Easy Drifter]

No more or less than any other manufacturer of engines for F1. Nobody is going to adapt a street engine to produce the power and reliability a F1 engine will require.
To comment on the taxi cabs not only are they using pushrod V8's they are just considering, note considering, using fuel injection instead of carbs.

[Malbec]

The question is, does it make sense to change the engine formula and all that cost to develop the new engines? What exactly are the supposed advantages of changing it, besides for change's sake, and the apparent "environmental" angle, which is iffy at best? Is it expected that this angle will attract more manufacturers interested in high performance/low fuel consumption engine research for their road cars?

All it takes is a brief visit to a current car show to see that car makers really don't give a flying toss about F1 anymore. Its all about green tech and future alternative modes of propulsion.

Now you might argue that F1 doesn't need car makers anymore but you may have noticed that money is tight, very tight. So much so that even teams like Renault will only accept a second driver who brings his own sponsorship.

The carmakers brought loads of money and sponsors into F1 and they've taken them out with them when they withdrew. For F1 to revive again the sport needs to be more relevant to what carmakers are looking for. These engine regs are exactly whats required to make that happen IMO. Already VW and Honda are making noises about entering F1 as engine suppliers IF the engine regs are 'right' ie environmentally friendly. That won't happen if we stay with current engines.

[UltimateDanGTR]

Silly question......if we do indeed go to Turbo engines, will this mean no need for an airbox on top of the drivers helmet, and will we simply have a roll-hoop?

I love the look of the airbox set up of current F1 cars and so imagineing if now no need whether the new gen of F1 cars will look a bit like the old CART cars in this area?

As far as i understand it, engine covers are for normally aspirated engines, and the roll hoop style designs are for turbo charged engines. This does come from someone on another forum, but it makes sense.

In the great 80s turbo era we didnt see any airbox cars on turbocharged machines. this was after such a thing was invented in the 70s. It all changed in 1989, when turbos were banned....

Thus I'd expect a change to roll hoop designs. I quite like the thought of this. The sleeker F1 cars are the better, and the thought of them being slightly more CART like in such a manner entices me

[SGWilko]

As far as i understand it, engine covers are for normally aspirated engines, and the roll hoop style designs are for turbo charged engines. This does come from someone on another forum, but it makes sense.

In the great 80s turbo era we didnt see any airbox cars on turbocharged machines. this was after such a thing was invented in the 70s. It all changed in 1989, when turbos were banned....

Thus I'd expect a change to roll hoop designs. I quite like the thought of this. The sleeker F1 cars are the better, and the thought of them being slightly more CART like in such a manner entices me

The purpose of the airbox on non turbo cars is to create positive pressure in order to force as much air as possible into combustion chamber.

On turbo cars, the air inlet is generally close to the turbo (exhaust, the gas from which drives the turbo) and is is drawn in rather than pushed in. If the blown rear diffuser prevails, there will need to be some clever positioning of the turbo and intricate routing of air intake in order to keep the bodywork lines clean.

[UltimateDanGTR]

The purpose of the airbox on non turbo cars is to create positive pressure in order to force as much air as possible into combustion chamber.

On turbo cars, the air inlet is generally close to the turbo (exhaust, the gas from which drives the turbo) and is is drawn in rather than pushed in. If the blown rear diffuser prevails, there will need to be some clever positioning of the turbo and intricate routing of air intake in order to keep the bodywork lines clean.

Thanks for the technical insight there

[rah]

Why do they have to have engine restrictions at all? Just tell the teams how much petrol they have for the race and let them deal with it. Just reduce it every year to make it more green. It would be great to have some diversity back in F1.