Goodbye 18k RPM v8's: F1 is Officially going Turbo 4-banger!

[scheides]

1.6L 4-banger, specifically. This is pretty cool!

http://www.autoblog.com/2010/12/10/officially-official-formula-one-goes-with-1-6-litre-four-cylind/

http://www.blogcdn.com/www.autoblog.com/media/2010/12/bmw-m12-630.jpg

[mlomker]

A good opportunity for more technology to trickle down.

[turbotalon1g]

Hey, they are using FFM toO!

[Febo]

Is there really no timing chain on that engine?

[awd-drifter]

Gonna be insane. Definite witchcraft goin' on in those engines. lol.

[LingLing]

It's pretty cool that they're trying something new, but I do have my doubts. First they lower the maximum allowed RPM, now they're completely changing platforms. What's next? No exhaust noise over 98db, and it must pass CA smog?

Don't get me wrong, I love Formula 1 and I don't ever want it to go away. But this is a HUGE change. Questions that come to mind are, how is this going to affect the handling of the car, how is the new reduced engine allowance going to affect lap times and power? However, I can see this making F1 even better to watch. Now that teams are going to be allowed an even more limited number of engines they are going to have to focus even more on reliability and overall balance. Plus now that were going to get to see millions of dollars of R&D in to a 4 cylinder, I am sure this will push the envelope (in all aspects) for power output and reliability for the 4 cylinder platforms.

You could call this an early morning rambling, so I apologize if any parts or all of it is just a bunch of useless shit.

[TwoTalons]

Well, it's not the first time F1 has made a major engine change and likely won't be the last. What I don't get is they want to keep costs down yet they do something like this. Will be interesting to see how this plays out. Four engines per season?? Ya right.

[123abc]

Is there really no timing chain on that engine?


Nope, looks like gears.


I'm liking this rule change. It'll be like a blast to the past....

[Matt D.]

This will prove to be interesting. I wonder if they're going to limit boost like stupid CART did.

[jrohner]

I say just limit engine size and RPM, and tell them to have at it. Do whatever else you want with the engine.

And they could deliver a couple engines to me, I wouldn't mind.