Why These F1 Engines Were So Dominant

- Formula One

engines

are the crème de la crème of

engines

. F1 engineers have pushed the boundaries of technology to advance the internal combustion engine and we, the regulations, can benefit from this. If it weren't for F1, we might not have turbos in our daily drivers. That's right, poor little spinney, he would just fade away. - Oh, it's painful, oh this hurts. This hurts. - So I got to thinking: what are some of the most technologically advanced F1 engines throughout the sport's 75-year history? Well, today we're going to highlight some of the most

dominant

engines in Formula One and dive into the ingenious pieces of engineering that made them so good. (upbeat music) (finger snap) I like to snap my fingers.

Come on. (upbeat music) Many thanks to car insurance comparison site, "The Zebra", for sponsoring today's video. There are a couple of things I consider myself an expert in: pedagogy, motorcycles, and teaching people to spend some money. Believe me, I'm an expert. The problem is that I spend a lot of money on insurance for all my vehicles. That's why I turned to the experts at "The Zebra" to compare my insurance needs. They are the nation's leading comparison site, powered by industry-leading research reporting with accessible, easy-to-understand consumer resources. All they want for you is to get the best insurance policy for you in a faster, simpler and easier to understand way.

And even better, they have no interest in the policy you choose, so you know you can trust them. Oh, and they also want to make sure you don't burn money like this (dramatic music) (fire burning) Burning money is no joke. Stop wasting your hard-earned money on insurance policies that are not suitable. Go to thezebra.com/bumper to compare insurance policies and save an average of $440 a year. (upbeat music) I never said I was an expert at putting out fires, Nolan! (siren wailing) (fire extinguisher foaming) Hell yeah, buddy. That was some good work, man. (Jeremiah laughs) In 1966, the FIA ​​changed the rules and allowed F1 teams to use engines with twice the displacement than the previous year.

This opened the doors for builders to experiment with unique engine designs with more complicated internal mechanisms. There were H16s, V12s and even supercharged inline-fours, but the design that set the bar for success for the next 15 years was the V8. The Ford Cosworth DFV. DFV stands for double four valves and first appeared on the Lotus 49 back in 1967, at the Dutch Grand Prix. Two cars on the grid were equipped with this engine, one took pole and the other won the race, during its first starting time. It took his designer, Keith Duckworth of Cosworth, just five months to complete the design stages and less than a year to assemble it into a car for his first race.

The engine wasn't perfect out of the box, but when fully developed, it contained some key innovations that allowed it to be so

dominant

. First was an innovation in oil flow: the pumps feeding oil to the bearings and DFV were rated at 6.5 gallons per minute. An old school rule of thumb was to use scavenge pumps with twice the capacity of the pump supplying oil, but due to a poorly designed crankcase breather, oil would pool in the heads. So Duckworth designed a new waste removal system that used a lobe pump, much like a supercharger that could remove 55 gallons per minute.

It was so good that it created negative pressure internally, sucking oil through passages that lubricated the internal parts, solving your oil buildup problem. Secondly, there was an innovation in the distribution gears. On the DFV's first outing, the Lotus on pole couldn't finish the race because its timing teeth broke, the other Lotus that won also had a single broken tooth but fortunately was still able to limp past and win. The reason the timing gear teeth were failing was due to torsional vibrations from the crankshaft causing that timing gear to resonate at certain RPMs. The motor would produce very short bursts of maximum torque, called stabbing torque, which would cause vibration and resonance problems.

During the course of a race, these vibrations would fatigue the metal gear. So Mr. Duckworth went to the drawing board and what he came up with was the timing gear damper, also called a quilhub. The timing gear damper takes the vibrations caused by those torque shocks and smooths them out within the gear train. Duckworth used 12 small shafts that rotated up to 1.5 degrees, transferring rotational motion from the center hub to the outer ring gear, damping the torque peak, so there was no resonance problem. The design was so good that they still use it today in current generation F1 engines.

Between 1968 and 1982, Ford Cosworth-powered cars scored 131 pole positions, 155 victories, 12 drivers' championships and 10 constructors' world titles. He is the only engine to have a 100% winning percentage over the course of a season and he did it twice. Because the DFV was so reliable that in 1973 the only engines on the track came from Ferrari, BRM and Techno. Lotus, Tyrrell McLaren, Brabham, Williams, Hesketh, Mark, Shadow all use the DFV, but just like the university relationship, the dominance of the twin four-valve couldn't last forever, thanks in part to the spinney boy. - Ah, I'm going back. Oh, it feels great, I'm so important. - (Laughs) The reign of the DFV came to an end, partly thanks to the turbocharger.

The eighties were the arrival of the turbo. Basically everyone was running a turbo, but it was BMW that pushed the spinney boy to new heights. The M12/13 turbo is the most powerful engine to ever come out of F1 and is an inline four. Heck, it's the most powerful BMW engine ever made, generating 1,350 horsepower from the four motors. Instead of making new blocks for the M12/13, BMW used old blocks that had more than 100,000 kilometers on them. They did it because they thought that if there were weak spots in the block, it would have failed by 100,000 kilometers. These old 1961 M10 engine blocks originally only made 80 horsepower, but BMW's thought process was, well, if this block did 100,000 kilometers on 80 horsepower, it can go two laps around the track on 1,350 horsepower. of strength.

I say two laps because that's all Ben and 10 BMWs needed. The rules for ranking during this time were a little different. So teams would use their qualifying engines, their qualifying gearbox, and even qualifying tires that would only last a few laps before the engine would seize, the gearbox would be destroyed, or the tires would burst. BMW's inline four-cylinder engine used a single Triple K turbocharger that was almost the size of the engine and during qualifying they used it with 5.5 bar of boost. That's 80 PSI. That's 80 pounds more boost than lower cars (laughs). To get that 80-pound boost, they sealed the wastegate, a device used to regulate the amount of exhaust gases that can spin the impeller.

A vacuum line runs from the compressor side of the turbo to the wastegate to sense boost pressure. As boost increases, the pressure in that line also increases and opens a valve inside the exhaust housing, allowing some of the exhaust to be bypassed. , limiting the speed at which the turbine wheel can rotate. Create a leak to slow down the turbo. So, by sealing the wastegate, you can make the turbo spin faster than it was designed for, producing more boost in the process. It's going to fail with so much momentum, but you just need it to not fail for a lap or two.

Now, I don't know how true this part is, but it was so strange that I had to at least mention it. The blocks were not only removed from cars that had more than 100,000 kilometers on them, but they were also hardened with urine. (Audience gasps) Case hardening is a process in which the surface of a metal is hardened while keeping the internal metal molecules softer and more ductile. A thin surface of hard metal is formed, like a Cadbury egg or a real egg. This hardening process has been around forever, blacksmiths do it. You take your steel sword and while it is hot you cool it in a liquid to quickly cool the surface.

If your metal has a carbon layer, those carbon atoms diffuse into the surface of your part, forming a thin layer of high-carbon steel, which hardens during rapid cooling. Apparently, the BMW M10 blocks would be left out in the elements and engineers would urinate on them. The nitrogen in urine has a nitriding effect that forms hard crystals on the surface of the metal, a type of hardening. The main advantage of the M12 inline-four over its competitors from Renault and Ferrari, which used a V6 design, was its simplicity. It had one less turbo, two less cylinders, eight less valves.

This allows the BMW engine to have lower friction losses and therefore produce less heat. But even though it had fewer moving parts, toward the end of its career, when it reached the 1,000-plus horsepower range, the engine's reliability suffered. Even when not at full boost, engine and turbo failures were common. But hey, you don't drive longevity, you drive to live in the moment. (Cameraman imitates engine sound) (Jeremiah imitates engine sounds) We couldn't talk about F1 and not talk about a Ferrari engine, but it's not Ferrari's iconic 12-cylinder setup that's worth talking about in Turkey , it is the three-liter V10 that gave them so much. success.

From 1999 to 2004, Ferrari's V10 design helped secure six consecutive years of constructors' championships using the Tipo 050 and Tipo 051. Now, Tipo is Italian for type, but it also means type. And I like to think that Ferrari wanted to call their engine "The Guy 050", just call me crazy. I like to think about the boys (laughs). That wasn't exactly what I wanted to improvise but it's something. The Ferrari Type 051 used a 90-degree cast aluminum block that was a load-bearing member of the chassis. The Italian-made V10 pumped out 900 horsepower at an insane 19,000 RPM. During the race, Ferrari reduced the power of the beast so that it generated only 865 horsepower at 18,600 RPM, but this reduction in power led to a more reliable engine that won 15 of 17 races in 2002 with ten second place finishes.

This engine powered one of the fastest and most successful F1 cars of all time. If you want to know more about why it's so awesome, click the link here, we talked about why it's hard for engines to get up to 20,000 RPM. The Type 051 used shorter headers that were optimized to increase fluid flow efficiency in all 20 intake ports. This unique head design was due in part to the unique crankcase design. To lower the engine's center of gravity, they redesigned the housing so they could place the crank as low as possible in the block. The crankshaft, as well as the gears, were designed to reduce as much rotating mass as possible to reduce friction.

The weight of the engine was only 95 kilograms, about 210 pounds. That's like, Nolan, when you eat healthy. I love you Nolan. It also used a high-output exhaust system that moved the exhaust flow rearward over the rear diffuser. Sprinkle your own diffuser to go faster, that's commitment. Now, the next thing isn't engine technology, but it's so cool I have to talk about it. BMW was still making monster engines at the time and they were the most powerful on the market, so Ferrari, in the off-season, discovered its secret, gaining 50 to 60 horsepower over its competition. Ferrari knew how to determine how much horsepower other teams were making, so they knew how it stacked up.

They set up recording equipment at the end of a straightaway to measure the speed of a competitor's car. Using a technique called sonic metering, the car's tone could be collected and then used to calculate the RPM at a given speed. If you can estimate the car's drag coefficient, you can calculate the engine's power. I think we may have another B2B episode in the future. (beep) Mercedes. Yes, it is a hybrid. Yes, it's a V6 turbo. Yes, many people hate it because it is the physical representation of the death of an unelectrified era. But the PU106 A kick-started the success we see from Mercedes today.

At the end of the 2013 F1 season, teams switched from naturally aspirated 2.4-litre V8s to single-turbo 1.6-litre V6s and thus began the reign of King Benz. Not only was the displacement reduced, but there was also a limit on the amount of fuel the engines could use. The teams had been using 150 kilograms of fuel in each race and now they could only use one hundred kilograms. So how did Mercedes resolve having to use athird less fuel? They used combustion prior to the chamber. To understand how it works, we have to go back to the four engine cycles, SSBB, suck, squeeze, hit, blow.

It's an important acronym. It's so important that I asked Joe to make a song so you'll never forget it. (beep) ♪ Suck, squeeze, hit, blow ♪ ♪ Suck, squeeze, hit, blow ♪ ♪ Suck, squeeze, hit, blow ♪ ♪ Gas and that's it ♪ ♪ Suck, squeeze, hit, blow ♪ ♪ Suck, squeeze, hit , blow ♪ ♪ Suck, squeeze, hit, blow ♪ ♪ Gauze and that's it ♪ ♪ Suck, squeeze, hit, blow ♪ ♪ Suck, squeeze, hit, blow ♪ ♪ Suck, squeeze, hit, blow ♪ ♪ Gas it up and go ♪ ♪ Suck, squeeze, hit, blow ♪ ♪ Suck, squeeze, hit, blow ♪ ♪ Suck, squeeze, hit, blow ♪ ♪ Gas it up and go ♪ The pre-combustion The chamber comes into play during the squeeze and hit part of our cycle .

During the suction stroke, between 95 and 97% of the air-fuel mixture is injected directly into the cylinders, but the remaining percentage of fuel is used in a small separate chamber inside the cylinder head, the prechamber, inside that prechamber. you have your normal spark plug that ignites that small amount of air-fuel mixture, creating a flame. There are holes in the bottom of the prechamber, like jets in a carburetor, through which flows this ignited mixture that enters the main combustion chamber, the cylinder, that flame then ignites the main air-fuel mixture and we get our power race. . In other words, you are using a mini flame to produce a larger flame.

Instead of using a small spark plug like this to ignite the air-fuel mixture, you use a flame like this and depending on the size and number of jets in your prechamber, you can modify how you ignite the fuel in the cylinder. In traditional cars with a spark plug, the ignition point occurs in the center of the cylinder, with these pre-chamber jets the ignition occurs from the outside, inwards. So what does this have to do with efficiency? To achieve better fuel efficiency, there needs to be a gradual development of heat and expansion of gases, rather than a single spark creating a rapid form of heat by gradually increasing the flame and placing it in the right place, burning the entire mixture inside the cylinder.

You get more power, need less fuel and at the same time generate less pollutants in the unburned fuel. Pre-chamber technology has been around for a long time. There are diesel engines that have used them since the 1930s. The novel thing that Mercedes did was develop a way to tune the engines for efficiency or more power using a single injector. For example, let's say you want to create more power for a qualifying race. Well, you want your injectors to pump more fuel into the master cylinder, but now you're Lewis Hamilton and you have a nice, healthy advantage, because all you do is win.

Well, you want to conserve fuel, so you can actively change the injector to deliver a leaner mixture, saving fuel in the process. They created a way to make a single injector act as two, where you can actively switch the injector to inject a leaner mixture into the main chamber while maintaining the same amount of fuel in the prechamber. That had never been done before and left Ferrari and all the other teams scrambling to figure out how Mercedes was doing it. And apparently, even if they realized it, it didn't work because (bleeps) they won all the time.

That's just one of the few things Mercedes did to kick everyone's butt over the past seven seasons. If you want to know more, you should watch this episode about why Mercedes built the most unbeatable F1 car. Now before everyone loses their minds, I know there are many more engines we could have included here on this list. I want to do a second episode. Look at the engines made by Honda, Renault, Williams. So if you want to see some of the technology behind those motors, leave a comment below, I check the comments and I'll be here within the first hour.

So if you want to say something personal, hit me up, bro. So if you want to see those or the technology behind any other F1 engine, leave a comment below. Follow us on Instagram here at Donut @donutmedia. Follow me @JeremiahBurton. Until next week, goodbye for now.