How does the new V8 perform, how does the teams adapt the bolides to the new engine and how does that influence the strategy?
Formula 1 will enter a new era at the Bahrain Grand Prix: this season, theteams will only be allowed to use eight-cylinder engines with a maximumcubic capacity of 2400cm3, which will produce about 200HP less than theten-cylinder engines used last year. The goal is clear: increasing safetyby reducing power.
The new regulations will push the engines even further into the limelight inFormula 1. “A V8 spends much more time in the wide-open throttle rangeevery lap than a V10,” explained Alex Hitzinger, Head of the Formula 1 projectat WilliamsF1’s engine partner, Cosworth. “So the engine performance willbecome even more critical for the overall performance of the car.”
The loss of power is not causing the engineers any headaches. As in the past,it is estimated that every season they will probably regain 20 to 30 HP of theroughly 200HP they have had to give up because of this reduction in enginecapacity. However, it was much more difficult to reconcile the whole series ofparameters that were specified for the new engines.
For example, the minimum weight of 95kg combined with the other specification of the minimumheight for the centre of gravity has meant that the V8 is much heavier than itactually needs to be. The engineers did the best they could and designed theengine much more rigidly, which has benefited the handling of the cars.Because they did not need to watch every single gram, they also madeseveral static components like the cylinder block and the cylinder heads muchmore robust, and so increased the service life of the engines.
The new regulations have not changed the basic task of exploiting the rules asmuch as possible and so gaining a valuable advantage even before theseason starts. “We set ourselves a target of a top engine speed of20,000rpm,” said Alex Hitzinger, “and we’ve managed that.” The new enginefor the Williams FW28 drove its first kilometres on the test stand on October12, 2005, and the first test drives on the track were held just five weeks later.Despite the engineers’ love of detail, it was important to keep an eye on thebigger picture, such as delivering a compact, mechanical package to theaerodynamic engineers to leave them as much freedom as possible for theirwork.
Because a V8 is much shorter than a V10 and by its nature also needs less cooling, itwas possible to visably streamline the new car at the rear, which helped theaerodynamics.
New engine concepts are also in the pipeline for road car production. “The increase infuel prices will be a major driving force in the next few years for the development ofengine technology,” said Dr. Christoph Lauterwasser from the Allianz Centre for Technology(AZT). On the one hand, that means low-consumption, efficient engines, whichexplains the continued trend towards diesel vehicles, whose engines are about 30%more efficient than comparable petrol engines. But, on the other hand, there is a growingproportion of hybrid vehicles that combine a combustion engine with an electricengine and produce excellent fuel consumption and lower CO2 values.
“The signifycance of alternative fuels like natural gas and biofuels will increase all over the world,” said Lauterwasser.
“If you also consider the tests on hydrogen vehicles and fuel cells,it’s easy to see that we are heading towards a new level of variety under the bonnet.”In Formula 1, the engine capacity was reduced from 3.5 to 3 litres for safety reasons in1995. However, that did not interrupt the power explosion, and to halt it further, theFédération Internationale de l’Automobile (FIA) then decided to impose morerestrictions: for instance, in the 2004 season, each engine had to last a full grand prixweekend, and since 2005 it has only been permissible to use one engine for two racingweekends. Of course, all these rules are open to exceptions: with the permission of theFIA, the smaller teams will still be permitted to use ten-cylinder engines, but theirengine speed must be limited to a maximum of 16,700rpm.
The new engine concept will also affect the racing strategy of the teams, because atthe end of the day a V8 at full power consumes about 15% less fuel than a V10. Thatwill either shorten the distances that can be driven between pit stops or it will shortenthe pit stops themselves, because the car does not need as much fuel as before. Thestrategists are already racking their brains. According to Hitzinger, “there will certainlybe lots of changes in terms of the tactics.”
Source: Allianz F1
