Formula One could have biofuel turbo V-6s in 2011
The sanctioning body for Formula One racing, the FIA, is currently examining options for new engine rules for 2011 and beyond. Over the past year they've been throwing out various proposals including hybrid powertrains. The latest proposal is a switch from the current 2.4L V-8 formula to 2.2L turbocharged V-6s.
The current engines have no rpm limit and many are thought to run at speeds approaching 20,000 rpm although the new proposal would limit that to 10,000 rpm. The new engines would also switch from running on 102 octane "gasoline" to some kind of biofuel. The FIA wants to reduce costs and make the engines more environmentally friendly. Since a switch to ethanol could end up with even more powerful engines due to the turbocharging, maybe they will make the jump to biodiesel instead. Formula One could have some very interesting times ahead.
[Source: F1-Live]
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
Ian 3:34PM (5/18/2007)
I find it stange that F1 seeminly wants to become Champcar II.
Here is what Cham,pcar has pioneered and ZF1 has either already followed or will do by 2011 or so:
1) Single tire manufacturer
2) Single tire with a soft option tire which must be used for one stint. (Note soft option is clearly marked for fans to see)
3) Engine spec frozen and engines must last 2 race weekend
4) Limited rpm to max of 10K (CC 12K)
5) Turbos
6) P2P
7) Standard series issued ECU
8) Bio fuel
9) Extremely limited windtunnel usage
I really don't see why F1 tries to re-invent themselves as a Champcar series. It odesn't make any sense except validating CC's Leadership!!!!!! The FIA should make their own pathway.
I hear that F1 want to integrate 4WD into F1 also. This is extremely bad from a fan perspective as we want to see more of the driver's talent rather than racing robots.
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Mulad 4:06PM (5/18/2007)
I can't keep track of many different racing groups, so this seemed like old news at first. The Indy Racing League is running on ethanol this year, switching away from the methanol used in previous years. I came across an interesting article about that here: http://www.motorsport.com/news/article.asp?ID=253147&FS=IRL
It seems that ethanol has significantly better energy content per gallon, so they've reduced fuel tanks from 30 gallons down to 22, which correspondingly means that pit stops go by a few seconds faster.
Heh, and it was interesting to hear that Penske uses an electric car for their pit crew training ;-)
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Kevin 5:13PM (5/18/2007)
Current engines are limited to 19k rpm.
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