What will come after the 2.4 V8?

[noname]

no engine at all, only muscle-powered vehicles and... "go Flintstones, go !"

Ferdinand Porsche described ideal racing car quite a few years ago. put his definition into live.

[alelanza]

All you guys saying F1 and fuel efficient in the same sentence make me nauseous...

[mx_tifoso]

All you guys saying F1 and fuel efficient in the same sentence make me nauseous...

I think I'm past that, now its simply denial and almost acceptance, but not quite.

After this formula there should be no formula at all. Formula One Grand Prix racing should be disbanded for it's own good, let it die a graceful death.

That was a senile and semi-sarcastic/serious statement.

Small displacement with high cylinder count has no road relevance. So that is out the window. Increase displacement for road relevance, if 6+ cylinders.

[Green Genes]

Massively powerful, ridiculously high performance electric engines. You can still have a any kind of fuel burner to generate electricity if you want, maybe even a compact turbine engine or a fuel cell or the world's craziest solar panels, but all power to the wheels must come from an electric motor. Let the power plants be insane again. AWD if you want. Put the motors in the wheel hubs. Let's use motorsport to improve the breed. Imagine the electric cars you could buy at the dealer after a decade or so of being tempered in the F1 furnace.

[DaveKillens]

By definition, racing is not socially responsible. So for anyone who really feels a need to practice social responsibility 100% of the time, racing is not for them. In truth, it's about boys and their toys. Precious non-renewable resources and valuable materials are being used and discarded all in the name of spectator sport.
That being said, there is room to make changes. I would like to see more road-applicable materials and methods used in Formula One. Regular pump gas, nothing exotic in any way. All engine blocks must be based on a production engine. I just don't see the present need to reach so far in attempting to become more green. (I do support green, by the way) How about just trying to close the huge gap in difference between Formula One cars and teams, and real world production vehicles. Right now everything built into a Formula One car is specific to that vehicle, with most being hand-built under the most extreme tolerances and highest quality control standards. Question: is there ANY component in a Formula One car that is in regular production? I think that is the direction to go.
Once the gap between Formula One cars and production vehicles closes, then it's time to set green goals.

[Scotracer]

You lot, stop promoting the re-introduction of Supercharging! I don't like Supercharged engines

Whilst it may be a more practical and efficient way of producing power, it is not the essence of Formula 1. We need to keep the screaming engines. They really do make the sport the spectacle that it is. Turbo-charged engines sound strangled, muffled...not in my sport please

[Ciro Pabón]

All you guys saying F1 and fuel efficient in the same sentence make me nauseous...

Oh, c'mon.

Any race car with a less efficient engine than its opponent's will lose. Always has been, always will. 1 gallon is like 1 tenth.

F1 engines are among the more efficient engines in the world, they have to.

[xpensive]

Guess that I will have to wait for my methanol-burners until the world's oil-reserves has run dry, but how beuatiful it would be...perhaps with the odd splash of nitro rather than KERS...sigh.

[Scotracer]

Massively powerful, ridiculously high performance electric engines. You can still have a any kind of fuel burner to generate electricity if you want, maybe even a compact turbine engine or a fuel cell or the world's craziest solar panels, but all power to the wheels must come from an electric motor. Let the power plants be insane again. AWD if you want. Put the motors in the wheel hubs. Let's use motorsport to improve the breed. Imagine the electric cars you could buy at the dealer after a decade or so of being tempered in the F1 furnace.

...so you want them to create torque (work) with the ICE's then convert that torque to electrical energy then change that electrical energy to torque again to drive the wheels? Erm...seems a bit stupid.

[Michiba]

All you guys saying F1 and fuel efficient in the same sentence make me nauseous...

Oh, c'mon.

Any race car with a less efficient engine than its opponent's will lose. Always has been, always will. 1 gallon is like 1 tenth.

F1 engines are among the more efficient engines in the world, they have to.

is this the reason Macca chose not to use the lambo V12 in the early 90's? It was supposedly very inefficient, despite being quite powerful.


I'd like to see a limit on the amount of fuel per race, and allowing unlimited KERS. I think this may have been suggested elsewhere already, where there wouldn't be any limit on engines. Would cost a lot to develop, but the technology would have more direct benefits to road cars (not that F1 needs to do that though).

[xpensive]

Senna was more than a second quicker around Silverstone with the Lamborghini-engine than with the HB, while Chrysler offered those V12s for free.
Still McLaren opted for untried Peugeots, fuel-economy could have been one of the arguments?

[machin]

it may be a more practical and efficient way of producing power, it is not the essence of Formula 1.

So, taking an engine of a given capacity and getting as much power out of it as possible isn't what formula 1 is about?! I'm definitely an advocate of small four cylinder turbocharged engines being the prime producer of the power and then using further exhaust energy recovery and KERS to boost acceleration.... That arrangement is the way of the future for ICE's.... F1 should be leading the way....

[Green Genes]

...so you want them to create torque (work) with the ICE's then convert that torque to electrical energy then change that electrical energy to torque again to drive the wheels? Erm...seems a bit stupid.

It's done all the time. Trains, ships. Sure they're a wee bit heavier than F1 cars, but that's not exactly what I was aiming for anyways. I figured that it would be a way to transition into an all electric power system like a fuel cell or batteries that can be hot-swapped at pit stops.

[Scania]

All you guys saying F1 and fuel efficient in the same sentence make me nauseous...

NASCAR is very powerful but no efficient.

[axle]

I think they should open up the rules again.

You have this many Kj of energy (fuel - different fuels different Kj ratings per L).
Make that energy last for 300Km's using an engine that weighs 90Kgs.

Ban any system that can't make it onto a road car. Pneumatic valves. But allow anything else and any fuel. This could see a road car usable electro-magnetic camless valve train (see http://www.grouplotus.com/engineering/research.html) get developed more quickly to the benefit of all.

The winners are the ones that are most efficient with the Kj's they have and the packaging they choose.

Simple and gets the engineers thinking.