What amount of power is too dangerous for Formula 1?

[PlatinumZealot]

I think like road cars F1 cars should be getting more and more powerful every year, so what is all this KERS and limited boost and downsizing? I would like to see an F1 where the horsepower is only just low enough for the driver to keep the car on the road.. just how much horse power would that be?

[gridwalker]

How long is a piece of string?

What is the contact patch of a tyre in any given season?
How much downforce does the average car have when cornering?
How much downforce will have an average car have next year?
What is the state of the asphalt?

There are many factors that will determine when any arbitrary number of horsepower could be considered as "too much" : I think you may need to refine your question a bit.

[HampusA]

and the most important of them all.
How safe are the cars?

A crash in todays cars is very safe, but what happens when you double the power etc.

[Jersey Tom]

I think like road cars F1 cars should be getting more and more powerful every year

Why?

[HampusA]

You will also soon start to see a downturn in this HP war they have between manufacturers because the focus is now on weight.

And with less weight you don´t need as much hp. Apart from other obvious gains from low weight.

[strad]

WHY THE HELL DO YOU WANT IT SAFE??
Kids!
F1 is too safe now!!!

[hecti]

WHY THE HELL DO YOU WANT IT SAFE??
Kids!
F1 is too safe now!!!

=D> =D> =D> =D> =D>

[andrew]

At the momment the cars are far too fast. Reducing hp and slowing them down (amoung other things) will improve the racing.

F1 produced great racing with less power previously and there is no reason why it cannot do the same again.

As far as road cars, there is no reason why anyone on the face of the earth needs more than 150 bhp, unless they are a bank robber or a get away driver. What good is 5 million bhp when you spend most your time in traffic or trundling along at 50mph (70mph if you're lucky, faster if the police are not looking)?

Sadly I guess this is the Playstation generation speaking where cars in games are impossibly fast and totally unrealistic.

I think like road cars F1 cars should be getting more and more powerful every year

Why?

I too echo the "why?". The more power the car has the more expensive the car is to buy, maintain and run. Totally pointless having bags of bhp you can't use.

WHY THE HELL DO YOU WANT IT SAFE??
Kids!
F1 is too safe now!!!

=D> =D> =D> =D> =D>

F1 is the safest it has been, for now. If engine power is increased, then so will the safety measures required. I take it you want to see drivers injured or even killed more?

[xpensive]

As I recall, F1 cars had 1300 Hp and more for qualifiying in the mid 80s, with a fraction of the downforce and grip they have now, not to mention the high speed tracks of the time and lack of integrity of the tubs.

[hecti]

WHY THE HELL DO YOU WANT IT SAFE??
Kids!
F1 is too safe now!!!

=D> =D> =D> =D> =D>

F1 is the safest it has been, for now. If engine power is increased, then so will the safety measures required. I take it you want to see drivers injured or even killed more?

I dont want to see anyone die, I just want to see engineering come back to the sport. Sure it takes money, but im sure f1 cars are more than safe enough to handle 1000hp.

[andrew]

hecti - Applauding someone who says F1 is too safe doesn't make sense at all.

[Just_a_fan]

At the momment the cars are far too fast. Reducing hp and slowing them down (amoung other things) will improve the racing.

F1 produced great racing with less power previously and there is no reason why it cannot do the same again.

And there was me thinking that this season was seeing some great racing even with 800bhp engines...

As far as road cars, there is no reason why anyone on the face of the earth needs more than 150 bhp, unless they are a bank robber or a get away driver. What good is 5 million bhp when you spend most your time in traffic or trundling along at 50mph (70mph if you're lucky, faster if the police are not looking)?

Well, if you want to go down that line of argument, no one needs more than about 20bhp really. That'll get you to the speed limit on most countries' roads. Might take a while though, but that's ok isn't it.

One might as well ask the question "why do we need to have a car at all?". There is no need - most people can walk (and many should do more exercise any looking at the number of fat people there about the place) or cycle or go by bus/train.

We have cars because we want them not because we need them. Likewise powerful cars.

I think like road cars F1 cars should be getting more and more powerful every year

Why?

I too echo the "why?". The more power the car has the more expensive the car is to buy, maintain and run. Totally pointless having bags of bhp you can't use.

How about "because we can" or "because we want to". Sure, you don't need lots of power but it can be fun in the right conditions.

[hecti]

hecti - Applauding someone who says F1 is too safe doesn't make sense at all.

Im just glad(and the applauding the fact)that some one else realized how safe formula 1 is at the current moment. no one has died in years, no one has suffered serious life threatening injuries (massa's accident was a fluke and because of the safety in f1 he survived and is perfectly normal again)

I want to see engineers pump out power because they can, and the engines can and because many people want them to. I want the v10 back and my 1000hp they produced [-o<

[mep]

What amount of power is too dangerous for Formula 1?

Depends at which time you ask this.
Today they current amount of horsepower is already considered unsafe by some people. In 10 years they will complain about half of the amount. 30-40 years ago they were happy with their height power output and 60 years ago nobody even knew what safety is.

[DaveKillens]

The history of motor racing was one of steady improvement in performance. Engines became more efficient and powerful. Tires got wider, suspensions became more sophisticated, and so on and so on. Overall performance advanced at a steady pace.

But in the 80's when turbos and ground effects became standard in Formula One, everyone came to the realization that the cars could out-perform the human driver. And that's when changes had to be made, that's when the rule makers had to limit performance. And to this day you will find that the regulations not only define the cars, they also limit performance.

It's all in the name of safety, because with increased performance the margin of error diminishes. For instance, you could easily design a car that goes around corners with twice as much G's as today's cars. But if that car hits an unexpected bit of debris and the downforce is lost, the car could rocket into the nearest grandstand.

So that's just the way it is, power is limited by rules about displacement, fuel type, lack of forced induction, and a thousand other factors. You can only get so much power out of a 2.4 liter V-8 that had a rev limit and has to last a few races.

How much power is dangerous? The first motor fatality (Mary Ward) involved a speed below 10 mph.

The technology does exist to construct compact and light powerplants that put out huge amounts of power, but the traditional poppet valve engine does have severe limitations compared to such things as gas turbines.

Heck, the T700 series of gas turbines first ran back in 1973, one version cranks out 2,380 shp (T700/T6E), has wonderful reliability, and weighs only 537 pounds.