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According to Norbert Haug the Mercedes engine has cracked the 20000 rpm barrier during qualifying in the French GP. This will be evident during the coming races on ur television sets.

What do you guys think? Is the Mercedes engine the top engine in F1?
They have taken a lot of the blame for the McLaren lack of speed and reliability. Is this engine finally great or do you have different opinions?

if by best you mean best at exploding i think they have that prize unless bmw has them beat.

Being the most powerful engine does not make it the best if it wont finish the race. Also the engine is only as good as the car it races in and merc always seem to be a step behind

so to answer your question wow it made it to 20k now make it finish a race

rev ≠ power!

(although some smart arse will now tell me it almost does )

zac510 wrote:rev ≠ power!

(although some smart arse will now tell me it almost does )

i was going to point this out but i assumed we all knew it

Being able to attain twenty grand makes one assume that the engine is one mofo powerful beast. Usually, if you can make more power, you set the car up to equal the top speed of the fastest car, and have lots of wing, it should have more downforce than the competitors.
But at the French GP, Mclaren qualified 6th and 8th, to complete the race in 5th and 7th. So it's commendable that both cars finished the race, but I just didn't see any form of dominance in any category.
To see a car's engine turn such fantastic RPM's, and survive the race is an accomplishment, it's definitely a step in the right direction.
Personally, I fail to observe all the engine explosions many seem to ascribe to Mclaren. Yes, in the past we saw some cool engine failures. But Monaco was due to overheating, and for me, I just don't consider the Merc engine as a hand grenade anymore.

I didnt see the race but did Dela Rosa stop on his inlap after the French GP ?

[EDF]Fx wrote:I didnt see the race but did Dela Rosa stop on his inlap after the French GP ?

Yes he did. But I don't remember seing smoke so it may be anything, from an electronical glich to a mechanical failure. But as Mac Laren didn't communicate and nobody in press made any statement, I don't think the engine broke.

Hmmm although more revs does not mean more power, I think its quite a fantastic achievement still. Correct me if im wrong, but does the fact that their engine can rev up to 20000rpm mean that the mercedes engine is a VERY reliable engine?

not really, if it can keep it up for a race then it is in theory, but bear in mind that the higher the revs the more wear on components so geting to that speed is harder on the engine, an engine at 18,000 is effectively only 90% the speed but theoretically the chance of component failure is reduced by 10%. Not quite right I know, but I mean it is reliable if it can keep this up for the race distance but really less reliable because it is more likely to break.

I get ure point.

I dont think that engine generates enough torque. I think the whole 20 000rpm thing is just Nobert Haug showing off!

Frictional losses are extremely high at 20,000rpm, I think your power would drop off by then. Don't know for sure, but don't the V8's peak well before 19,000rpm?

Tom wrote:not really, if it can keep it up for a race then it is in theory, but bear in mind that the higher the revs the more wear on components so geting to that speed is harder on the engine, an engine at 18,000 is effectively only 90% the speed but theoretically the chance of component failure is reduced by 10%. Not quite right I know, but I mean it is reliable if it can keep this up for the race distance but really less reliable because it is more likely to break.

if its like tool wear its probly exponential so it might wear 25% more

I believe "bearings wearing" behave in non-linear fashion: they barely fail until the journal touches the sleeve, because it pushes out the oil that keeps both apart. False brinelling is an egregious example: if a bearing is not turning (engine is off) you can damage a bearing just by vibrating it. There is the famous example of cars wheel bearings failing just by transporting them on a train: the movement of the rail "cracked" the surfaces of the sleeves, because there was no lubrication. Sometimes is hard to realize a bearing have tolerances measured in millionths of a centimeter. While there is oil lubricating it, the metal wearing is null.

So Mercedes with all their $$$ can achieve only what Cosworth managed several months back ??

Ciro Pabón wrote:I believe "bearings wearing" behave in non-linear fashion: they barely fail until the journal touches the sleeve, because it pushes out the oil that keeps both apart. False brinelling is an egregious example: if a bearing is not turning (engine is off) you can damage a bearing just by vibrating it. There is the famous example of cars wheel bearings failing just by transporting them on a train: the movement of the rail "cracked" the surfaces of the sleeves, because there was no lubrication. Sometimes is hard to realize a bearing have tolerances measured in millionths of a centimeter. While there is oil lubricating it, the metal wearing is null.

thats true i forgot about the oil and they are in a friction reducing application not a cutting application