Present Formulation 1 engines generate as much as 1,000 hp from simply 1.6 liters of displacement, and now Engineering Defined has video breaking down the main points that make that doable.

Technically, Formulation 1 automobiles have “energy items,” not “engines,” because the 1.6-liter turbocharged V-6 is only one a part of a hybrid powertrain. Since 2014, F1 has mandated a setup that features the tiny 90-degree V-6 and two motor-generator items, the MGU-Okay (Motor Generator Unit-Kinetic) and MGU-H (Motor Generator Unit-Warmth).

Each motor-generator items harvest vitality, however in numerous methods. The MGU-H is spun by extra exhaust circulation from the turbo that may usually be bled off by a wastegate, harvesting vitality that may be saved in a battery pack, used to spin the turbo when off throttle, or despatched on to the MGU-Okay. Hooked up to the crankshaft, the MGU-Okay can present as much as 160 hp to assist propel the automobile or regenerative braking to get better extra vitality.

 

With simply 160 hp supplied by the MGU-Okay, and solely briefly bursts when the battery pack is totally charged, the gasoline engine remains to be doing many of the work. It additionally has to try this with a restricted quantity of gasoline (as a result of F1 does not enable in-race refueling any extra) pumped from the gasoline cell at a circulation price dictated by the foundations. That price—a most 100 kg/h—additionally implies that whereas F1 permits engines to rev to fifteen,000 rpm, energy successfully peaks at 10,500 rpm, as a result of that is when engines hit that most price.

Groups declare the gasoline utilized in F1 is just like pump gasoline, so they don’t seem to be getting a bonus there. F1 engines are recognized to run rather more effectively than typical road-car engines, nevertheless. Mercedes-AMG has claimed its engines have achieved greater than 50% thermal effectivity, which means a minimum of half the potential vitality within the gasoline they burn is definitely used to maneuver the automobile. That is the important thing to these large energy numbers.

Contemplating that almost all road-car internal-combustion engines battle to attain 35% thermal effectivity, F1 engineers must make use of loads of tips. One is pre-chamber ignition—the usage of a smaller combustion chamber above the primary chamber—which permits for a leaner air-fuel combination that is ideally suited to F1’s fuel-flow limits. This function is not racing-specific; it was one of many options that made the unique Honda Civic’s CVCC engine so fuel-efficient, and it is at the moment utilized in Maserati’s 3.0-liter twin-turbo V-6. 

One other effectivity enhance is a rule that permits compression ratios of as much as 18:1. That is a lot larger than road-car engines, and whereas it is unknown whether or not groups are literally hitting that restrict, it leaves room for effectivity beneficial properties. Increased compression ratios are extra environment friendly, and even with out operating all the way in which to an 18:1 ratio, F1 automobiles are seemingly operating larger compression ratios than highway automobiles and reaping that profit.

The ultimate issue is turbo enhance. In highway automobiles, excessive ranges of enhance assist small engines produce large energy, however it will not be that easy in F1. F1 engines could run kind of enhance than some highway automobiles (groups do not launch precise figures) relying on the air-fuel ratio, and that would additionally change primarily based on circuits, with extra enhance used at higher-altitude Mexico Metropolis, for instance.

Finally, it is the effectivity of the overall package deal that permits F1 energy items to get a lot energy from so little displacement. As famous within the video, in addition they do it with out some options which might be widespread on highway automobiles, reminiscent of variable valve timing. That is what makes fashionable F1 energy items true technological marvels.

Try the video above for a deeper dive on what makes F1 engines tick.