Auto Racing: Hi Adam, how much horsepower..., mark donahue, todays cars

Question
Hi  Adam, how  much  horsepower  is  the  modern F1  car  making  compared  to  the  turbo  F1  cars  of  the  80's?
and  is  the  V10  engine  design  so   popular  over   say  a  V12  or  a  V8?

Answer
Dear Dimitre,

Thanks for your question.

Modern F1 cars are pushing out about 890-900 bhp. In the turbo era the power, as you know, was much higher.

The qualifying specification of the BMW turbo engines of around 1983-4 were probably the highest ever. Brabham used a super fuel as well to boost the qualifying performance, and the published information gives a top power output of 1420bhp from the 1.5 litre turbo-engined Brabham BMW. Race power was probably up to 1000 bhp though (to save fuel/tyres). When the fuel regulations changed a few years later, Brabham BMW were still able to achieve 1300bhp in qualifying, but probably no more than 900bhp in the races.

In other words, todays cars match the performance of those super-turbos in race specification.

The highest bhp of a raced car is believed to be the Can-Am Porsche 917/30 of Mark Donahue in 1973. This beast of a car with a 5.4 litre turbo engine pushed out around 1100bhp in the races in North America that year.

The V10 is more powerful that the V8 and the V12 more powerful than a V10. The trade-offs come in terms of response, weight and positioning of the engine, mostly the latter 2. A V12 is still allowed but Ferrari won't go down that road (yet) as it is widely considered that the extra power gained will be more then offset by compromises around the car's weight and balance, given that the engine would need to be resited. At the moment the cars are light enough to carry balast in strategic key positions to maximise traction and roadholding, but with a heavier engine, it won't be possible to do this. The smaller engines can be positioned lower too, out of the airstream and thus creating less drag.

Hope this answers your questions,
Adam