List of Formula One engines: Encyclopedia II - List of Formula One engines - How they Work

List of Formula One engines - How they Work

F1 engines are phenomenal pieces of engineering. Producing 900bhp from a 3 litre engine isn't easy, and with the engine reaching 19,000 rpm at some points its hard to understand how they work. Until the 1980s, the metal valve springs limited rpm to about 12000. Since the 1990s, they were replaced by pressured air, allowing for revs over 20000.

Otherwise, the RPM-level of an engine is determined by 3 things: displacement, stroke, and available air. The displacement is how much air each cylinder can draw in one complete engine cycle, an engine with a larger bore can draw more air/fuel to combust. The stroke is the distance the piston travels in one revolution. If it only has a short distance to travel, then it can rotate more times per second than the equivalent piston with a longer stroke. The more air is available the more fuel can be combusted, keeping the pistons revolving.

To obtain such high RPMs the F1 engine uses a number of factors. Firstly they use a very small stroke; the distance the piston moves is small compared to conventional engines. The stroke of an F1 engine is at 45mm approximately half as big as the bore (90mm). The engine is also well balanced and extremly precise, this means it has low friction and can rev higher. Because of the short stroke, the engine produces very little torque compared for its power output, but still quite good torque compared to its displacement. Ordinarily this would be a problem, but as F1 cars weigh at least 600kg and six or more gears are available, very little torque is needed. It also means that below 10,000 rpm the car has very little power, it's only above this where the car can utilise its full power and acceleration.

Adapted from the Wikipedia article "How they Work", under the G.N U Free Docmentation License. Please also see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki