enginehistory.org

[jschauer]

I'm getting off the subject of aircraft engines but a question arose in my mind after reading the latest AEHS journal. How are the Indy/ Formula 1 engines able to run at 18,000 rpm and stay in one piece? How are those engines different than a normal car or aircraft engine?

[jjuutinen]

Well, actually they don´t! I don´t know about Indy but an F1 engine needs to last only two races and two qualificiations, that is some 4 hours of running. And they have very short stroke and as the cyl dimensions are small, the piston is light and thus you can have highish rpm.

[pshort]

I would like to know more about those F1 engines too!

On another discussion group a guy who was involved in similar engines said a few things that caught my attention.
-Valve lift somewhere around 1 inch!
-Engine needs to be pre-warmed before starting, otherwise it can't be turned. (Bearing clearances? Bore clearances?)


Also, you probably know, they don't use valve springs as such, they use pneumatic springs. Well, they did, not sure about the latest cars. There is a small (nitrogen?) bottle alongside the engine to supply any loss.

The 1992 Honda system is described in "Classic Racing Engines" by Karl Ludvigsen - he says "Honda's analysis of coil valve springs showed that if a spring force of 236lb (107kg) were needed to avoid valve bounce at 13,000 rpm, a force half again as great would be needed at 15,000 rpm and twice as large at 15,700 rpm.....Weighing half as much as coil springs and their retainers, the pneumatic system reduced the valve reciprocating weight by 20 %."

I have seen a couple of books on recent F1 engines - one by Peter Bamsey looking at the V10's - but not surprisingly there are few photos!

There is an excellent book which looks inside a recent Ferarri F1, I think SAE publish this one. Lots of good photos of transmission etc, probably none of the engine internals though.

They are extraordinary engines, it will be good to see their development stories revealed one day.

[jschauer]

I was just wondering about valve bounce too.