Doug Nye: ‘McLaren rewrote the history books in 1980s F1 turbo era’ 

Even before Lewis Hamilton told Toto Wolff of his decision to opt out of his Mercedes contract in favour of Ferrari next year, thought turns to the fresh F1 engine regulations for 2026 – and which team might make the best of them…

Historically, the most classical of all regulatory engine-changes took effect in 1954 – 70 years ago – when a maximum 2½-litre capacity was applied for unsupercharged engines, just 750cc for supercharged. Come the 3-litre Formula years from 1966, Renault re-introduced forced-induction to Formula 1 – in turbocharged form – in 1977 – but naturally-aspirated engines remained competitive for another five years plus. Then in 1984 – now 40 years ago – McLaren’s newly espoused TAG Turbo by Porsche V6s powered Niki Lauda and Alain Prost to re-writing the record books.

During 1983 the biggest obstacle the teams faced had been flat-bottom legislation banning ground-effect aerodynamic devices within the wheelbase of an F1 car. The governing FIA had also imposed that year a fuel economy measure by restricting race fuel allowance to a maximum 250 litres, 55 Imperial gallons, but that had posed no great problem. Standard strategy included mid-race refuelling stops to change soft and sticky quick-lap tyres. Then – as pre-arranged for ’84 – the race fuel allowance was slashed to only 220 litres, 48.4 Imperial gallons. At short notice in-race refuelling was also banned on safety grounds.

Most teams then encountered major problems in combining competitive pace with race distance fuel economy. Every team packed as much liquid energy as possible into their 220 litres tankage by pre-chilling the fuel. Petrol contracts by around 1% volume for every 10°C reduction in temperature. By chilling from around 10°C right down to –50°C, some 6% gain was achieved, around 13.2 extra litres, or three more precious gallons – all within that regulation 220-litre volume.

This was valuable. But of course in the car it warmed and expanded rapidly. Early in the race it became a toss-up between how rapidly the fuel expanded and how quickly the engine consumed it before the breather dribbled.

Occasionally that year a change in fuel wrought havoc among some of the stressed turbocharged engines. At Zolder several TAG Turbo V6s and 10 BMW 4-cyls burned pistons and blew apart. Running very lean mixtures to aid fuel economy was high risk. Adequately fuel-matched electronic chips proved vital.

Early in 1984 it still paid dividends to run a pitstop race, purely to change tyres. But as the season progressed so engine power increased and the chassis developed so the tyres were worked harder. Soft rubber ‘went off’ over fewer laps. Drivers had to back off. It rapidly became apparent that tyre-change strategy offered negligible advantage over non-stop on harder compounds. So 1984 became a year in which engine management systems assumed greater importance in promoting fuel-efficient performance. McLaren-TAG Turbo got everything just about right.

Their Porsche-built V6s combined competitive power with reliability and fuel-efficiency, thanks largely to its super-expensive McLaren-financed Bosch all-electronic management system. The latest McLaren MP4/2 chassis combined carbon-composite fuselage with TAG Turbo engine in F1’s finest overall package. Not only did they have the outstanding engine of the year in the best (if not an unmatched) chassis, they also had the services of the strongest driver pairing in the business.

Plus some luck. Any top-notch team on the crest of a wave will make its own luck while exploiting whatever good fortune happens. McLaren certainly did that in Rio, Monaco and at the Österreichring, while elsewhere they won just from supreme strength.

Overall 1984 saw McLaren International requiring around 15-20 complete race engines with some five-10 extra sets of parts available to it at any given time. After 10 or so early development units, the production engine spec was settled; usefully lighter with titanium crankcase studs and cast magnesium inlet manifolds replacing heavier originals. Lightweight turbocharger casings with tighter internal clearances came from manufacturer KKK. The season’s engine problems were normally confined to testing or practice and most failures were apparent burn-down, torching down the side of a piston. I recall thinking it was sad to see Porsche’s house magazine in 1984 stating there had never been an F1 mechanical failure with the TAG Turbo V6, because that – whatever the initial cause – was not strictly true.

“Tyrrell became the last refuge of the legendary ‘Cossie’ V8”

And one other feature of the 1984 series really sticks in my mind. Once the Tyrrell team was unable to source a replacement turbocharged engine for the year they became the last refuge of the legendary ‘Cossie’ V8, until they were so controversially bundled out of F1 due to an unwise illicit ballasting ploy and the 3-litre atmospherically-aspirated engine went with them…

Before their ejection, Tyrrell had failed to qualify for the Austrian GP on August 19. So it became the first Grande Épreuve to be run without ‘unsupercharged’ participation since the Italian GP at Monza – in 1938! On September 9, 1984, the Italian GP was again run at Monza as an all forced-induction race – without even a single unblown engine even chugging round in practice. And that – 40 years ago come this autumn – was the end of an era.

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Doug Nye is the UK’s leading motor racing historian and has been writing authoritatively about the sport since the 1960s