Formula One engines

Last month in Formula One Scene the current engine situation was discussed with the fact that there are eight different manufacturers battling against one another in the horsepower stakes. The engines in use during 1983 are listed below with figures taken from information supplied by the manufacturers to Aurocourse for their 1984 Annual. Actual engine capacities are not quoted as some of the figures are suspect and calculations do not agree with the figures given. Similarly horsepower figures are only a guide and are nominal. Brian Hart was the only one to give an accurate figure, when he quoted 580 bhp at 1.8 bar boost (26 psi). In all cases real power comes in at something over 8,500-9,000 rpm so that drivers have to keep an eye on the tachometer to keep the engine within the limited rev-range which is in the order of 2,500 rpm or less. If you let the rpm drop below the critical figure (around 8,500-9,000 rpm) the light goes out” and you suffer the fashionable “turbo-lag”. It means you have fallen off the working part of the cam design. Even the flexible Cosworth goes flat below 8,500 rpm.