Photo Essay: Summary Of Formula 1 Engine Regulations

Reading Tony Brooks's autobiography Poetry In Motion got me to thinking about how much Formula 1 regulations, and changes to them, influenced car design.  Also there are a couple of posts about unsuccessful Formula 1 cars upcoming: this one provides some context.  For some, this post may be a snoozer.  For those who can't get enough, here's a link to a Wikipedia page that told me more than even I wanted to know:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_Formula_One

The list reaches back into the 1930's (again for context), but the text covers only 1950 to the mid-1980's, when I stopped paying attention.  (I began watching Formula 1 races again after Michael Schumacher retired.  But in the modern digital/aero era, it's hard to get interested in year-to-year tweaks of the regulations.)  To summarize the summary, the regulations were as follows:

(pre-1938)  750 kilogram (1650 lb.) minimum car weight; engines unrestricted
1938-1939  4.5 liter unsupercharged or 3.0 liter supercharged

1950-1951  4.5 liter unsupercharged or 1.5 liter supercharged
1952-1953  2.0 liter unsupercharged
1954-1960  2.5 liter unsupercharged or 0.75 liter supercharged
1961-1965   1.5 liter unsupercharged
1966-1987  3.0 liter unsupercharged or 1.5 liter supercharged
1988           3.5 liter unsupercharged, 1.5 turbocharger boost reduced
1989-2005  3.5 liter unsupercharged, turbochargers banned
2006-2013  2.4 liter unsupercharged V-8 mandatory, turbochargers banned
2014-           1.6 liter turbocharged V-6 mandatory

The 1950 regulations ratified what was already available to race after the disruption of World War Two.  The best cars were the prewar voiturette class ("small engine" Grand Prix cars).  Alfa Romeo had some prewar voiturettes to fill the starting grids: the 1.5 liter supercharged Tipo 158 (developed into the 159), won almost all the Grands Prix 1948-1950.  The rest of the grids were filled with also-rans using larger production car-based engines.  There were a couple of stillborn efforts to develop new 1.5 liter supercharged cars. Ferrari proved just before the regulations expired that a 4.5 liter could beat a 1.5 liter supercharged car.

The Alfa Romeo Tipo 159: a 1.5 liter straight-eight with two-stage Roots blowers run from the crankshaft.  Alfa got
450 h.p. out of this set-up--and less than 2 miles per gallon on alcohol blend fuel.  BRM tried a centrifugal blower on
a 1.5 liter V-16 (!), which delivered even more power, unmanageably and unreliably.  The Porsche-designed Cisitalia
1.5 liter V-12 ran out of development money before it reached a starting grid.

The Ferrari 375 F-1: how to beat an Alfa Tipo 159.  Its 4.5 liter V-12 had 80% of the power of the Alfa but twice the fuel
mileage.  When you're not that far off the pace, half the pit stops over a 300-mile race equals a win.  This is Froilan
Gonzales winning the 1951 British Grand Prix.  I love this pic: "When the drivers were fat and the tires were skinny."

A rules change was announced at the end of 1951 to take effect from 1954 to 1960: engine size would be limited to 2.5 liters unsupercharged or 750 c.c.'s supercharged.  It was intended to stabilize Formula 1 for a long period, thus attracting major manufacturers to enter the fray.  Alfa was owned by the Italian government and asked for funds to develop a new car.  They weren't forthcoming, and Alfa pulled out of Formula 1 at the end of 1951.  With potentially empty starting grids, promoters said their Grands Prix would be for Formula 2 cars: two liters, unsupercharged.  Smaller manufacturers could develop such "stopgap" cars.  Major manufacturers like Mercedes-Benz and Lancia stayed on the sidelines for two years while designing "clean sheet" 2.5 liter cars for 1954.

The Ferrari 500: the low-tech (4-cylinder, unsupercharged) interim "solution" to Grand Prix racing while major players
developed cars for the new 2.5 liter formula to take effect in 1954.  Although simple (and reliable), the Ferrari had more
technical pedigree than most of its competitors, and carried Alberto Ascari to two consecutive WDC's.  This is Ascari
exiting Eau Rouge at Spa-Francorchamps. 

The dominant cars in the first years of the new 2.5 liter regulations were the Mercedes W-196 and the Lancia/Ferrari D-50.  Between them, they won three consecutive championships (1954-1956).  Even a technical powerhouse like Mercedes took a pass on 750 c.c.'s supercharged: blower cars were legislated out of existence by specifying an engine size too small to be competitive.  But the variety at 2.5 liters was impressive.  Mercedes used a straight eight with desmodromic valves, Lancia used a V-8, Maserati used a straight six, and Vanwall a straight 4.  After taking over the Lancia V-8's for two years, Ferrari designed his own V-6.  There was variety in rear suspensions and drivetrains too.  It was a delicious technical era: no two cars the same, and they all won races.

The Maserati 250 F: longest-lived of the 2.5 liter cars.  On the grids in '54, it finally took Juan Fangio to a WDC in '57.
It lacked the technical sophistication of its competitors, but it was a sweet-handling, well-balanced chassis with lots of
room for development.  Most of the front-rank drivers used it at some point, and they loved to drive it.  In its later high-
-sided cockpit version (shown above) it was the prettiest 2.5 car, in my opinion.

As previously posted, when the rules were tweaked for 1958, they opened the door to rear-engine cars. Alcohol fuel was replaced with gasoline and race distance was reduced from 300 to 180 miles.  Fuel with more energy per unit of volume could be carried in a smaller tank.  Cooper already had a race car that outperformed its front-engine competitors at 1.5 liters, and beat the 2.5 cars with 2.0 liters a couple of times.  It was lighter, more compact, and handled better.

With the 1.5 liter rules (and no supercharging) in sight for 1961, it was evident that a rear-engine car was the way to go.  But nobody had done a rear engine car in the postwar era.  Enzo Ferrari famously said in the late 1950's that "the horse pulls the cart."  So Cooper stole a march on its competitors by winning the World Championship in 1959 and 1960.  Lotus built a rear-engine car for 1960, but the Cooper was more reliable.  Nobody else raced a rear engine car until the end of 1960.

The Cooper Type 45: it could do more with 240 h.p. than its front engine competitors could do with 280.  No elegant
4-wheel drifts, but you could kick the tail out with the throttle in tight bends.  And, as developed with fully indepen-
dent i.r.s., it had adjustable suspension at both ends.  Minus aerodynamics, the modern era had arrived.

Enzo turned the tables on the Brits for one year under the new rules.  And he did it "the Ferrari way," with power.  The Tipo 156's new 120-degree V-6 had at least 10% more power than its competitors, Coventry Climax and Porsche.  (Porsche had said to themselves "Hey, we do 1.5 liter rear engine cars--why not Formula 1?)  The British cars handled better, though, and Colin Chapman's Lotus made the next big breakthrough with a monocoque aluminum tub inspired by aircraft design instead of a tubular space frame.  It was lighter, and lightness was king when power was limited.  All of the major technical breakthroughs in the 20 years Colin Chapman was an active designer were pioneered by him: the monocoque chassis, use of the engine as a stressed chassis member, "wedge" aerodynamic design with tightly packaged components, and ground-effects aerodynamic downforce.  Chapman was the most innovative chassis engineer in the history of Formula 1.

Ferrari Tipo 156: the last Ferrari to dominate a season of Formula 1 racing until the Michael Schumacher era 35 years
later.  The 156's V-6 with the banks angled at 120 degrees gave it the lowest center of gravity and the most power.  But
its handling was inferior and the Lotus 25's monocoque quickly offset the Ferrari's power advantage with low weight.
This is Phil Hill winning Spa-Francorchamps in his championship year, 1961.  In '62, Jim Clark burst upon the scene.

Formula 1 left "the go kart era" behind with the rules for 1966-1986 (a remarkably long run): 3.0 liters unsupercharged or 1.5 liters supercharged.  This gave forced induction a shot again for the first time since 1950.  But the dominant engine starting in 1967, the Ford-Cosworth V8, went from 400 to 500 horsepower over its 20-year lifespan, producing more than enough to challenge chassis engineering.
The aero era had begun: first with wings, then with wedges, finally with ground-effects suction.  Some V-12's and flat 12's were competitive, but their power to weight ratios failed to overmatch the Cosworth.

The Lotus 49 (1967): first of the new/last of the old.  It pioneered use of the engine as a stressed chassis member, but
was the last of the "cigar cars."  Formula 1 cars still use the engine as a chassis  component today.  But the 49 sprouted
wings to counter aerodynamic lift.  By 1970, Formula 1 cars were on slicks, and 60 years of sliding cars around on tires
operating at high slip angles was history.  This is Jim Clark in the pits at the Nurburgring.

The Lotus 79: Colin Chapman's last breakthrough design.  He abandoned the 78's wing-section side pods for venturi
tunnels with a suction effect, sealed off with side skirts.  The front and rear wings were used mostly to trim-out front
and rear grip.  Modern F-1 cars with their rear diffusers and air-management bells and whistles at the front and around
the side pods are a refinement of the Lotus 79.  This is Duncan Dayton's ex-Andretti 1978 WDC car at Laguna Seca.

The McLaren MP 4/1B (1981): stiffer is better.  Three years after the Lotus 79 did ground-effects, this McLaren did it
in carbon fiber.  When the tub doesn't distort, the suspension and aero engineering function as designed.  This picture
was taken at a Modena track day for historic cars in 2009.

With the advent of carbon fiber ground effects tubs, chassis engineering could again handle more power.  But it would take a manufacturer with major resources to explore the potential of a reliable turbocharged 1.5 liter engine capable of exceeding the Cosworth's 500 horsepower.  Renault, who had not been involved in Formula 1 since before World War One, tackled the challenge.  After many engine explosions, it came right for them with the RS-10.  And their success caused another tectonic shift in the way teams went racing.  No longer could a "botique" manufacturer stick an over-the-counter Cosworth in his chassis and expect to win.  Formula 1 teams began pairing up with major manufacturers: Porsche, Honda, BMW.  Eventually the BMW in-line 4-cylinder twin turbo produced over 1000 horsepower in qualifying trim, with plenty of room left for ground-effects tunnels.  Side skirts sealed chassis to the road, spring and shock absorber rates went through the roof, and drivers suffered from blurred vision and the risk of blackouts from g-forces.  (It was around this time that Pilote began to lose interest in Formula 1 racing: drivers were not driving the cars, they were hanging on for dear life.)

Starting in 1987, the regulations were again fiddled to slow the cars down and reintroduce driver skill into the equation.  Turbo boost was restricted to 4 atmospheres, and in 1988 to 1.5 atmospheres.  At the same time the size of normally aspirated engines was permitted to increase to 3.5 liters.  In 1989, turbos were banned altogether.  The V-10 turned out to have the optimum piston area vs. friction losses.  Since then, aero and engine regulations have been fiddled from time to time: current engines are required to be 2.4 liter V-8's, producing an astonishing 750+ horsepower, unsupercharged.  Permissible wing sizes have been reduced, and trimmable "overtaking" wing slats permitted.  The cars run on spec tires.

But this long train of tweaks, from 1987 to 2013, have been a reaction to the success of the turbocharged, 1.5 liter Renault in solving the power problem, and the nearly undriveable "slot car" ground effects turbos by Brabham, McLaren, and others, that refined it.  Technical developments, for example in materials and technologies used in engines, are closely guarded proprietary secrets.  No longer can a fan look at a cutaway drawing of a Formula 1 car and gain some understanding of why it dominates a season.  Teams rise and fall for no obvious reasons.  The best drivers are those who perform well in a consulting role, in setting up the car in practice.  In the modern era, no racer can win by "driving around" an inferior chassis.  He's part of a technical juggernaut.

In 2014, we will have the first new regulations in 30-odd years, in the sense that they are non-reactive to technical developments immediately preceding them.  The rules specify a 1.6 liter V-6 turbo with an energy recovery system.  While this is a spec engine (in configuration) and the cars will run on spec tires, there will probably be more variety in engineering approaches than we've seen in many years, to solve the energy efficiency equation.  Formula 1 is supposed to be, in part, about cutting-edge technology.  The new rules will make it interesting again.

The Renault RS-10 (1979): the precursor to the modern era in Formula 1.  Developments since the early 1980's are a
series of reactions (by authorities) and counter-reactions (by designers) to the 1.5 liter unlimited boost turbo in a
chassis with venturi side-pods sealed with skirts.

Modern Formula 1 cars: butt-ugly, mostly boring, rolling billboards.  Hello, 2014 regulations!