Evolution of racing car engines
Race cars have gone through many changes throughout their history. From aesthetics and safety measures to pit stops, spoilers, technology and much more.
In today’s article we are going to talk about the evolution and changes in the engines.
Racing car engines have varied greatly over the years. The different regulations in the engines have been causing changes in the powers and speeds of the cars that limited their progression.
The regulation of the displacements(determining factor in the power and the touch that an engine produces) is the one that has undergone the greatest changes that went back and forth between years.
From the year 2006, the type of engine changed, saying goodbye to V10 engines and V8 engines began to be used. The main differences were weight and consumption, since the V10 consumed between 80-85 liters per 100km and the V8 between 60 and 65. On the other hand, the revolutions of the new engine were reduced and went from 10 displacement to 8.
In addition to displacement, in the 1960s another regulation was added to racing car engines that affected their power: the minimum weight limit.
As the weight of the engine was lower, the more power they could get, but the cars were more insecure, for this reason the weight of the engine increased over the years.
The regulations were as follows:
Present
The year 2006 was a significant year since with the change of engines, the restrictions were much more specific and were not only based on weight and displacement, but limits were also placed on engine revolutions per minute (RPM).
On the other hand, in 2014 the engines evolved and became hybrids, as they still are today. In recent years, the regulations of racing cars have been limited to all those elements that condition power capacity, since they are forced to follow certain limits that, in case of infraction, are penalized.
This regulation is based on the following rules: only three combustion engine units per season, three turbochargers, two batteries and two electronic control units may be used.
Finally, regarding changes in the weight of the engines, there are currently other regulations; the driver also has a mandatory minimum weight of 80 kilos, on the other hand, the total weight of the car/driver set has increased to a total of 740 kg.
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