Most power

[Nem14]

Which are the 5 most powerfull cars in F1 history. How much power? If you have them pictures of the cars and engines would be nice.

[ShiftingGears]

I think the most powerful car was the 1986 Benetton BMW B186, with an output of 1150 BHP.
http://www.allf1.info/gallery/pictures/berger5.jpg

[Tomski]

Rumour has it that the BMW turbo qualifying engines were turning out over 1500bhp. Apparently their dynometer only went to 1500bhp!

[Sleeper]

I would have said the 87 Williams Honda, also thought to put out around 1500hp.

[Bolton Midnight]

Brabham BT53 and Williams FW10 or 11 both with over 1500bhp I'd have thought

Not sure how to post pics as I can't see an [img] type thingy

http://www.f1.sk/obrazky/4m/4585.jpg

http://www.allf1.info/tracks/photos/fw10keke.jpg

http://www.awirz.ch/198np.jpg

[philipbain]

The most powerful F1 cars were to be found in the 1986 season, the last year of unrestricted turbo engines, which could be run at extremely high boost for qualifying purposes. The upright BMW 4 cylinder engine as run by Benetton were good for over 1200BHP in qualifying, with a 5.5 bar spike being recorded at Monza that year which equates to over 1400BHP but only very momentarilly. The Renault V6 turbo of 1986 was also extremely powerful with it's high reving pneumatic value engine it could reach about 1300BHP in qualifying trim but because of the 195 litre fuel limit had to be reigned in to about 850BHP for races. The Honda V6 gave around 1100BHP in qualifying trim but significantly gave up to 950BHP in racing trim as thier engine management system was by far the most advanced in F1 by that time. In '87 under 4 bar boost limit Honda had the best engine which by over-boosting (forcing air into the plenum chamber faster than the pop-off value could expell it!) achieve about 1050BHP in qualifying, in excess of 900BHP in races. If you are talking oof cars in race trim then it could be argued that the last 3 litre V10s from 2005 were amongst the most powerful engines ever in F1, the 2005 Honda was reputed to be pushing well beyond 950BHP for qualifying and both Mercedes and Renault were probably hitting 950BHP, so in terms of real power that could be utilised consistently these engines were in the same range as the 1986 turbos in race trim, in most cases more powerful, due to turbo fuel rationing in the 80s.

[philipbain]

Tomski - the BMW Dynos only went up to 1000BHP, hence why they were unsure of qualifying power, and 1500BHP is unrealistic as they would have to be running well over 6 bar boost with the sort of revs and compression available from the upright four cylinder engine BMW engine which with the turbo technology of the time was unrealistic, as I previously stated the highest recorded boost pressure was a spike of 5.5 bar which equates to a very short burst of about 1400BHP.

Sleeper - As for an '87 restricted engine making 1500BHP its just not possible with the revs and compression that the '87 Honda ran, to get that sort of power it would have to be running at well over 16,000rpm, something that wasnt possible with the valve technology and compression ratios that they were running at that time.

The 1980's turbo engines were very impressive and gave a massive amount of power, especially considering the chassis, aerodynamics and tyre technology of the era, all of which couldnt cope as power essentially doubled within the space of about 4 years, but a lot of people have a fantasy of F1 cars with 1500BHP, which is frankly untrue, it is true to say up to 1000BHP race power when conditions permitted (at Monaco for example where the race distance is shorter so the boost can be turned up because fuel consumption is less critical), but to say that any car could reliably reach 1500BHP isnt true.

If your interested in learning more about the potential and limitations of 80's F1 turbo technology then i'd highly recommend Ian Bamsey's book about the McLaren MP4/4 which was written in the late 80's and chronicles turbo development as well as going into the detail of what made the 1988 McLaren so completely dominant.

[Bolton Midnight]

Granted not a F1 engine but what power did the Porsche 917 get up to when Turbocharged?

http://www.motiontrends.com/2006/m03/porsche2/1973_porsche_917.jpg

[Mark]

Those where the days and what F1 should be like now, engines massively overpowered with a chassis and tyres only able to cope with a fraction of it.

[schmenke]

Those where the days and what F1 should be like now, engines massively overpowered with a chassis and tyres only able to cope with a fraction of it.

Amen! :up:

[philipbain]

The 917 Can-Am car was a proper beast, as were most of the cars late on in the unrestricted era of Can-Am. Porsche got an already massive and powerful engine and turbo charged it, resulting in race power of over 1000BHP, which is massive now, by early 1970s standards phenomenal considering the chassis construction tecniques and tyre technology of the time as well as the primative state of aerodynamics, though the 917 produced massive amounts of front end downforce, too much infact as the result was an oversteery car due to the rear downforce not matching the front.

[Bolton Midnight]

Sounds like fun 4 figure output and little rear end grip, how a racing car should be :-)

[Dazz9908]

Those where the days and what F1 should be like now, engines massively overpowered with a chassis and tyres only able to cope with a fraction of it.
Yes, does were my golden years of F1, and to see them back would be fantastic.

[tsarcasm]

check these Porsche motor pics: 906/7, 908, & 917 motors

flat 12's turbo, 1200hp+

Vasek Polak's robbers were found. His collection of motors properly auctioned off last year in florida. http://www.pelicanparts.com/vasekauction/engine_info.htm

[tsarcasm]

[IMG]http://www.pelicanparts.com/vasekauction/917-4/med/DSC02214.JPG[IMG]

[futuretiger9]

Ideally a racing car should always have an excess of power over grip. Just look at the footage of the turbo cars from 1983-1987 - absolutely awesome.

It reached its zenith in 1986 with the Benettons in qualifying trim, although the Renault in the Lotus wasn't far behind. After that pop-off valves and the impending change to atmo engines cooled things down.

[Erki]

I wonder how much torque F1 engines these days have. Audi R8 and Peugeot 908 are over 1200Nm, but they are also diesel. :s mokin: Diesel F1, now that would be something. :s mokin: