Quote:
Originally Posted by Needsdecaf
It's 2014, my bad. And no, it's 6's. There was much talk of 4's but I believe that Bernie nixed it due to the crappy sound it would make:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Formula_One_engines#2014
At least that's where it is today. I try to follow the F1 circus but it's way too time consuming and political. It'll probably change 3x when they resign the concorde agreement, etc.
Regardless, downsizing and turbos are coming, and soon. |
First of all, if you want to be taken seriously, please don't use wikipedia as your only source of information.
Second, the reason why F1 backtracked from the turbo 4 cylinder engines was due to pressure from the manufacturers (read Ferrari), as it wouldn't have any relevance for the development of their road-going cars. The noise coming from the 4 cylinder engine was only a minor factor, as I have no doubt that F1 engineers would've made that thing sing at the 15,000 rpm limit imposed by the FIA for the new engines.
One thing is certain, turbos are here to stay for the foreseeable future regardless if some of us still think a naturally aspirated engine is more enjoyable.
IMO, more important than turbo/NA engines, would be the the availability of a manual transmission for many years to come, as the very efficient and rapid double clutch units of today are slowly but surely pushing the old stick into retirement. It's happened already at Ferrari, and if rumors are to be believed, it's going to happen at Porsche very soon (the new GT3 is being rumored to have the PDK as the only available transmission).