Not an engine per day, rather an engine per *session*..... An engine swap between FP1 & 2 was the norm. Another for quali on Saturday. Throw in another couple for the "warmup" on Sunday & a fresh one for the race. "Been there, done that..." Cheers, Ian
Virtual insanity when you think about it isn't it? Though was there time to do this in the late 90s to mid 2000s? Or even the necessity?
yes. Well as engineering skills improve, people get better at hitting their target. So why not develop an engine that is supposed to last 305 km if it gives you a performance benefit? Then you gotta keep changing it. Permit some 'abusive' operation in qualifying and you surely want to get rid of that thing.
You forgot to mention that the Saturday quali engine was the super-high power version that was designed to only go for as long as quali did. As I recall, those engines were pretty much completely shagged after @ 20 miles of running!
Indeed. "We" weren't changing engines for fun! We were changing 'em 'cos they were knackered..... Cheers, Ian
F1 folklore has it that the BMW 1.5L turbo engine blocks were actually based on production car engine blocks, left outside to weather, and the staff were asked to urinate on them the assist the process! Nobody really knew what the exact power output of the quali engines were because the top rated dyno's of the day only went up to 1000~1300bhp and the quali motors were going off the scale at peak power! (And peak power really was a peak back then!). For outright peak power, BMW's quali engine ruled the roost with most "experts" estimating a peak power of @ 1500bhp - That's 1bhp for every 1cc of engine size in a 4 cylinder engine! In race trim I believe they ran a peak power of @ 900bhp. They were some incredible, crazy machines back then (and bloody death traps when they went wrong!), and binning an engine after ever session as you say, was the norm!
I have read a few times through the years that the blocks were actual production blocks but yes those engines were insane.
There's a documentary somewhere - probably on YT these days discussing this topic. May even be hosted by Alain De Cadanet where he's outside with a pile of blocks and says that's exactly what went on; Apparently, the metallurgists somehow discovered that letting them heat up in the sun, cool down overnight and get wet somehow "destressed" the things. Pissing on 'em "accelerated" the process...... Hopefully the guys had a decent pressure washer before they had to start building the things! +1 May even be discussed in the same doco. Yeah, they had, let's say, a "pretty narrow" power band. But again, IIRC, they were much better than the earlier Renaults etc. I seem to recall they got them close to, or just over, a 1000hp in race trim by the end..... Pretty much my understanding too. Cheers, Ian
