Fitting a F1 engine on a road car ! As bonkers it sounds, executing such a task. Is just beyond our imagination. Nobody in the right mind could think of doing this task until now. We have been told for a really long time, that Mercedes -Benz has managed to put Lewis Hamilton F1 engine straight into their road going hyper car called the project one . However this car has not made mass production yet. So it is safe to assume that, As of 1st August 2020 we don’t have a fully functioning F1 engine powered road car. I have highlighted F1 engine powered car, Because in the past we have seen many manufactures showcasing cars derived from F1 engine technology . F1 engine derived cars meet’s the liking of the legendary Ferrari F50 , Porsche Carrera GT and also a one-off Yamaha. These cars have been highly inspired from F1 engineering, But none of them manages to completely inherit this mind blowing technology till date.
Mercedes Benz’s for a long time is having difficulty in making a F1 car for the road’s. Let’s find out what are the factor’s hurdling the production of this ultimate F1 powered hyper car.
Start-up:
For driving a car regularly on the roads, we need to start that car at the ease of a finger tip. But we know that starting a F1 car is not easy at all, Hence can’t be termed as a “Key-Turn” vehicle. We would require a well trained pit crew to jump start at F1 powered car into life . An impact-grill is used to crank start a F1 car. As the engine in the car is so tolerant and the gap between every part is minuscule. This is the characteristic feature that makes the car produce that high power with minimum weight. An efficient way to create this amount of power tolerance are so tight from cold, The Pistons are sized within the engine block fluid. And has to to be sent at a temperature of 80 degree centigrade to run the coolant patches of the engine to loosen up or start-up
That means if you want to go on a super car event with your very expensive F1 worthy road car . You will have to start preparing your car hours before the event. Or you will need to hire some professional every time you want to drive your F1 engine powered car .
To avoid the above situations we will require a high power generating engine starter to start that Beast of a engine. Considering the fact that all the fluids are cooled in advance
Cooling the Beast:
If you are a Lamborghini Avantadoor owner in Dubai you must have experienced over heating of your thousand dollar car. Which is kinda annoying, even though Lamborghini owners face this problem occasionally. Imagine having this problem almost every time you drive your car. This annoying feeling will soon turn into a headache.
F1 cars specifically made for tracks and high speed. Hence the track full-fills the high speed & high cooling requirement. But how can F1 cars on the roads mange to maintain this requirement on narrow and congested roads? .
Normally road cars deal with the heating problem , By having a large radiator in the bumper & front grill that sucks all the air while in drive, and evenly distributes it to cool the whole engine . However F1 cars require large intake openings with radiators at an angle to achieve max air flow to the high reeving engine. But high air intake is possible only when velocity is high with high apposing wind . But when you are driving a road car you are not expected to break speed limits just to cool your car. An alternative solution to not braking the laws is to install massive radiators (which won’t be pretty to watch) Along with massive cooling fans. This is to prevent the cars from over heating at low speeds and low rpms. The following formula explains the relation between heat and rpm.
Q(KW) = PEAK TORQUE (Nm) x RPM
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Therefor here RPM is directly proportional to heat created by it’s engine. Hence the high reeving nature of a F1 car will generate high amount of heat. Which can be solved by fitting a custom heat exchanger along with massive radiators and cooling fans. But this a Job requires high edge engineering techniques. Hence we conclude that an engine reeving upto 15 thousand RPM in traffic is naturally gonna over heat on public roads.
COST:
Such cutting edge compact and highly tolerant engine is not expected to be a cheap build. An F1 engine costs 6.3 million pounds . Which is more than twice the price of a Bugatti Chiron . Hence modifying this 6.3 million pound engine to adapt to road conditions will require a lot expensive materials. To get this engine to reeve upto 15,000 RPM and simultaneously create 800bhp we have to use a Pneumatic Valve Train . Instead of using a classic spring to close the valve , these engines use pressurised nitrogen to shut the valve. Which in any case doesn’t sound cheap to maintain, manufacture or to use on a regular bases.
TORQUE :
An F1 car along with the driver weighs roughly around 800kg . Which is very light compared to a standard hyper cars weights. Hence the car requires less amount of torque and high rpm to create that extraordinary amount of performance from the engine. A F1 pistons are very small (short stroke and wide bore) compared to a normal hyper car pistons , the small piston helps the car to generate that 15,000 rpm figure . Because small pistons are noticeably faster to complete an piston cycle than standard engines. Which leads to lack of torque. Where torque is directly proportional to the piston stroke length
In an ordinary hyper car weighing anywhere between 1,200 to 1,800 kg, The F1 engine here will have to function at an optimum rate to cater that amount of performance. However an hybrid trail along with turbos will help us fill up that torque gap in the AMG project one .
RELIABILITY:
Currently F1 Drivers are allowed to replace 3 engines in a season. However considering the fact that a road car will be built to last for more than a seasons time. Also considering how difficult to perform at such a high rate and not wearing-out is just mind blowing . An F1 engine can reeve upto 20,000 rpm, Which means a piston will have to complete 300 cycles per second. if we consider the mass of the piston then each piston can face upto 10,600 G’s of force . Cylinder pressures can reach 1,500 PSI . Which is bonkers amount of forces to handle. Hence F1 engines tend to be fragile.
Hence for fitting a F1 engine in a road car, you need to be a Rich, Psychotic and a genius in physics and mechanics to do so.
THANK YOU FOR READING !!
IF ANY NOTE ON IMPROVEMENTS PLEASE LET ME KNOW IN THE COMMENT SECTION BLOW .
Note: This blog is written in reference to a video from the Drivetribe channel .
Following is the link to the original video https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pZZfbcQ7Ilw
Carx 