PDA

View Full Version : Power/Torque on a F1 car?



Scientist
09-02-2003, 04:55 AM
What is the maximum power output on a F1 car?
I know that nowadays, most of them have about 800bhp. I heard that in the time the F1 cars had turbo's, the cars had more than 1000bhp, is this true?

Also, what's the torque on a F1 car?

DasModell
09-04-2003, 05:36 AM
power is rumoured that has reached +900 BHP but the torque figures are low . maybe 400-500 Nm ..
Turbo .. it would depend on boost ... and restrictors .. but in the Turbo era the power reached those fugures in qulifying trim ...

Misho
10-01-2003, 05:18 PM
i think i heard the commentator during the Indy F1 say that the Williams BMW has something around 920-960 hp. I cant remember exactly what he said, but it was something in that range.

ReeK
10-01-2003, 05:59 PM
given Power = Torque*angular velocity

Say an F1 engine is giving 950bhp at 19,000 rpm

then

19,000*2*pi / 60 * T = 950*745

rearranging : T~356Nm of torque

Depending on what publications you read, the 1.5 Turbo engines of the Mid-80s had between 1200-1400bhp in qualifying trim.

I hope my maths is right...

fpv_gtho
10-06-2003, 04:58 AM
i dont think its as simple as that to figure out the torque, the most accurate way would just be to stick the bloody engine on a dyno. all thats just guesswork

ReeK
10-10-2003, 05:18 AM
Originally posted by fpv_gtho
i dont think its as simple as that to figure out the torque, the most accurate way would just be to stick the bloody engine on a dyno. all thats just guesswork

Praytell what formula's you think a Dyno uses to work out torque?

DasModell
10-12-2003, 01:32 AM
problem is that max torque is not reached at same rpm as max power

ReeK
10-15-2003, 12:40 AM
Originally posted by DasModell
problem is that max torque is not reached at same rpm as max power

why is that a problem?

DasModell
10-15-2003, 12:01 PM
because from what i understand with that formula you calculated the torque at max power . and it;s not max torque ...

ReeK
10-15-2003, 04:32 PM
Well F1 teams appear to not worry about torque at all, power determines acceleration.

DasModell
10-16-2003, 05:28 AM
yeah indeed .. they use so little rpm range ...

piledriver
10-17-2003, 04:12 AM
Originally posted by ReeK
Well F1 teams appear to not worry about torque at all, power determines acceleration.

no, torque determines accel... power determines top speed...

ReeK
11-07-2003, 04:13 AM
Originally posted by piledriver
no, torque determines accel... power determines top speed...

Huh? I guess that's why F1 cars have low torque figures and accelerate really slowly...

Power is proportional to the rate of angular ACCELERATION.

henk4
11-09-2003, 01:58 AM
The 3.5 litre Renault V10 engine, (as used in the Espace F1, see elsewhere on this site) produced 800 BHP and 705 NM. (8 years ago). The much more developed 3 litre engines appear to have 900 BHP and based on the above could have about the same amount of torque. Corresponding revs is a guess but could be in the order of 18000 and 13-14000 respectively.

DasModell
11-09-2003, 07:31 AM
the 705 NM ..it seams a bit to much ...

henk4
11-09-2003, 12:13 PM
Originally posted by DasModell
the 705 NM ..it seams a bit to much ...

you could well have a point there, I just took the figure for granted. It looks more like a figure for a turbo engine or a diesel.

DasModell
11-10-2003, 06:16 AM
no N/A petrol engine that i know has more then 130 Nm/L ..

henk4
11-10-2003, 06:21 AM
yes, b.t.w. did you get my email that I sent you through the ten tenths forum?

DasModell
11-10-2003, 06:39 AM
yes .. and i replied .. :)
did another try . i've put it in the sports;car&Gt forum also .. maybe ..:)

henk4
11-10-2003, 06:41 AM
so I noticed now, not Dani either

DasModell
11-10-2003, 06:57 AM
is dani filth a romanian name .. don;t think so :) :)

henk4
11-10-2003, 07:16 AM
to me it's a filthy name, I'll be in Romania in the final week of November, most likely in Bucurest only, may be Constanza too.

DasModell
11-10-2003, 07:41 AM
lol .. yeah .. i think that what it is .. a filthy name .:) :) .. it a british band vocal name :) ... but i'm afraid i'm stuck witt it .. on ten-tenths .. :) ... on other forums .. thwy call me "modelu" de la DasModell :)

you said you've been around before .. did you have the pleasure to taste our wonderful wines ????? home made????

henk4
11-10-2003, 07:53 AM
I had some, but it didn't make a lasting impression. (neither negative nor positive).

Willster127
11-11-2003, 06:53 PM
Had to reply to this one. The torque of an F1 engine is approx 325 to 375Nm, right about what Reek says

As for the torque/horsepower coments, have a look at the following, this should sort you out.

http://www.yawpower.com/tqvshp.html

Happy reading!

DasModell
11-15-2003, 01:23 PM
Lotus 49 Cosworth DFV power/torque curves ..

http://website.lineone.net/~richardn/img/LotPowerCurve.gif

using the formula ... BHP = torque X engine_speed / 5252 .. u get 233 lb-ft ... blah .. i didn;t do the math .. myself .. can someone convert those to normal figures .. i mean . Nm ...
anyway .. 233 lb-ft ... at max power rev .. as u can see in the graph ... but max torque is something around .. 250 ... at aprox. 7000 rpm

ReeK
11-19-2003, 05:02 PM
400 BHP ~ 300kW
250 LbFt ~ 336Nm

So the torque from the DFV isn't much lower than current engines, but because it developed it at half the rpm, that's why it develops about half the power. Which again proves that Power is more important for a race-car to accelerate...

JJ72
01-09-2004, 08:00 AM
Torque is power.
Horsepower is the work done.

you need torque to get the acceleration while Horsepower determines how fast you can accelerate with that force...actully mush more than that but i can't explain it well. :D

and probably a wrong explanation too.

but the need of torque correspond to the mass of the vehicle.
a light car require less torque to accelerate. and for a F1 machine, which is surely very light, can demand less Torque.

Bear87G
01-14-2004, 07:45 PM
Bravo, excellent article good job figuring it out. Excellent discussion here. :cool: