Shifting Gears - 2013 F1 Turbo Four Cylinders On Way Out In Favor Of V8

This is nearly 2 year old news

Wish they would go back to the V-10's.

And they still use pushrod engines. Toyota almost didn't get into nascar because they believed in advancing technology, not going back in time. All nascars are shaped exactly the same. They are all common template bodies, so how can one manufacturer be better?

You never seen the Montoya/Jeff Gordon F1/Nascar swap? He did alright. Lewis Hamilton and Tony Stewart will be swapping their rides next month. Nascar has rules that don't allow much new technology but the engine still maximizes the rulebook and is very advanced in its own ways. The engine might be a pushrod design but it's still revs to 9,000, that's quite impressive. As for the drivers, they aren't too bad either. Montoya has done ok in Nascar but it's not like he is dominating and he had oval experience before F1. Same for the other road racers that have tried to make it in Nascar, don't think any of the have won an oval race yet. Like anything to be at the top requires you to be very good, and right now Nascar attracts some of the top talent. Not my favorite form of racing by far but it's far from as simple as some say.

Like I said Nascar runs with a very defined rules package, but that doesn't mean that the different teams don't spend tons of money to maximize the last few additional horsepower. Much like what F1 was doing when the revs weren't capped. Obviously it would take some training for a Nascar driver to run in F1, just like an F1 driver would struggle when placed in a Nascar race right away. I am sure the actual drivers from both Nascar/F1 know and respect each category.

As for Nascar engines being relatively cheap, that's not such a bad thing as it opens up racing for more competitors. And show me any production engine with .7 liter cylinders spinning to such RPM.

As for F1 I do prefer them to keep the V8 formula. Any fuel efficiency changes look very much like gimmicks to create some buzzwords. Potentially they could open up the rulebook to some more fuel efficient options and force them to go back to refueling and have much longer refueling times so fuel efficiency would play a greater role. But in a short sprint race fuel economy is quite irrelevant unless you really make it an issue with rules.

Isn't Raikkonen trying to get into F1? As an F1champion we'll see how he does in oval racing. As for technology transfer most racing is less useful than advertised. Le Mans racing is by far the most useful for technology improvement with F1 and Nascar and others are a business. Even Le Mans is still a race and not an RD department for a manufacturer.

In this case a 2 liter turbo would be slightly more relevant to production cars than the current V8s, but it would probably dull the spectacle.

I meant Raikkonen is trying to get into Nascar. He finished midpack in the truck race which is two rungs below. Certainly it will take him some time to be even competative. Like I said Le Mans style racing has the most potential for race development but it still is more marketing than improvement. Has Audi learned somethign fromits diesel R10/R15/R18, probably but production tranfer is somewhat limited. Brands that don't race aren't necesseraly any further beyond technologically than ones that do. Take your 911 example, I imagine the production 911 hybrid would have a much more conventional system without the flywheel system. The Cayenne already has a hybrid/kers system with absolutely no input from racing.

To summarize racing at best is basic research while actual manufacturer RD departments do applied research.

F1 has become a joke thanks to that old fart Ecclestone. I can't wait for the day that he is no longer in charge and F1 can return to being at the cutting edge of motorsports. All it is doing now is following what road cars are doing. The old addage has become "Sell on Monday, race if you can afford to on Sunday"...I don't know who told any of them that any new engine, particularly one of small displacement and high power) could be developed in the timeframe they were talking about. I no longer watch F1 anyway and FIA has also ruined WRC so people like me really have nothing to watch except Hyundai and Chevrolet ads...you know...cars that I CAN afford...