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Check out the size of those two plenums feeding a 1.6-liter V6. Curious to know how much boost is held inside?
Mercedes AMG recently allowed a few outsiders inside its British Formula 1 facility to show off the power unit that is dominating the sport.
Mercedes AMG team managing director Andy Cowell with the 1.6-liter turbo V6 and the sophisticated battery pack that powers the electric motors.
Ever since Formula 1 did away with the high-revving and popular naturally aspirated 2.4-liter V8 architecture in favor of a 1.6-liter turbo V6 working with two energy recovery systems — hence, the term power unit — the Mercedes AMG Petronas team won 32 of 38 races the past two seasons. Ferrari and Red Bull Renault each won three races.
The American tech website The Verge and the UK’s popular TV show Top Gear have published their experiences, mostly interviewing the team’s managing director Andy Cowell.
“F1 and road car missions are aligned,” said Cowell, explaining the sport’s need to adapt hybrid technology to improve fuel economy and engine efficiency.
Mercedes AMG Petronas won 32 of 38 races in the past two F1 seasons.
While hardcore fans will miss the 18,000-rpm, open exhaust engines screaming down the straightaways, the technology and improvements to engine efficiency are undeniable. Cowell says early gas internal combustion engines had a thermal efficiency around 17 percent. The best N/A F1 engines kicked that number up to 29 percent. With the advanced energy recovery systems, today’s F1 engines are over 50 percent.
CFD combustion analysis as demonstrated by the Mercedes team. See the video below.
As you can see below, one of the tools displayed at the presentation was computational fluid dynamics, or CFD analysis of the combustion process. You can see the air charge enter the cylinder and how the direct-injection fuel is added. Finally in the bottom video, Mercedes offers an audial peek at the revised exhaust note. F1 officials allowed teams to use two exhaust pipes instead of one to increase the decibel level and hopefully add a little anger to the note. As you’ll hear in the video, it does sound better but it’s still a V6. Can’t wait for the season to start March 19 in Australia.
