Jean Todt’s FIA has been getting pushback from some of the teams and the current commercial rights holder regarding the plan to introduce 1.6L 4-cylinder power plants in F1 for 2013. Bernie Ecclestone has made claims that the unique noise generated by the current V8 is one of the prime things that keep people coming back for more, while Ferrari has taken every opportunity to indicate that 4-cylinder engines do not fit F1 or Ferrari’s DNA. So, why the disgruntlement with the new engines? And what are the implications of…
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Rally – Volkswagen to WRC in 2013
Finally, after two years of speculation and rumors concerning Volkswagen and the World Rally Championship, VW officially announced today their entry into the 2013 season. Vehicle of choice you ask? The Volkswagen Polo as pictured. This is supposedly no small entry as Volkswagen is rumored to be putting close to 100 million euros into the program. There has yet to be an announcement on who will pilot the machines as it is still 20 months away from competing. Word in the service park is that a young German driver will…
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F1 – Bernie/Ferrari: No World Engine…I Agree
Bernie Ecclestone has for sometime disapproved of Formula 1 adopting the FiA’s “world engine”. You know, the one that is a 1.6 litre turbocharged engine to be used in racing. I mean why not? A four cylinder that is green and pushes the FiA’s green initiative would be perfect. The engine is already used in the World Rally Championship and it runs well. Even sounds good for the rally cars. Compare that to the loud and over stressed naturally aspirated 2.0 used by IRC and SWRC (that sounds like a…
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