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by AzN1337c0d3r 274 days ago
> Back in the real world, no race team would agree that their cars should disintegrate after one race.

Wasn't F1 teams basically doing this by replacing their engines and transmissions until the rules introduced penalties for component swaps in 2014?
4 comments
jperras 274 days ago
If you go back further than that, teams used to destroy entire engines for a single qualifying.

The BMW turbocharged M12/M13 that was used in the mid-eighties put out about 1,400 horsepower at 60 PSI of boost pressure, but it may have been even more than that because there was no dyno at the time capable of testing it.

They would literally weld the wastegate shut for qualifying, and it would last for about 2-3 laps: outlap, possibly warmup lap, qualifying time lap, inlap.

After which the engine was basically unusable, and so they'd put in a new one for the race.

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gnatolf 274 days ago
Current examples would be drag racing cars that have motors that are designed and used in a way that they only survive for about 800 total revolutions.
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creaturemachine 274 days ago
Yup, cigarette money enabled all kinds of shenanigans. Engine swaps for qualification, new engines every race, spare third cars, it goes on. 2004 was the first year that specified engines must last the entire race weekend and introduced penalties for swaps.
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lostlogin 274 days ago
> cigarette money enabled all kinds of shenanigans.

It still does. New Zealand has a crop of tobacco funded politicians.

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lawlessone 274 days ago
>New Zealand has a crop of tobacco funded politicians.

when they leave politics do they just rapidly age and dissolve like that guy in the Indiana Jones film?

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TylerE 274 days ago
F1 income is way way higher than the 80s.
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kllrnohj 274 days ago
Even today F1 teams are allowed 4 engine replacements before taking a grid place penalty, and those penalties still show up regularly enough. So nobody is making "reliable" F1 engines.

You can see this really on display with the AMG ONE. It's a "production" car using an F1 engine that requires a rebuild every 31,000 miles.

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pfdietz 274 days ago
Don't highly optimized drag racers do this? I mean, a clutch that in normal operation gets heated until it glows can't be very durable.
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