Turn up the volume, Renault unveils its 2014 engine at Le Bourget!

Traditional battleground of the commercial war between Airbus and Boeing, the Paris Air Show at Le Bourget made an appearance in the F1 world by serving as the backdrop for the presentation of the Renault 1.6L V6 Turbo engine, which is expected to equip the Red Bull, Toro Rosso, and most likely, Lotus and Caterham teams starting next season.

Named Renault Energy F1 – directly referencing the Energy range of its production engines – this next-generation power unit, unveiled for the first time in its racing configuration, represents, according to the official statement released by the French engine manufacturer, the most significant technological breakthrough in twenty years. This V6 Turbo is tasked with meeting the goals set by the FIA: a fuel autonomy limited to 100kg for the race (representing a 35% reduction in current consumption) and the introduction of more advanced energy recovery systems than the current KERS used in the race cars.

A new era for Formula 1 accompanied by a change in terminology: The next generation of F1 will be powered by a 1.6L V6 turbo engine with around 600 horsepower, combined with an electric propulsion system delivering about 160 horsepower through energy recovery, explains Rob White, deputy technical director at Renault. This means that the term ‘engine’ will no longer suffice to describe how the car is powered. It will be more appropriate to use the term ‘Power Unit’ [or *unité de puissance* in French] to refer to the complete system.

Despite the reduction in engine displacement, Renault claims that the maximum power of the new power unit will be higher than that of the V8s currently used in Formula 1. For Alain Prost, ambassador of the brand with a rhombus, the future V6 Turbo will allow engines to once again take center stage: From 2014, engines will return to the forefront and restore the balance of F1. The engine is the heart of the car, and next year it will become the heart of our sport again.

Axel Plasse, Director of Programs and Customer Support at Renault Sport, remains reassuring about the role the driver will continue to play: « F1 single-seaters must remain the fastest racing cars in the world. These cars should not be made too easy to drive, and to achieve this, the engines should not be running at full power all the time. There must be a compromise on the percentage of full power of the Power Unit over a lap, in order to reward the talent of the drivers (if too high, the chassis is underpowered; if too low, the power of the Power Unit is unusable). »

Regarding the workshops, the chassis engineers won’t be left behind either: One of the points we needed to focus on was the integration of the Power Unit into the chassis of our teams. The current V8 weighs 95 kilograms […]. It increases to 120 kilograms with the addition of auxiliary elements such as radiators and other cooling parts. With the 2014 Power Unit, the V6 turbo engine weighs at least 145 kilograms. And we must add 35 kilograms of batteries. And more than 20 kilograms with the addition of auxiliary parts like the exchanger and radiators. At over 200 kilograms, this represents an 80% increase in weight compared to the current engines. The Power Unit is much more integrated than the current V8. It is a central component of the design. For example, the turbo goes above the gearbox. It encroaches on the space that was occupied by the clutch and suspension elements. The energy storage system is also more substantial and encroaches on the fuel tank. These elements impact the length of the chassis, the position of the radiators, electronic boxes, and many other things.

Since the early days of turbocharged engines in the 1970s, Renault’s philosophy has always been to facilitate the integration of the engine into the chassis. From the very first developments, we have increased video conferences, phone conferences, and meetings with the chassis teams, particularly with Red Bull Racing, our preferred partner in the development of this Power Unit, to decide on the direction to take and the key moments to synchronize the design of the chassis and the engine.

But Renault did not stop at photos, as for the first time, the sound of this new engine was heard. Sound is indeed a thorny issue for many Formula 1 enthusiasts who fear that engines will lose their character and appeal: « The sound of the engine is the result of the combination of three elements: exhaust noise, intake noise, and mechanical noise. When an engine is running, exhaust noise dominates, but the other two sources are not insignificant and contribute to the perception of the sound. These three sources remain very present with the V6. More energy is released during each phase of combustion, but there are fewer cylinders, engine speeds are lower, and finally, the intake and exhaust noises are muffled by the turbo. Overall, the sound level – that is, the perceived volume – is lower, and the nature of the sound emitted by the engine reflects this new architecture, » admits Rob White.

However, he wants to be reassuring: The car will still accelerate and brake just as hard with instant gear changes. The engines will still run at high RPMs, which will continue to make them highly competitive machines. Fundamentally, the engine’s sound volume will still be very high and capable of waking up the circuit’s neighborhood. The sound of the new engine is simply a turbo engine sound rather than a naturally aspirated engine sound. You can just hear the turbo when the driver eases off the throttle and the engine loses speed. I imagine some will be nostalgic for the sound of engines from previous generations, including the recent V8, but the sound produced by these new generation Power Units will be appreciated differently. It’s like asking someone if they prefer Motorhead or AC/DC. It’s a matter of taste. And both concerts are, anyway, rather loud.