Are the new engine rules too restrictive?

[Adam43]

Quite apart from the reduction in size and cylinders, I think the most important changes to the regs are the severe restrictions on the new generation of engines.

See here: http://www.autosport.com/newsitem.asp?id=40573&s=5

A few snippets:

• V angle must be 90degrees
• Only 2 inlet and 2 outlet valves
• Bore diameter must not exceed 98mm
• Overall weight must be >95kg
• Fuel pressure at injectors readings will go to the FIA black box.
• No variable timing

to name a few. There seems to be far more restrictions on the size and technology behind the engine.

Will this stifle engineering talent?
Will it be possible to have a large change in engine power down the grid?

[1200Datto27]

Bernie might as well just by Cosworth himself and make a "spec" engine, A la CART/OWRS, that is leased to each team, and they can then rebadge them.

[alfasud]

The answer depends on who you are....

If you are BMW, Merc, Toyota or Ferrari and you have the budget to have one group of engineers working on a 2.4L V8 engine, some more engineers working on different bore/stroke combinations, different numbers of valves etc, and a whole different group of engineers building a V10 or V12 or some other combination, then you probably don't like these rules....

if on the other hand you are Sauber, Jordan or Minardi and you are looking to buy an engine that won't be totally oboselete within half a season, then you probably think these rules are a great idea.... and a spec Cosworth would be even better for those teams.

The 95kg weight limit is an interesting one... a good idea because a large part of the V10 engine development was going into making next years engine lighter than before.

However, I can see some creative interpretations regarding what is part of the engine and what is not... I suspect we will see an number of components that are not normally considered to be part of the engine being added to the engine and presented to the scrutineers as being part of the engine package.

[oziengineer]

Wow, just saw those details, they are dinosaur. It will be interesting to see how the teams adapt, but I think it could help the racing. Just a shame that the V10s are gone, they are a good compromise. Monza top speeds will drop hugely.

[Snrub]

Question: Do you like the closer racing with the cars behind Ferarri? The reason this happend is because the cars are closer. Do we want to promote rules that keep things closer or things that can allow for huge gaps between teams? It's a no brainer.

[Kicking-back]

These rules make a lot of sense.

Restrictive rules are vital to keep costs down.

[Kempi]

Only introducing a whole new engine kind will skyrocket the cost for the first couple of years.
Also, the engines are not the problem we don't have close racing. To gain .1s on track, you have to increase the power by 5-10%. Finding that power is incredibly hard nowadays, which should make it obvious that this is not the core of the problems.
MotoGP is not getting hurt by having the most powerful bike engines ever.

Tire development and aero development still costs a whole lot more than engine development. Go back to a spec tire, cut the diffusor away and restrict wing use and let the current engine formula live on. That would give much closer racing than those jokes of an engine that are hardly more powerful than a GP2 engine.

[f1manoz]

BRING BACK V12s!!!