Ultimate Powerplants: The Greatest Racing Engines of All-Time

"You know, aerodynamics are for people who can't build proper engines." - Enzo Ferrari

The above quote to me is one of the greatest lines in all of automobilia. It sums up the great Mr. Ferrari's philosophy on life. Build a great engine, and nothing else matters, the car will be great regardless. There is some truth to this, a car with 50-60bhp more than everyone else can overcome a great deal of problems, aero, poor, tyres, even a crappy driver. I've bought into this thought process from day 1 of my life. To me, the engine should be the focal point of any car, with everything else coming second.

In the past, certain racing cars and teams have taken this idea to the extreme and built insane lumps that have powered them to glory and changed racing forever. These engines have made my list for various reason, dominance, ingenuity, or just sheer genius. But they are without a doubt, some of the greatest engineering achievements ever.

5.) Porsche 917's Twin-Turbo Flat 12 (I couldn't find a "real" picture of it, so here's a magazine scan, click to enlarge)

I'm weary of putting this engine in at all, as it is the reason many people love, or in my case hate, Porsche. But in terms of sheer dominance its hard to argue with it. In the early 1970s this Porsche engine caused rule changes not once but twice. After winning two consecutive 24 Hours of Le Mans in dominating fashion, the FIA changed the rules, basically to exclude the car. Porsche then entered it into the legendary Can-Am Championship, an insane series, with basically no rules. The dominate 8.5 litre Chevy-Mclarens were no match for the Porsche 917. The car itself wasn't that great (the Mclaren was a much better handling chassis) but the Porsche had an insane twin-turbo 5.4 litre flat 12 engine. In race trim the lump produced 1100bhp and could run quite reliably. In qualifying trim it produced nearly 1400bhp, and figures of over 1600bhp were achieved on a dyno! With mind-blowing figures like that, the Porsches easily drove away from anyone, and with Roger Penske's team won 15 out of 18 races in two years! This dominance, however, had its price. With no hope of winning, most teams pulled out and Grand-Am died, leaving us without a true "Formula Libre" series, and the 917 without a home.....again.

4.) The Novi V8

The Novi is proof dominance isn't a requirement to be a great engine. In fact despite over three decades of use, the Novis never won a race, and only managed to score an amount of podiums you can count on one hand. However, they were completely insane. Appearing in the mid-1930s and lasting until the end of the 1960s, the Novis were an engine designed to blow everyone away at the Indy 500 by being an absolute rocket down the straights. When it appeared it had nearly 300bhp more than its main rival the Offy! In fact except for two years (one of them being its last in 1967) when the Novi only had 85-100bhp more than its rivals, every other year it featured an advantage of at least 200bhp! So why didn't it win? Well first off drivers were scared of it. In fact the first few years pilots used to place blocks of wood under the accelerator so they would never use full throttle! It was also too heavy, and a gas-guzzler (it required a 400+litre fuel tank, which made it still heavier), and it shredded tyres like I chew gum. And its owner was a total idiot and had it placed in FWD chassis for over a decade (dumbass). Regardless, the Novi is still the greatest example of "engine comes first" mentality and despite never winning a race, is still regarded by racing fans as one of the greats.

3.) The Ilmor-Mercedes Benz 500I

Yet another "Indy Only" mill, the 500I is the greatest example of a motor changing everything, and it only ever ran in one race! The 500I ran in the 1994 Indy 500, and won, and then was banned. Not only that it ended up killing off Indy's stock block formula all together. But not before garnering international recognition and a slew of engineering awards. Why? The engine was quite crude. It was only 209ci and featured one cam, in block, and pushrods. However, it was turbocharged and Indy's ruled allowed it an insane amount of boost (55inches of mercury), so it produced 1100bhp and dominated the race. Well not really. It made 1100bhp on the dyno, but was frail. In race trim it "only" produced 880bhp. And Penske (what is it with him and insane turbo motors?) never really dominated, yes they won, but out of three cars only one finished! And one retired with an engine failure. However, Team Penske was running 1-2 for 90% of the race (and their two cars were the only two on the lead lap!) and Indy was scared of a Can-Am type scenario. The motor had to go. More telling was the test at Indy later in the year, the Penske cars were horribly off the pace. Why? The 500I was so good, it hid the horrible understeer their chassis were plagued with. Without their wonder weapon, the Penskes weren't that great at Indy, in fact next year they all failed to qualify!

2.) The Renault RS1 V10

The Renault RS1 was a 3.5litre V10. It was also innovative, being the first engine to feature pneumatic valves. This allowed the RS1 to rev much higher than its rivals and thus produce more power. The RS1 produced over 800bhp in race rim, more than enough after the ban on turbo engines in F1. It was dominate winning the constructors title every year from 1991-1997 and winning every drivers title save for '94. The engines holds the record for most wins in a single season at 15 (out of 16 races!) and was used by Lotus, Williams, Benetton, and finally the factory Renault team. The engine powered the all conquering Williams FW14B and FW15C, widely regarded as the two greatest racing cars ever produced. While many said it was the car, the RS1 proved the engine had a lot to do with it when in 1995 Benetton acquired the engines and won both the drivers and constructors titles. The RS1 also had longevity on its side as it lasted in one form or another until 2006 by which time it was producing a staggering 980bhp and spinning to 20,000rpm!

1.) The Ford-Cosworth DFV

Without question the Ford-Cosworth DFV (Double Four Valve) is THE greatest engine ever produced. It wasn't the most powerful (when it was launched in 1967 it only produced 408bhp) it wasn't the most reliable, but it was the most versatile. The DFV has raced in F1, Indycar, Le Mans, USAC, Can-AM, F3000, Group C, and the Tasman series, just to name a few. It has easily won over 1000 races in its lifetime (which spanned from 1967 to the late 1990s!), and has been run naturally aspirated, turbocharged, twin-turbocharged, and supercharged in displacements varying from 2.0litres to around 5litres. While badged a Ford, Dearborn only funded its design, the motor was more commonly know as the Cosworth or "Cossie". However, next to its versatility the greatest asset of the DFV was its availability. Cosworth would literally sell one to anyone, if they had the money. Because of this Cossies showed up everywhere. By they end the DFV could claim 12 F1 Drivers Championships, 10 F1 Constructor's Titles, 12 Indycar Championships, 10 Indy 500 wins, 2 24 Hours of Le Mans wins, and 6 Formula 3000 Championships, and this is just a sampling of its exploits. The world of motorsport had never seen anything like the DFV, and indeed it will never see anything like it again.



Honorable Mention: BMW M12

This is the BMW M12. A 1.5litre turbo in line 4 cylinder. It was raced by Brabham, Benetton and Arrows throughout the 1980s in F1. It produced an astonishing 1300bhp in race trim. So it produced more power than the 917 with 4-litres less displacement! Its turbo was massive and rammed nearly 5 bar of pressure into the motor. That's roughly 73.5psi! In qualifying trim it flirted with 1600bhp! The engine lead Brabham to the 1983 World Title. So why didn't it make the list? Reliability, or rather the lack their of. The block was basically BMW's road car I4 beef-up in places and simply couldn't handle the power output. Overheating, and massive turbo lag (legit turbo lag, not E-Brake related) were the main problems, as was the minor problem of the motor exploding on a somewhat constant basis. Qualifying engines rarely lasted more than 4 or 5 laps. The M12 gained the nickname "The Grenade", never a good moniker for an engine. The '83 title was the only one for this engine, proof that power sadly, isn't everything. Another strike against this engine is that it could not overcome the weaknesses of the various chassis it was placed into, something a truly great engine can do with ease. Once boost limits were introduced in 1987, the motors reliability improved, and Arrows scored several good placings with it, but its awe-inspiring power and scream were gone. And when the turbo era ended in 1989 so were BMW altogether