1500HP
BMW Bravo F1 - 1.5L
M10 Turbo
The
BMW M12/13 turbo 1500 cc 4-cylinder turbocharged
Formula One engine, based on the standard
BMW M10 engine introduced in
1961, powered the
F1 cars of Brabham,
Arrows,
Benetton and won the world championship in
1983. It also powered the
BMW GTP and in the
2.0 liter naturally aspirated form, the successful
March Engineering Formula Two cars. The BMW M12/13 turbo engine is the most powerful BMW engine ever produced and from a race perspective, the most successful BMW engine of all time.[citation needed]
In 1983, Brazilian driver
Nelson Piquet won the
Formula One World Championship driving a
Brabham BT52 powered by the turbocharged BMW M12 engine, which in 1983 was producing approximately 850 bhp (630 kW) in qualifying trim and 640 bhp (480 kW) for the races. Piquet, who won the Brazilian,
Italian and
European Grands Prix in 1983, won the championship by just two points in front of Renaults
Alain Prost (
Renault had pioneered turbocharging in F1 in
1977, but would be destined never to win the
World Championship in the original turbo era (1977-1988)). Piquet's win was the first time a car powered by a turbocharged engine had won the World Championship
.
In the years
1986 and
1987, the version
M12/13/1 was tilted sideways by 72° for use in the extremely low
Brabham BT55 (1986) and more conventional
Brabham BT56 (1987). The design was not successful, probably due to cooling issues in the tight compartment. The BMW GTP
IMSA series car was also powered by the 2.0 liter M12 turbo engine, with more than 850 hp in race trim. The 1986 engine was said to produce about 1,400 hp (1,044 kW) in qualifying, that being the most powerful figure of all the turbo-charged engines in
Formula One (though it should also be noted that at the time there was no way of accurately measuring horsepower over 1,
000 and figures are what were generally accepted from the engineers calculations with 0.1 Bar of turbo boost rated to be worth approximately 20 hp (15 kW)).[1] During 1986 however it was the Benetton team using the conventional upright BMW M12 who would be the leading BMW runner in Formula One, with
Gerhard Berger scoring his and the teams first (and the
BMW engines last) win by winning the
1986 Mexican Grand Prix. Benetton would not continue with the BMW engines in 1987, instead they became the defacto factory
Ford team using their Ford
TEC turbo in the BMW's place.
During the
1986 Italian Grand Prix at
Monza, Gerhard Berger's BMW powered
Benetton B186 recorded the highest straight line speed by a turbocharged
Formula One car when he was timed at 352
.22 km/h (219 mph). In fact, the top five cars through the speed trap at Monza (
Berger and team mate
Teo Fabi, Brabham's
Derek Warwick and
Riccardo Patrese, and the Arrows of
Thierry Boutsen) were all powered by the BMW M12.
As BMW announced to pull out officially at the end of 1986 (though they would continue to supply Brabham with their tilted engine for 1987), Arrows team boss
Jackie Oliver brokered a deal with support from the teams primary sponsor
USF&G; to continue the use of the upright BMW engines under the name of its subsidiary
Megatron,
Inc., founded by long-time F1 aficionado
John J.
Schmidt, who coined the phrase "
Horse racing may have been the sport of kings, but auto racing is the sport of corporations". The engines were serviced by Arrows long time engine guru Heini Mader from
Switzerland, a former mechanic of
Jo Siffert.
Rebadged as Megatron, the BMW engines were used by the Arrows team for the 1987 and
1988 seasons, as well as Ligier for 1987 only
. In the final season for the turbos, Arrows were one of only six teams still running turbocharged engines and the only team to still use the old BMW engines. During the 1988 season the Megatron engines were the oldest turbos still in use in Formula One dating back to
1982 (
Ferrari, who had been using turbos since
1981, had introduced a completely new engine from 1987).
The Megatron programme ended as a result of a change of Formula One engine rules which banned turbocharged engines at the end of 1988, with
American driver
Eddie Cheever achieving the old BMW engine's last podium finish with third place in the
1988 Italian Grand Prix at Monza. The race was also significant as it was the first time Heini Mader had solved the problem caused by the
FIA's pop-off valve which limited turbo power to
4.0 Bar in 1987 and 2.5 Bar in 1988. By moving the valve closer to the engine, the problem of the turbo not delivering enough boost had been solved and the
Arrows A10B's were among the fastest on the long Monza straights, faster even than the all-conquering McLaren-Hondas which effectively incorporated elements of
Gordon Murray's lowline Brabham design as well as featuring a more powerful V6 engine.
- published: 27 Apr 2014
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