A propos de la barrière des 20 000 rpm :
.:: F1: Cosworth Plans Unique Rpm Record in Brazil ::.
Cosworth is hoping to establish a unique record by running Mark Webber’s engine at over 20,000rpm for the duration of the Brazilian GP, we can reveal.
Webber is one of several drivers who have access to a fresh one-race engine for the last round of the World Championship, and Cosworth intends to take advantage of the opportunity for a final fling before mothballing its V8, which no longer has a customer.
Since the FIA has set a limit of 19,000rpm for 2007 and beyond, the achievement will never be matched.
“We’ve been running 20,000rpm in qualifying from Bahrain at the start of the season,” Cosworth’s Simon Corbyn told SpeedTV.com. “Obviously, as we’ve developed the engine during the season the duty cycle of the engine has been increased, and we’re now in a position where we run quite a bit of the race at 20,000rpm.
“Mark will get a fresh engine for Brazil, so effectively we’ve got two races worth of duty cycle to use up in one race, and we can basically run the whole race at 20,000rpm and maximum power, which should help. Up to now we’ve been on about 100 kilometers (62 miles), about a third of a race. There’s a bit of a risk but we’ve done more than that in testing, and more than that on the dyno. Effectively it’s the same spec engine, but it’s not got to run as long, so you can manage the usage a bit more intelligently.”
Since the start of the season Cosworth has routinely run at higher revs than its rivals.
“I think for specific periods of the race then certainly Mercedes are right up there,” Corbyn said. “I don’t think anybody else is running anything like as high a duty cycle as we are, and a lot of engines are not running anywhere near as quickly as that.”
