Quote:
Originally Posted by JAJ
Been there, done that...
The 1500 HP BMW turbo engine that won the World Driving championship in 1983 for Brabham was built on a production engine block taken out of a BMW E21 3-series. The builders actually chose used engine blocks because day-to-day usage relieved the stress arising from the casting process that would have been been a reliability risk if they used brand-new engine blocks.
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This has proven to be a rumor. From Racecar Engineering, Aug. 2009:
"Ulrich Baretzky of Audi Motorsport worked on BMW's Formula 1 engines in the early 1980s and rolls his eyes at the suggestion: 'We kept being asked this,' he recalls, 'and it wasn't true. But Paul Rosche became curious, so we tried it.' They built up an engine around an old road car block and tested it on the dyno to see what would happen. 'it didn't even get warm before it blew up,' recalls Baretzky." So, the M12/3 did start with a BMW production block, however; just not a used one.
Coincidentally, the same issue discussed the possibility of a Global Race Engine; a 1.6 I4 turbo...