Two of the biggest stories of this year’s Formula 1 season revolve around the new manufacturers entering the 2026 world championship. Audi announces its entry, in partnership with Sauber for its factory group. Porsche is about to finalize a partnership agreement with Red Bull Racing before the negotiations collapsed. Both Volkswagen Group manufacturers have competed in the Grand Prix before. However, both automakers are not owned by Volkswagen when they last appeared on the most prestigious race.
Motor sports there is a story about Volkswagen’s canceled 1980s F1 project in the December 2022 issue. During the development of Volkswagen VR6 . tool, VW was seriously considering upgrading the concept to eight cylinders for a Formula 1 car. The story was largely echoed by Peter Hofbauer, then head of powertrain development. of Volkswagen. The 1.5-liter turbocharged VR8 engine concept has been delivered to Judd, as a potential technical partner and a number of potential customer groups. Like many stories surrounding secret F1 projects, there was plenty of discussion in the lawns, high-end restaurants and boardrooms.
Hofbauer believes that the narrow-angle engine conceived for lateral application in a hatchback could have been successfully applied to the F1.
“The output of a high-powered engine comes from how fast you can run it – and the smaller the cylinder, the faster you can run it,” he says. “This VR8, a single-ended eight cylinder with these stacked cylinders, will give you an extremely compact and lightweight machine, so the power-to-weight ratio will be higher. Power density is the key number here. “
A VR8 F1 engine will have a high center of gravity if it is placed vertically in the vehicle. Hofbauer explains that this was never the intention. It will be featured in the same way that BMW did with their four inline cars in Brabham’s Formula 1 lineup. He also hinted at a more extreme arrangement that would most likely precede Brabham’s 1986 BT55 lineup.
Unfortunately, Volkswagen’s fully fledged VR8 F1 engine never even came up to standard. The project was canceled because the production VR show was delayed. VR6 will be used in VW road cars starting in 1991 after Formula 1 banned turbocharged engines. Like so many opportunities in Formula 1, sometimes it just depends on timing.
Be sure to read the full story of Volkswagen’s first attempt to join the F1 grid is here.
