The Tech Fest That Is A V6 F1 Engine May Make Your Brain Implode

Much has been made of the regulation changes that have come into force for the 2014 Formula 1 Championship. With the first testing session just around the corner, we're finding out more and more about the cars that'll line up in Australia in March.

Earlier today, Force India was the first team to unveil its new car's design, and now Renault has released information about the all-new turbo hybrid V6 engines that'll power its cars.

First; an overview. A 1.6-litre internal combustion engine powers the rear wheels, with a maximum engine speed of 15,000rpm. It'll feature two Potent Energy Recovery Systems - dubbed MGU-H and MGU-K. These generator units will harvest spent energy, and work with the regular engine to provide a combined power output of 760bhp (600bhp from the engine, 160bhp from the generator). All of that will have to make a maximum of 100kg of fuel last over the course of a race.

The team's main focus has been on the downsized engine, as the addition of a turbocharger means the pressures within the combustion chamber are enormous - almost twice as much as the V8 - potentially rising to 200bar (over 200 times the normal air pressure). This pressure could prove problematic, potentially producing a 'knocking' within the chamber that would destroy the engine.

The pressure on the engineering team is also intense, as mid-season engine development is frozen, so they've got to get it right the first time.

With the cars limited to 100kg of fuel per race, efficiency is a genuine concern. Car manufacturers are working to improve emissions and efficiency through downsized engines and forced induction, so F1's technology could easily trickle down.

One of the ways this is achieved with the new F1 powerplant is direct injection and the option to cut cylinders - technology we already see in road cars - but with the might of Formula 1 development behind them, expect to see huge improvements.

In the eyes of purists, the controversial aspect of these engines is the turbo. It'll be spinning at 100,000rpm (1500 per second), generating an incredible amount of heat. Some of this energy is converted into electrical energy by the MGU-H generator to be stored in the battery.

The battle for Renault is to minimise the turbo lag its drivers encounter. To achieve this, the MGU-H switches its role under braking: by constantly interpreting the engine load, it matches the turbo's rotation to the optimum revolutions should the driver plant his foot on the throttle.

Attached to all this is the wastegate, which sits in a crowded part of the bay. It had to be made small enough to be crammed into a tight spot, while being strong enough to withstand the heat and pressures involved - if it breaks it'll be catastrophic for the engine.

And then there are the generators. We've already talked about the MGU-H (attached to the turbocharger it absorbs heat energy to charge the battery, as well as controlling the turbo's revolutions), but what does the MGU-K do? It is attached to the engine's crankshaft and converts kinetic energy dissipated under braking to be redeployed as extra power like the traditional KERS units - up to 160bhp of boost is permitted.

The energy recovery system will have twice the power of last year's kit, so failure of these parts will now make a huge difference to performance.

The way in which the engine manages the two types of energy is genuinely fascinating, and complex. The energy management system decides when and how much fuel to take out of the tank, and when and how much energy to take out (or put back into) the battery. Still with us? Good, because it gets even more complicated...

Electrical energy management will be just as important as fuel management. The team's objective is to use as little of each energy source as possible to put in the required lap time, with a complex exchange of energy going on between the components in the system, at varying levels of power over a lap. The driver can override the restrictions, for example going full throttle in an overtake, however that will force the engine to then compensate once it is back in control.

During qualifying cars can go flat out. Once a car has fully charged its battery, it could do a full lap with all available energy without restriction. Once the electrical energy is depleted, however, drivers will have to wait until it has been replenished before another full-on lap can be completed. Saturdays will be an interesting fight between those playing it safe over a couple of fast laps, and those who put all their eggs into one basket.

These new engines are ridiculously complex, as one would expect from the pinnacle of motorsport. The way engineers and designers overcome restrictive regulations with ingenious solutions is genuinely fascinating, and we can't wait to see how these engines hold up over the course of a season. The championship could be decided on reliability alone.

Oh, and if you're worried about the sound, check out this Ferrari F1 engine hidden inside a LaFerrari mule. Not bad.