BMW F1 Engines
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- Published on Thursday, 09 August 2012 10:52
BMW engines have been actively involved in Formula One Racing in a number of capacities since the inauguration of the World Drivers Championship in back in the year 1950. The 1980’s saw the construction of the BMW M12/13 4 cylinder in-line turbo engine. The engine was a 1500 cc four cylinder engine, based on the standard BMW M10 engine introduced in 1961 which powered the F1 cars of Brabham, Arrows and Benneton and won the world championship in 1983.
This BMW F1 powered engine was the result of a BMW and Brabham partnership deal, which was the result in the constructors team chassis being powered by a BMW engine from 1982 until 1987.
The drivers name was Nelson Piquet who inspired a period of driving in which he won the 1983 championship. BMW Power also supplied the same BMW engine variant M12/13 on a customer basis to team that would brand the BMW name such as ATS, Arrows, Benetton, and Ligier Racing Teams during this period. In 1988, Brabham temporarily withdrew from the sport and BMW withdrew its official backing from the engines, which were still used by the Arrows team.
Turbocharged engines were banned by the revised Formula One Regulations for 1989 thus rendering the BMW M12/13 engines, obsolete and it was at this time BMW subsided momentarily in F1 Racing until their return in the late 1990’s with the Williams team.
In the years 1986 and 1987, the version M12/13/1 was tilted sideways by 72° for use in the extremely low Brabham BT55. The design was not successful, probably due to cooling issues in the tight engine compartment.
The Williams withdrew from Renault in 1997 and needed a new long term engine supplier and BMW was the engine of choice. The amalgamation program resulted in the creation of a new V10 engine which made its race début in the Williams FW22 in the year of 2000.
The following year saw the partnership move from midfield finishes to many challenges for race victories. The championship remained elusive due to the dominating race wins by Michael Schumacher in the Ferrari during the first half of the racing calendar of the year 2000. By 2005 BMW and Williams parted and BMW bought the rival Sauber team outright.
BMW and the Sauber project lasted for three years from 2006 – 2009 in which they managed two podium finishes in the first year and followed by a solid third in the Constructors' Championship in 2007. In 2008, Robert Kubica won the team's one and only F1 race.
The 2009 season was a flawed seaon as the F1.09 chassis proved uncompetitive and combined with the a world-wide recession found the company frustrated over F1 rules in which time BMW chose to withdraw from the sport, selling the team back to its founder, Peter Sauber who worked with BMW to develop a rescue package that would allow the team to continue in the sport without the manufacturer's backing.
On 3 December 2009, the FIA announced it had confirmed Peter Sauber's entry for the 2010 Formula One Racing season had been granted, and Sauber regained ownership of the team.
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