VINTAGE: Porsche Overpowered In F1 Racing Bid

Automotive Lifestyle

VINTAGE: Porsche Overpowered In F1 Racing Bid

German automaker's air-cooled flat-8, outdated chassis design doomed Grand Prix attempt.

Wouter Melissen | http://www.ultimatecarpage.com | Posted June 08, 2009 Paris (FRA)

Chassis 804-02 was one of the two cars entered in the 1962 season opening Dutch Grand Prix. It was driven by Dan Gurney until his gear-linkage broke on lap 47. (Photo: Wouter Melissen)

Porsche has always had a very rational approach to the company's racing activities; there has always been a justification for the spent resources. The racing cars either served as a rolling laboratory for parts of upcoming production cars or were sold to customers and contributed to the company's revenue. More often than not, it was a combination of the two. That the competition successes also had marketing benefits was just a bonus.

Neither justification ground applied to Formula 1 cars. They boasted technology that had little relevance for Porsche's road cars and the market for them was very small. The German manufacturer forgot about all that for a moment. Before they came to their senses, the Type 804 F1 car had raced for a full season.

In all honesty, it was a rule change that'lured Porsche into F1. In the late 1950s, the German manufacturer ventured out into the popular Formula 2 class. The first Porsche single seater was a center-seat version of the 550A sports racers and used an identical four-cylinder engine. These were remarkably successful and were quickly followed by a purpose built F2 car.

Porsche designed an air-cooled flat-8 engine that was down on power compared with the F1 competition, but the car was more aerodynamic without radiators. (Photo: Wouter Melissen)

From the start of the 1961 season, the F2 regulations were carried over to F1. This brought Grand Prix racing within the reach of Porsche. Many of the leading teams doubted the rules would really be changed and started their preparations late. Although Porsche had a lead start, they only fielded a further development of their four-cylinder F2 car in 1961. Behind the scenes, the brand new Type 804 was prepared.

Starting with a clean sheet, Porsche's engineers had the opportunity to explore a wide variety of engine configuration. Having looked at 12- and even 16-cylinder designs, they finally settled for a flat-8. The new Type 753 engine featured a magnesium crankcase with eight separate cylinders. Each aluminum cylinder sported an aluminum-alloy head assembly of its own.

Inside the individual heads were two valves, which were actuated by twin overhead camshafts. In good Porsche practice, the camshafts were driven by the crankshaft through shafts. A shaft was also used to drive the horizontal fan for the air-cooled engine. The components were designed to run at over 10,000 rpm, but peak power was initially produced at around 9,200. There, the 1495 cc engine developed just shy of 180 horsepower. That was not quite as much as the competition, but the Porsche engine did not have to drag large water radiators through the air.

Mated to a six-speed gearbox, the Type 753 engine was mounted midships in a purpose-built multi-tubular steel space-frame chassis. The frame was relatively wide to accommodate the flat-8 engine but as a result was relatively low. Front suspension was through double wishbones, which actuated longitudinal torsion bars. The top wishbone was connected to the shock absorbers, which were mounted vertically and in-board. At the rear a similar configuration was used, although only one torsion bar was used that doubled as an anti-roll bar.

Disc brakes of Porsche's own design were fitted front and rear. They were unusual in that they had the caliper mounted on the inside. The rolling chassis was clothed tightly in an aluminum skin. The only interference in the slippery shape was a small hole in the nose for the oil cooler. At 1,012 pounds, the completed machine was just 22 pounds overweight.

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ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Wouter Melissen

UltimateCarPage.com

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