What Makes a Good Engine?

Wow, the first real article, y'know sometimes you don't know how much you love something until you leave it. Anyway enough about that, what makes an engine good? 

Reliability: We hear a ton about this from all over, but what does reliability really mean? Well, it means that all the parts of the engine work for the full race period. As engineers love to say, the more parts something has, the more things can go wrong, and with all the different components of a Formula One power unit, well, you can see why reliability is an art form.

Weight: Ferrari hasn't seemed to figure out what this word means yet but it's crucial nonetheless. Engines take up so much space and effect the center of gravity so much that total weight and distribution of weight are extremely important. 

Angle: One of the challenges of having a 'V' shaped engine is deciding at what angle the V should be. A wide angle (wider V) gives a lower center of gravity, but a smaller angle takes up less space and the pistons meet less resistance. 

Timing: This isn't so specific to the engine itself but to the teams that manage it. Much like front wings, the engine is changed from race to race. They change the timing of the camshafts (which I don't fully understand so don't feel bad if it seems ridiculously advanced.) to accomidate the tracks. Depending on your team they my have a better or worse setup for the engine, and some will be able to adapt to new tracks better than others. (experience is key in this sense)

Addition: Why do the new engines sound so much different?

Well, while it may seem hard to believe when driving a Pontiac Aztec or a Toyota Prius, there are actually explosions occurring in the engine of the car. The turbo uses the exhaust to create more power by feeding the once wasted gasoline back into the engine. This means the exhaust leaves the engine less frequently. Also, with two less cylinders, there are naturally 25% less explosions in the engine. Is there anything that can be done? I'll leave that for a future post. Thank you for reading!