Common Engines for a Common Idiot

Max “The Littlest Perv” Mosley in all his *glory*.

FIA president Max Mosley favours the introduction of a common engine across the board for Formula One race cars.

He told a French newspaper that the measure would help put a lid on the sport’s exploding costs. Mosley also said development of a common engine would help make F1 research more applicable to ordinary automobiles.

Is it just me?

Does anyone else see the the proposal floated in the first paragraph negating any possibility of events detailed in the second from ever happening?

Maybe I’m stupid, but if forced into participating using a spec engine what incentive would there be to develop technology applicable to street vehicles? Sure they could develop parts and pieces that are common across the board, innocuous things where tech transfer doesn’t compromise proprietary information.

Having a common engine you limit chances of applicable technology being developed. Less manufacturer engine depts equals less engineers, equals less chances of somethine coming out of the pipeline.

What will Max have the manufactures do, brain storm within their engineering depts then submit proposals for cost cutting or “ecco-friendly” technology to the entity selected to produce the engines?

How does that cut down costs with any large scale benefit?

I won’t even touch the brand identity thing, it’s patently obvious the big reason the likes of BMW or Honda are in the sport and it damn sure isn’t to place some generic lump of high tech metal in the back of their machines.

I guess Max hasn’t learned a damn thing from his KERS project that’s been imposed of F1.

Several teams are producing their own KERS system and you can bet your last dollar they will produce it at a faster pace, and with more diverse ideas by having more “heads together,” than it a single team would be capable of and the end turn out a better product.

And get this, as reported by L’Equipe, Max’s final word was him calling teams’ investment in technology development “irrational.”

Pardon me while I invoke the Pot, Kettle, Black rule.

Tags: BMW, F1, Formula One, Honda, KERS, Max Mosley