[jluetjen]

Originally Posted by blue72s

Somebody at another forum has quoted that 350cc per cylinder is the most efficient:


Looks like Ferdinand did it right first time round with the 901 (350cc x 6 = 2.1)

Do you agree?

I don't know -- Keith Duckworth designed the DFV with 375 cc per cylinder and that worked pretty good! Before the DFV, the "magical" cylinder capacity was 250 cc's. Do you know why? Because of the very high outputs generated with 500 cc 2-cylinder racing motorcycle engines. My understanding is that at least some of the F1 engine designers in the 60's ended up designing their combustion cambers and porting by either copying or modifying what was being done on the 500 cc motorcycle engines. The Weslake V12 in Dan Gurney's Eagle was one prominent example, where the engine was essentially one cylinder from a Shell 500 cc test engine developed by Frank Aubry Woods, multiplied by 12.