PENSKE'S WARP ENGINE! The Story of the 500I 'BEAST'
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- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 31 ต.ค. 2021
- In 1994, Penske took advantage in a loophole in the Indycar rulebook allowing for bigger engines at Indianapolis compared to what they were using in CART events. It was a loophole that allowed for a one off engine that none of the other manufacturers had noticed.
It was a black ops project that rivalled the F117 and other top secret Skunkworks projects.
As you can imagine, it ripped CART a new one.
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Photo Credits:
Sauber 1994: Martin Lee en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sauber_...
Merceds 500I: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mercede...
Concorde: upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedi...
Penske PC23: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Penske_...
Penske PC23 Indy 500: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Penske_...
2004 McLaren: Rick Dikeman en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mercede...
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Al Unser Jr. didn't race in the 1995 Indy 500. After the Penske PC-24s were found to be not up to snuff, The Captain bought a Reynard for Al Jr. on his request . Unser later said that as it was an off-the-shelf car rather than the usual bespoke cars he had, he couldn't get comfortable or up to speed. After that, Penske borrowed a couple of Lolas from Team Rahal (they'd already qualified and the backup cars were available). Penske's engineers chucked out the Rahal setup sheets and made the same mistakes on the Lolas as they did on the Penskes, resulting in a third DNQ for the team. After that, they gave up and went home.
Roger did consider buying some already qualified cars for Unser and Fittipaldi (yes, you can do this and it has happened), but in the end he decided it wasn't the right thing to do.
Also that was Mario Andretti's last Indy 500.
The PC-24 was an update of the previous year's car, but without the horsepower advantage that covered up some handling issues on the superspeedways. When it became obvious that the car wasn't going to work, Penske then went through first buying a Reynard that they didn't have time to set up and then renting Rahal's backup cars (made easier due to their sharing a common sponsor, Phillip Morris). Ignoring Rahal's setups they were far off the pace and the sight of Penske's transporters driving out of Gasoline Alley were a hard pill for Rodger Penske to swallow. To him, Indy is the only race that matters. It's why he has invested so much into winning there and when the Hullman/George family wanted to sell, he was the obvious choice
when you consider what sauber wanted for a bottom pack f1 team, penske got the speedway , indycar series , indycar broadcasting , all the rights assets and sposnorships for not much more . bargain .
Setup Scales were incorrect in the garage, all the cars went across those scales, and they all sucked.
So sad they sold. Was such a big deal in my hometown
I thought you meant the Pilatus PC24 for a minute there
@@Thegrizzy321 - And also according to Al Unser Jr. in his biography, Paul Tracy ran a 231 in a 95 car with a 94 floor. He also discovered that no one thought to put a softer front anti-roll bar to free up the front end. Penske was a bit of a mess in 95 and drove into the gutter in 97 thanks to Goodyear tires.
Another interesting possible future episode for you would be the 2004 IRL "Chevworth" engine. When GM's in-house engine was getting seriously spanked by Honda (Ilmor) and Toyota, GM actually went crawling to Ford-Cosworth for help. Cosworth had an IRL engine sitting on the shelf and Chevrolet slapped their badge on it - the Gen IV.
Cosworth was never exclusively Ford, Cosworth had history with GM in the 70s... It's basically always been Ilmor vs Cosworth with manufacture badging.
I have a "neighbor" who was a Penske crew chief when this engine was developed. His memorabilia included pistons, push rods and other bits from one of the engines they developed. He shared a number of "war stories" that dovetail nicely with other accounts I have seen.
The fact that they flew the Concorde for a part in England and back asap is what makes a winner.
The thought of Mario in his house in Nazareth hearing noises from a Penske-owned facility and becoming amused by it is a hell of a thought.
I found this very cool myself.
As I recall, those overnight workers at the off-limit warehouse worked by candle light and portable lanterns, so as not to increase the power bill and raise flags with anyone in the accounts payable department.
Though the Penske chassis of that year dominated the season, with multiple podium lockouts and sweeping the top three in points, it was not as suited to big ovals as the other cars and the only race they didn't run well at was the Michigan 500. That issue could be masked with a massive hp advantage, but as the 95 car was an evolution of the 94, the problem carried over and without the power advantage, they missed the show. Unser did, in fact miss the race. Fittipaldi tried a Rahal backup, but was unable to get it up to speed. Unser kept trying with the Penske chassis as he knew it would be good in the race, but never got that far.
Not sure I entirely believe that - they would have needed good lighting to work to a high standard.
The Ilmor 500I is my favorite story of a race engine that came out of nowhere and smoked everybody. I lived about 50 miles from Indianapolis in 1994, and went to qualifying just to hear and see the 500I run. It had a richer tone than the V6 stockblocks, but not as harsh as the DOHC race engines. I read and watch everything I can find about it. Oh, and look: the 1994 Indy 500 has magically appeared on my feed list!
I was at that race - infield stands, Turn 2 exit. It was zingg zinggzingg zingg WOOM zingg zingg WOOM
"The Beast" by Jade Gurss is an excellent book in its own right, let alone THE OFFICIAL story on this fascinating. I finished it over a rainy weekend.
I remember watching the race, the Penskes just f'd off
first video i see of the day and it's a good one, thanks aiden. legend as always
I recently found your channel. Just want to say its absolutely wonderful. Keep up the great work.
As always, fantastic content. Well done! I was actually at that Indy 500.
I never knew this story before and that's the kind of video I wanted for this grey Sunday,
Thanks Aidan!
Another great video. I love those !
Hello Aidan: I really enjoy these story time videos. Also, I like you sense of humour. Stay well and safe.
Great work!
So nice to find out, that there is a video from you on a subject I am interested. I know that you got the data and facts right and I don't have to search no further.
this was awesome, love thes videos
@@F-Man is now I guess, this guy is the modern Shakespeare
Extremely enjoyable video...
Adain: "why doesn't IndyCar time it like everyone else?"
David Land: "and I took that personally"
Like everything else.
DL is just a click baiter, half his videos are just him making outlandish claims that end up being wrong.
Quali laps are listed by mph... But it is timed just like everyone else.... They just list the average mph rather than the actual lap times because saying "pole position is 225mph" instead of "pole was set with average lap time of 39.429 seconds" is more impressive to someone who doesn't follow racing.
It's just to gain attention... Listing off a lap time doesn't show the average non racing fan how incredibly fast those cars were.
Most people have no idea what a fast lap time is, but they know that 225mph is REALLY fast.
Closest example I can think of for comparison is the "fastest lap in f1 history"... Always at monza of course... But when you heard or read about that record, whether it was Juan Montoya or most recently Lewis setting the new record, they almost invariably listed the average mph of the lap along with the time... Basically it's just more impressive to say Lewis averaged 163.274 mph (or whatever it was) than saying he did a lap time under 1:10 because a random time doesn't mean anything, in and of itself, but 163mph or 225mph is very obviously an incredibly fast car.
Anyways yet another good video, and as an American and Indycar fan it's nice to see brits and other nationalities talking about Indycar racing. Indycar has a very rich history and has all the drama and bufoonery as f1 or any other racing series, it's just not as popular worldwide because they don't race internationally. In the 80s and 90s Indycar racing (CART at the time) was gaining in popularity, the cars were almost as fast as f1 cars, and they had international superstar drivers like The Nigel and Mario Andretti... Bernie was VERY concerned about the rising popularity and looked at CART as a direct competitor to f1.
Actually - that would be a really cool video Aiden...
Look up how Bernie interfered and got stuck into "THE SPLIT" bc he knew that breaking Indycar into 2 bodies would weaken it while f1 was going strong as ever. Bernie and Tony George (founder of the idiotic and terrible IRL) were absolutely in bed together, but Bernie was as cunning and manipulative as ever and he burnt both ends of the candle. He would snuggle up with literally anyone who helped serve the purpose of making f1 bigger and bigger.
Bernie was a big supporter of Tony George and repayed Tony by giving him the rights to the USGP to be held at Indianapolis. Because the George family owned the Indianapolis Motor Speedway.
It all went pretty deep and there was a lot of back stabbing and false promises, as well as bribes and black mail. Everything necessary for a full drama of epic proportions, and the CART/IRL split was a fuck up of major proportion.
Indycar still hasn't recovered, but it is definitely getting closer. The Indycar engine regs coming into play soon are going to mean that Indycars have comparable power to f1 cars, and 1,000hp is a realistic number. That includes the hybrid boost, but the cars are about to get MUCH faster, louder, and there are bigger and bigger names coming into Indycar now.
@@csonkaperdido Indy doesn't do "lap times" because speed is the attraction at oval tracks. F1 wouldn't use "lap speed" as a rule, as even the record Monza lap speed isn't impressive when compared (in a vacuum) to the lap speeds of entry-level stock car beaters on a mid-sized oval track. Reading your account of Indy, I wonder what "really" happened to Can Am racing?
@@xxxYYZxxx yep exactly.. That's what I meant about saying "pole position is 200mph" instead of "pole position is 30 - whatever seconds"... Obviously anything that can average over 200 on a closed circuit is an absolute monster of a race car.
I beg to differ about the monza vs stock cars though...
In my opinion, and you know what they say about opinions and assholes lol... But you gotta remember that 160-ish mph average includes the first chicane, which is taken at literally 30mph... And the 2 Lesmo turns which are definitely quick, but they are not flat out by any means. 4th gear corners, which is equivalent to a 2nd or maybe 3rd gear on any car with a 6 speed rather than the complex 8 speed trannies of the F1 cars. The acceleration those cars are capable of is just astonishing.
Stock cars also have banking to help the speed, which is a slightly artificial way to go faster. If Daytona and talladega were not banked at 30+ degrees even Cup cars would struggle to average the speeds of the F1 car at monza.
Don't get me wrong - the fact that ANY 3500lb car can turn laps at Charlotte, or Atlanta and average in the 180-190mph range is absolutely awesome - but the banking really jumps the speeds up.
As far as the Can Am series goes, it was well before my time. But I am in love with the Porsche 917 and the fact that Porsche managed almost 1500hp from an AIR COOLED, turbo engine is just an engineering feat of unequaled awesomeness. Turbo engines are just massive heat pumps and the fact that they could keep it cool enough to not have detonation problems, and be as reliable as they were in race trim pushing 1100ish hp is just incredible.
The McLaren cars with the 600ci big blocks are awesome as well... Not anywhere near the engineering feat of the 917, but still just brutally fast. I saw one of the early 70s McLaren Can Am cars - I believe it was called the M8 or maybe MC8... Something with an 8 in the name I'm pretty sure.. And dude it was TINY! Literally just an engine with a roll cage and a steering box covered by the thinnest, most flimsy fiberglass I'd ever seen. But they were absolutely awesome race cars.
My thought is that the oil embargo spelled the end of Can Am... But I could be wrong. They tried multiple times to use the can am name... First with F5000 cars with added bodywork that were absolutely the ugliest racing cars ever... Then in the 90s they tried using the Can Am name again, but they were just World Sports Cars.. Aka Le Mans prototype cars. Close in spirit to Can Am cars which were the original "prototype" cars - but the series was a mess and the name didn't stick because it was 20+ years after the real Can Am series died off and the name was just a marketing gimmick. They were known was WSC cars to everyone and the regulations were called World Sports Car so rebadging them as Can Am was kinda stupid.
I wish there was still a "run what you brung" series... But the new FIA regulations for the Hypercar class is really, really interesting and by far the most open set of regulations in any racing series today.
Wanna run a twin turbo V8? Go for it... Wanna run a high revving, small displacement 4.2L V8 screamer? Go for it! Wanna run a hybrid that makes 1000hp? GO FOR IT! I am super excited about 2024-onwards, because Le Mans is the greatest race in the world and the cars are about to become the most diverse in the world. I don't care for Nascar bc there's no actual link between the race cars and the road cars they're based on - supposedly.
When someone shows me a 5 speed, rear wheel drive, pushrod V8 powered Toyota camry I'll think about changing my mind - but Nascar just doesn't excite me at all. Far, far too many BS gimmicks with the plate racing, the stage racing, and the utterly ridiculous playoff system... I just can't take it seriously. The cars are identical except for the stickers on the front, the engines are identical, and it just doesn't do it for me.
6-7 inches are 150-175mm. 2 inches are 50mm. That's quite a difference: less friction and notably less weight, since they could make them way smaller in diameter because short = less flexing.
I'm an F1 fanboy, but will listen to you talk about other topics as you talk a great story. Imagine that, rocket car racing!
That 1995 Indy 500 qualifying deserves its own story time. It's like Brazil failing to qualify for the World Cup for people who understand football more than racing.
Also one of the most awkward 500’s ever with The Split about to happen
@@WyldStallion-bs9oo al jr. lost it because penske failing to make the 500 flipped a switch in his head where he went into prime tony adams alcoholic mode. he's still not over it. then there was firestone coming back to indycar and dusting all the Goodyear teams and since roger owns a bunch of goodyear distribution centers he was obligated to keep running goodyears. then there's the general problem of the fact that they all of a sudden sucked at building a chassis. they didn't become good again til they gave up and got the reynold/honda package that won 4 straight titles with ganassi and were forced onto the firestones once goodyear quit open wheel racing.
CART in the 90's was just amazing. Image if tony George had not fucked over the series. Ironic that modern Indycar look more like CART then IRL with out the mad cars.
The race did a really great podcast on this topic
I would like to launch a conspiracy theory that F1 paid Tony George to f-up CART. If that is not it then its just that TG was enough of a douche that when CART sometimes said "no" to him he was the child who takes his baseball and goes home. Now, no one cares about US open-wheel spec-car racing, no one is even sure if they still run the Indy 500, and he is flipping burgers after losing his family half a billion dollars. I would pay to see him on an episode of "This Is Your Life."
@@ElsinoreRacer nah that given fia to much credit. Tony was just an ego has played off his position. There always has been a fight between indy500 and the series.
NASCAR, the true winner of the split, had much more to do with this than Bernie. They also gave Tony a sweetheart rate for their ISC owned tracks for 10 years that made Cup season ticket holders buy IndyCar tickets when they raced at an ISC track. Al Unser Jr. biography that came out a month or two ago pitched the most decent defense of George being scared CART was going to take off and ignore Indy. It still doesn't work because George instagated a Self-Fullfilling Prophecy that made his fear come true.
Worked in the stores at Ilmor during this project. Completely bonkers project. There was a tangible sense that we were going to write some motorsport history in May. We SO outdid ourselves that year! I think my favourite anecdote from the month of May was that Penske had to go and get the wheel rims sandblasted to offer more resistance to the torque they were transmitting. At the start of the month the tyres were slipping on the rims!
I'd really love to see someone do an indepth analysis on this engine (with the actual ENGINE in situ) and really cool would be a teardown of one with someone on the design team pointing out and talking about the various components as it comes down..
Thank you
Unser, Fittipaldi and Tracy was monster trios in 1994.
Going along with this story...the 1995 Indy 500 bump day would be a great story time!!
Great story and video. Have you done one yet on JV's Indy 500 win?
The main disadvantage to pushrod engines is that, as far as I'm aware anyway, it's unfeasible to run more than 2 valves per cylinder, since the camshaft sits in the middle of the engine rather than at the top (which allows for more spacing and more control over valve angle compared to a pushrod design). That, and a pushrod design necessitates moving an entire pushrod up and down, rather than just the valve like in an OHC setup, so this lowers the maximum threshold of engine RPM the valvetrain can withstand before parts start to fail.
Anyone who has a bit of technical engine knowledge probably knows that more RPM usually means more power. I mean, that's a fundamental aspect of the horsepower equation (even though a lot of people mistakenly think that torque is what makes a car move... spoiler alert: it's not). So the fact that theoretical maximum RPM is lower is an inherent disadvantage. Take a pushrod engine that is valvetrain limited and put an OHC head on it, and it probably won't be too difficult to make it rev higher.
That said, by far the bigger limiting factor for pushrod designs is the 2-valve restriction. Not only does a 4-valve head allow for better valve angles, it also allows for better port volume for a given amount of valve shrouding. That is, two valves of a certain combined area block less of the air passage than a larger single valve of the same area. It's why so many modern cars use 4-valve heads, because they're just more efficient, especially at higher RPMs, and you can do really cool things with tumble and swirl of the air-fuel mixture when you limit the opening of one of the valves (see Honda's implementation of i-VTEC on the US 2000 Civic Si for a great example of this). A 4-valve design also lends itself to better quench, which utilizes the material on the head surrounding the valves at the edges of the combustion chamber to squeeze the air-fuel mixture at the outer areas towards the center of the combustion chamber, leading to more homogenous mixture, creating more consistent combustion and less detonation, allowing for more boost and better power.
*That* said, big power can be and still is made with pushrod engines, and they can rev quite well, too. The Corvette still uses a pushrod engine (with the exception of the rare DOHC excursion of the C4 ZR1 in the early 90's). All of the air-cooled (road car) Porsche engines were 2-valve designs with the exception of the 959. While pushrod, 2-valve engines tend to make great low-end torque, the brute force method of giant intake ports and giant valves works quite well in race engines and is a formula that is still used today. So it kind of blows my mind that they allowed pushrod engines double the displacement AND significantly more boost. This was a loophole that should have been seen coming a mile away, and I suspect that the only reason more people didn't jump on it immediately is because it doesn't seem to have been very apparent that the stock block requirement had been dropped.
Applied for an internship at the IMS. If I ever meet Roger I will be asking him about the beast
The new Iilmor is also the company that makes the spec engines for the NASCAR ARCA and Truck series.
I was lucky to work at the Poole office from 2000 to 03, and work on the fastest closed course car ever. :)
But also got to see the """"Merc"""" Penske's close up. The thing was just a beautiful thing to look at and so very cool. It was pretty funny we had a lock up down the road in Upton, it housed so many historic cars and priceless items, All in a crummy looking shed with a padlock. :p
Another fun fact is Penske Poole use to make some of the heat shielding for the McLaren F1 car's even in the early 00's i have no clue why we did it, we just did. :p
Aaand now Im remembering the Ilmor 800 motogp project...
Thank you Aidan :)
"the loophole" was not for a bigger engine in cart . the same displacement stock block pushrod engines had run indy and cart since 1985 but only at indy were they allowed more boost to make the competitive . some cars ran buick stock block v6s outside of indy with normal boost at cart events , street courses and other ovals , but they were not competitive. even at indy they were fast , but unreliable . they would qualify well but slowly drop away race day. "the loophole" came in 1991 where the "stock" part of the rule was changed and the pushrod engines no longer had to have stock consumer engine base and could be a built from the ground up as pure race engine. it wasn't really a loophole , it was totally intended that someone could and would build an engine like the beast - a custom built pushrod race engine. but it took 3 years for someone to do it and in applying the same boost and displacement as the old stock block formula they gave it a massive unforeseen advantage
I said it was for a bigger engine in USAC.
@@AidanMillward he's mostly right though...the advantage wasn't in the displacement...it was in the extra boost. For several years the Buick push-rods would smoke qualifying but would have to turn down the boost to even attempt to last 500 miles. Even then, most of them threw a rod long before the end of the race. Penske's challenge wasn't finding the horsepower, it was finding a way to make the engine last 500 miles at maximum boost.
The greatest engine of motorsports history.
It's interesting hearing how some big companies come about; the initial one or two owners, how they develop, change ownership, get renamed... But at the end they (often) maintain that spark of magic that made them so popular in the beginning. Here, hearing how they built the Beast, even if it was just going to be a one-race-wonder, it _was_ a wonder!
Similarly, if you look at Alpha Tauri, via Toro Rosso, and back to Minardi (and wasn't there another one before that? Or perhaps I'm mixing it up with someone else. These days the memory isn't so good regarding specifics), who were one of the most popular teams on the grid, even with fanatical fans (nice bit of tautology there. I'm just back from physio, unfortunately it does nothing for my ability to think...) of other teams and/or drivers, every point they ever scored was celebrated across the board as if they won the race.
And then one very wet day in Italy... Stoddard's insistence on the team remaining in Italy kept the heart of the team beating, and their passion for pure racing has never gone. Even now it's run by a pretty unpopular overlord (not Tost, of course, his bosses), whenever they do well, everyone is happy for them - even if they hate RB.
AT is a prime example of the Ilmor/Cosworth "factor", even though they have different parts to play in motorsports. Their names conjure up magic done in the name of engineering. So much as I enjoyed the race part of the tale, I think I loved the engineering part of it the most. I grew up with these names and they mean a lot to me. (When I was 17 - getting on for 40 years ago! Ooh brother 🤦🏻♀️- I worked at the Ford plant where we built the Sierra Cozza engine. First job - youth training scheme. Lasted 6 weeks before I got a proper one! But I'll always have a soft spot for that engine and the guys in the Animal House where, iirc, the pistons were built. Great guys!)
Minardi was bought by Paul Stoddard and became European Minardi. Stoddard then sold the company to Red Bull with the proviso that it remain in Italy or no deal. The team remained Toro Rosso until last year, when it was renamed Alpha Tauri after Red Bull's clothing company. And a loyal cadre of fans who still see them as the underdogs from Faenza
1000 HP on Indy.. back in the 90's
Fucking hell, people are MAD back then 0_0
From what i remember from a video i watched before, they used to slow down alot more going into the turns in indy500. The fact that current indycars can run near or at the 230mph average in quali is due to higher cornering speeds and much more advanced aero and tire technology.
In the early seventies, they were running Offy engines with 1000 horsepower on unlimited boost. Which didn't last long because a) the cars were going way too fast for the chassis at the time and b) the engines were blowing up faster than they could be rebuillt. Still, it was an era where drivers like Bobby Unser were gods
The regular Illmor and Ford Cosworth 2.8L Turbo V8s were making about 750 horsepower. CART eventually got to that level of power about 5 years later. Check out the 2001 CART race at Texas Motor Speedway on how brutal those CART beasts were.
And IndyCar also gets higher qualifying speeds now because for qualy weekends they give the teams the short oval boost for the engines (625 ish horsepower) before putting them back to super speedway boost (550 ish horsepower).
Much was made of the power output but the real prize was the torque; IMS had been modified after the 1992 race, removing the wide aprons and installing a "warm-up lane". This effectively made each turn tighter (back in the day it was permissible to race and even pass below the white line), so the big torque allowed them to fire out of the corner better.
Also, USAC's real motivation for banning it (strictly speaking they never banned it, they just neutered it with low boost) was not so much that it was so fast, but that it went against the ethos of the engine formula. The pushrods, as you say, were supposed to be a relatively inexpensive option for those who had neither the need nor the cash to take out a season-long lease deal with Ilmor or Cosworth. But though the 500I was to be offered to other teams for 1995, it would only be available to those who already had a deal with Ilmor for its 2.65 litre quad-cam V8 used at every other track.
I have that race ('94 Indy 500) recorded on VHS.
❤😁🇬🇧 . Maybe a story about the BMW grenade engines . Leaving the blocks outside, encouraging the workers to urinate on them, etc. So much hype, it's nice to see some oblective analysis.
I was an Andretti / Newman-Haas fan. I hated Penske and Under Jr. They spoiled so many opps for Michael. (Also, I was under 10yrs old during that era, haha)
But that engine and the story around it is literally legend and I have nothing but respect. The fact they literally tested at Nazereth Speedway under the nose of Andretti who lived there, is just ballsy AF.
And using the Concorde to ship parts overnight/same day? Just insane.
Oh, I'm an IndyCar "purist" and the fact they do average mph is DUMB and I hate it.
Fun fact, it was last used in the 2021 Brazilian Grand Prix
What it was was a dual overhead cam engine. But in order to take advantage of the rules they put a 2 inch push rod between the valve stems and the dual overhead camshafts.
Thus it got the extra boost and displacement of the pushrod engines of Buick
No, it was single cam in block, 2 valves per cylinder, sort of a hemi combustion chamber. I'm sure you can find images of it on Google. The pushrods were longer than 2".
Iimor Beast. Lives up to the name. It should have be my weapon to beat the Cossie-powered cars.
If you flip the Mercedes aluminum plate over it says ilmoror chevy. My buddy was one of the parts runners to the concord
Mario illien of ilmor was a genius they tried to make a motogp bike when they were 800cc
7:30 because it's easier to read the speed gaps than the time gaps, for example on pole day 5 cars did 231mph but 13 cars did a time of 2:35 and most separated by hundredths of a second from one another
Also because they all really run the same qualifying line on a track designed for as little breaking as possible, and thus they can't complete the lap that much faster unless they just have a lot more power.
It's a lot easier to say an average of 231.034 instead of pole being 41.02340 and 2nd being 41.02341.
Actually Unser didn’t race at the 500 in 1995. He and Fittipaldi were at the Speedway on race day but to help with the sponsor commitments.
Thanks for the metrics!
Hope in future everybody measeure engine power in watts, because.... it is right.
Do you know who defined what a Horsepower is?
@@andyharman3022 Which horsepower: HP, CV, bhp or PS? And regarding you retoric question let me reply with a ironic trivia "Who came up with horsepower? Well it depends on the horse we are talking", and it isn't at all a joke.
@@festol1 It was James Watt that originally defined the Horsepower. The technical definition is 550 lb*ft/sec. The other units of power such as kW, CV, PS, BTU/sec, or whatever are all readily convertible into HP. None of it is right or wrong, they're just different numbers that measure the same physical quantities.
I never heard Turbo whistling like that
1995 Penske garage setup scales alignment rack was a half inch off in one corner, creating incorrect corner weight adjustments. They didn’t figure it out until was too late.
Roger Penske has been finding "loopholes" in rules his whole career dating right back to his days racing Class 1 offshore powerboats in the early 70's. That he is an incredibly successful businessman and race team owner is undoubted. His ethics however may well be questioned by anyone paying attention........
His protege Mark Donohue wrote the book on his and Penske's strategy in racing. It's called "The Unfair Advantage". Everything is laid bare and it was written when it was thought Donohue was retired from active driving.
I think what's ironic is that Penske ended up taking partnership with Porsche instead of Mercedes years later. (Yes i do know rumors of Mr.Penske as potential buyer for the current Mercedes team)
Penske's history with Porsche is far longer than his with Mercedes. Remember the 917 Panzers that basically ended the Can-Am series? That the first IROC cars were 911 Carrera RSes fresh off the production line? Porsche went to Penske to run their LMP2 program, and with the next generation at LeMans they're teaming back up again
@@arthuralford 917+oil crisis=series ded.
Good story, Aidan. I remember that month of May. Penske proved again that he was the smartest guy in motorsports. BTW, peel off any racing engine badge these days, and it probably says "Ilmor" or "Mechachrome" underneath. I suppose Ferrari is still the exception? I believe I read that both current IndyCar engines are either built or prepped by Ilmor.
No. American Honda has their own setup in California.
Good story
That last minute finishing of the engine just in time to race is almost identical to the Chrysler 426 Hemi just barely making it to the 1964 Daytona 500.
Have you considered doing a video on Richie Evans ?
Ilmor also built a 800cc MotoGP bike.
Even if I already know the story hearing it here is somehow better
I was at that that race. The I500 had a sound like nothing else on the track. That race should have gone to Paul Tracy... but the racing gods said Emmo...
Tracy was down on power all race not because of the engine itself but because of what turned out to be a bad turbocharger bearing. The turbo finally fragged itself at almost exactly the same time as Dennis Vitolo landed on top of Nigel Mansell.
Having this video recommend to me and it opens with Penske looking for unfair advantages, man owns the sport and most important track, and is still in the headlines for cheating
penske is the Tony stark of racing...prove me wrong
Aidan, I really enjoy your content so please accept this as constructive criticism. I, too, read the excellent book "Beast" so that is my source for the following. You were unclear regarding the loophole Rodger Penske was seeking to exploit. The "stock block/pushrod" engine rule essentially allowed more boost for back markers using the "stock block" Buick. As most of the teams were using the "racing block" Cosworth the organizers figured the only entrants who would benefit from the pushrod boost rule were those using the relatively less expensive Buick unit. They rightfully didn't think it financially feasible for a team to develop a pushrod racing unit just for one race.
Penske, of course, was really the only team with the resources to undertake such a costly development and on this I have my second nit to pick. You state that Mercedes stepped in to finance the project. Not according to the book. Penske financed the whole thing and then offered "naming rights" to MB as a gift owing to the business relationships Penske had with them over the years in various forms.
Didn't Illmoor become Mercedes AMG HPP?
Edit: Yup, yup I jumped the gun.
That unfair engine rule was around since 1985 and Smokey Yunic ran same type engine in the 1970
The engine was so powerful that the team did not realize that the chassis, which only they were using, was so bad that it could not qualify with an engine that was equal to the comptitors. Thus the lack of any Penske team car aualfying the ne t year.
The idea USAC had was stock block street engine blocks that could be modified to run in the 500. The Buick V6 was always making runs at pole but the engine never would survive 500 miles because it was well...a modified street engine.
Penske made the perfect engine to fit the rules. It was epic smart to win but that loophole had to be closed.
Still a great story
The Buick stock block had nothing common with the engine you could buy in any street car of the day. All of the major castings were race-specific. Stage II was Buick's race engine terminology.
@@andyharman3022 the block was the same configuration as the 3.8 Turbo the Grand National Regal had. Size and config were the same. But ya. All the bits and pieces were massaged and replaced and they ran that ridiculous boost which made power but it was a hand grenade before it got to half way most ,500's
A year old vid? Imma comment anyway!
Only thing I'd to an excellent report is that, here in the US, after the Mercedes rebadge, that car was called the "Penske Panzer".
As an insult.
You got the boost wrong. It was .5 bar for the "race" engines and .8 bar for the stock block. USAC manifold pressure is given in absolute pressure
I watched this race live when it happened and it was a complete ass whooping!
The Beast
Yes - Mario still lives in the town.
Old mate needs to look into Buick v6 based stock block stuff way before the illmore one and dam quick.
One of those God Tier engines. It was absurd.
I loved it.
Here is something for you to do a story time on.
Search for "On the wings of a white Dodge" for a great sandbagging story in racing.
Love my _Winged Warriors_ cars!
Have you looked into the book that was released in May 2014 in Hardback then April 2020 in Paper back called:
'Beast: The Top Secret Ilmor-Penske Race Car That Shocked the World at the 1994 Indy 500' by Jade Gurss with a Forward by Mario Illien on this Said Engine for more information?
The average speed isn't an indycar thing it's an Indy 500 thing. As you said about the month of may, "tradition".
I think it also had to be a single cam as we as push rod
Unlimited Air Racing is a tad faster! They use modified WW2 fighters with 4000hp+ and get up to around 500mph!
And the speed with which your dad left to get milk was still faster than that!
@@F-Man
...even in his work boots!
The DFV is not a push rod engine. Double Four Valve. Overhead cams. Not push rod.
I never said it was. All I said it was an off the shelf engine.
Me if anyone else promised a great engine: "Suuuure"
Me if Roger promised a great engine: "...Go on..."
The sun sure was out that day, huh?
The Andretti’s still live in Nazareth
Mario and Marco (who bought his dad Michael's house), yes. Michael I believe lives in Indianapolis now...
@@F-Man sorry, typed that out while sitting on the toilet, grammar faux pas.
@@EvanLoxley I know it’s at least those two, they live next to each other. Goals.
Crashing when you're basically cruising is bonkers
Oh can we have the stories about isky and offy !?!?
You’re 2 years older than me but sound and look 15 years older than me
Yesterday JV won TWO €uroNASCAR races !!
2001 into turn 3 at fontana 265 mph.
al unser jr did not race in the 1995 indy 500 and nor did any other unser . he did not "buy a seat" . penske refused to . penske did switch to lola chassis supplied by bobby rahal to try and qualify and were also in talks to use a reynard chassis supplied by another team but failed to qualify the lolas and never got the reynards to the track . just to clarify - at indy the CAR qualifies not the team or driver . a team could do a deal to take the car and apply its sponsorship and driver . also road and street course are timed in indycar ,although sometimes expressed in average speeds, but as a tradition speedways and ovals are expressed in speed as laps can happen very quickly on shorter ovals and timing differences are small and seem negligible .
Team Penske: *misses the 1993 Indianapolis 500*
Roger Penske: "...and I took that personally"
And missed it in 1995 😂
@@MrTakaMOSHi I got the years mixed up
@@patrickracer43 Its ok I misremembered Bobby Rahal missing the field as Penske missing the field in '93. Considering Rahal was in the previous years points champion it was almost as big of a story 😂
Mario still lives in the area
One of Penskes best achievements. Followed by Penskes biggest failure the following year
Just think.. Cosworth could well have been called TinDuck....
7:30 "Why doesn't IndyCar just time it like everybody else? And that's the IndyCar purist pissed off..."
Well, they do time it, but ask yourself: what sounds more impressive to the fan? Hearing "His four-lap time is 2 minutes, 37.892 seconds!" or "It's a 228.011 mph average speed!"?
I'm no purist, I'm just all for exciting racing whenever possible, but in a place where speed is golden, that's what people are going to value; sorry if I'm being redundant.
For the record, two inches == 5.08 centimeters, and six inches == 15.2 centimeters.