For many reasons, the peak of automotive engineering may not be suitable for daily driving.
The Aston Martin Valkyrie has been out and about doing demonstrations in F1 livery. However, it is hard to ignore the fact that its biggest rival, the Mercedes AMG One is still having trouble making it into production. There are many good reasons why.
The British hypercar has a Cosworth-designed V12 motor that is F1-derived, but the One uses a different approach to the roadgoing-F1 car dream. Mercedes-AMG instead built the car around Lewis Hamilton’s championship-winning car, making it more difficult for those trying to finish the hybrid hypercar.
The DriveTribe video at the top of this page attempts to explain the difficulties that Mercedes and AMG have in developing the One. This video is a short 10-minute one, but we’ll summarize it for you.
The engine start-up is the first issue. F1 engines are too complex to cold-start. However, external starter motors can start the engine. Imagine driving your F1 car on the road with an external starter motor.
The cooling system of the F1 engine is another problem. F1 cars have two radiators that are large enough to heat the engine.
The cost is next. It is obvious that the highest level of automotive engineering requires a lot of money to create. This means that a street-legal F1-engined hypercar with F1 engine will be expensive. It’s not a problem for those with the means to afford them.
Fourth, the torque F1 engines produce is not enough. F1 cars don’t require as much power to move because they are lightweight. However, this is not true for road-going cars. The F1 engine’s life expectancy is also important. F1 cars can be rebuilt or replaced every so often. This is something you wouldn’t want to do with your hypercar worth a million dollars.
You can find a deeper explanation in the video at the top of this page. Mike’s Mechanics did a great job of shedding some light.