Renault Power Unit Hardware & Software

[Abarth]

For the first iteration of the Renault engine in early 2014, they tried to renounce to use a wastegate. They tried to control the pressure only with MGU-H, and fitted a big resistor to dump energy into it if the energy store was already full.
It didn't work, and the resistor got too hot. They didn't foresee that they had to limit MAP during transients so frequently.

A former Lotus employee somewhere on another forum wrote pretty detailed info about those first huge problems in testing at that time.

Maybe they still didn't give up to use as few as possible the wastegate (obvious as no one wants to dump energy out through a wastegate...), and can get off with only one bank for simplicity and weight reasons?

[henry]

In the video when they gather in the test cell control room you can see what I assume is the wastegate pipe coming from above the turbine to join the main pipe near the exhaust extractor. When the engine cover blew off the Torro Rosso at Monza last year we could see this pipe emerges from the top of the turbine housing. So a change in design, I guess reducing back pressure whilst still harvesting some blow down energy.

The positioning of the single wastegate pipe above the main exhaust on the Renault car would be a simple implementation of this outlet position.

Honda appear to do the same with two waste gates which last year routed out of the main exhaust. Of course this year they have to have their own exhaust.

Edit: over in the RB12 thread Jeff Patat has posted a picture of rhe Renault layout and also the Red Bull which has a somewhat lower origin and two pipes. Can an engine maker implement two turbines to allow choice of wastegate pipe implementation?

[Jef Patat]

Edit: over in the RB12 thread Jeff Patat has posted a picture of rhe Renault layout and also the Red Bull which has a somewhat lower origin and two pipes. Can an engine maker implement two turbines to allow choice of wastegate pipe implementation?

yes, oops, i accidentally posted it there, maybe here were more appropriate. It's very strange indeed.

[xispas]

Why does the renault engine does not sound like others teams.. in the reductions? (brrrrr,brrrrrr) when switched off the 2 cylinders..
they do not have this feature?

[DiogoBrand]

Can we have an idea of how crappy is the Reanault PU by seeing Toro Rosso as the 3rd best car in the grid with an outdated Ferrari unit?

[Blackout]

First of all the 2015 STR often outqualified the RBR with the same PU last year. Second both cars since 2016 winter testing, are still having very similar speed traps and the STR is clearly close to the RBR in overall speed* so that suggests the Renault made progress (7tokens spent in 2016 so far) and it seems to be close to the 2015 Ferrari...

[DiogoBrand]

First of all the 2015 STR often outqualified the RBR with the same PU last year. Second both cars since 2016 winter testing, are still having very similar speed traps and the STR is clearly close to the RBR in overall speed* so that suggests the Renault made progress (tokens in 2016) and it seems to be close to the 2015 Ferrari...

STR often outqualified RBR when Red Bull had a relatively poor performing car, at the beginning of the season, once RB figured it out, it stopped happening.
And even when STR did outpace RBR, they were never even close to 3rd best car in the grid.

[Blackout]

And?
It seems you didnt notice that STR is producing very competitive cars since a couple of seasons.

[ME4ME]

And?
It seems you didnt notice that STR is producing very competitive cars since a couple of seasons.

They do, but not better than Red Bull. They were close at the start of last year because RB had nose-issues, but then got out developed. Red Bull ended the season with 187 points vs 67 for Toro Rosso.

[Juzh]

Blackout - the neverending renault defender.
Also, funny how renault went to the back of the grid by swapping to back to renault PU. Same as they were in 2014.

[Blackout]

Are you that dumb or are you just the never ending bashers and RBR fanboy?

Also, funny how renault went to the back of the grid by swapping to back to renault PU. Same as they were in 2014

Exactly what I'm saying. Only a fool or a fanboy/hater can write such a BS... Pretending that the Renault, which is last years lotus with near 0 developpement and on which they bolted the Renault PU 3 months ago, is a relevant reference
And your missing the point regarding my STR comparison .
But whatever...

[ferkan]

While Ferrari 2015 PU might be better then new Renault, its not THAT much better. Renault said dyno and track confirmed 0.5 second gain, RB said the increase is there as well. STR/RB both specified Ferrari engine gave them 0.8 tenths which means new Renault would be around 3 tenths slower.

Since RB looks therebouts with STR or slightly slower I think STR made hell of a chassis for their standards, and that RBs one is not all its cracked up to be. There is no way Renault deficit in Melbourne is worth 1.8 seconds. Thats how much faster the Merc is. It still appears to be extremely good in aero sector of track (S2), but 3rd sector really suffers where traction plays big role. And this is not first time as well, Merc has best traction out of the corners for quite some time.

[hurril]

While Ferrari 2015 PU might be better then new Renault, its not THAT much better. Renault said dyno and track confirmed 0.5 second gain, RB said the increase is there as well. STR/RB both specified Ferrari engine gave them 0.8 tenths which means new Renault would be around 3 tenths slower.

Since RB looks therebouts with STR or slightly slower I think STR made hell of a chassis for their standards, and that RBs one is not all its cracked up to be. There is no way Renault deficit in Melbourne is worth 1.8 seconds. Thats how much faster the Merc is. It still appears to be extremely good in aero sector of track (S2), but 3rd sector really suffers where traction plays big role. And this is not first time as well, Merc has best traction out of the corners for quite some time.

No, it means that the delta between their respective performance changes is -0,3s in STR:s favour. If one of them was 1s faster before, then their absolute delta is now either 0,7 or 1,3.

[ferkan]

Well yes. If STR went from 2015 Renault engine to 2015 Ferrari engine and gained 0.8 tenths. And RB went from 2015 Renault to 2016 Renault engine and gained 0.5 seconds it means STR, who also didnt have any info on Ferrari engine till late November, have 3 tenths advantage on engine side. Considering Ric (who is no doubt faster qualifier then Max) qualified 1 tenth behind, it would lead me to believe STR is therebouts with their car and that RB cannot blame Renault for entire gap to Merc solely based on their legacy with building great chassis.

Renault was great engine last time around, now its far from top. Past success doesnt necessary guarantee successuful future.

[carisi2k]

And?
It seems you didnt notice that STR is producing very competitive cars since a couple of seasons.

1. Yes TR has produced a great chassis.
2. RB has also produced a great chassis.
3. Renault have improved to get them nearly line ball to a 2015 Ferrari engine.
4. 2016 Mercedes and Ferrari have improved by atleast the same amount as 2016 Renault but I would say probably more, especially in qualifying for Mercedes.
5. If Red Bull or TR had a 2016 Mercedes or Ferrari engine they would be well clear of Williams and Force India.
6. If Red Bull or TR had a 2016 Mercedes or Ferrari engine they could well be competing with Mercedes and Ferrari for outright victory. That is just how much better their new 2016 engines are.
7. At-least the 2016 Renault engine is better then the 2016 Honda.
8. At-least the 2016 Renault engine isn't a hand grenade.
9. Here is hoping the Canada upgrade can give the extra power that Red Bull needs to push them closer to Ferrari and Mercedes.