Turbulent times for Formula 1 engines result in unprecedented efficiency gains
Another trick Formula 1 has had for a while, that will soon be seeing adoption into production cars, are camless engines.  Valves are operated by electronically-controlled pneumatic actuators.  This allows the valves to open and close faster, and makes intermediate states (in between fully closed and fully open) a lot easier.  It&#x27;s also a major reason as to why crank speeds are as high as they are in F1 cars, as they valves can be actuated fast enough to avoid the valve float that would otherwise occur in cammed engines with valve springs.  Production cars currently tend to top out around 9450rpm (the 6.3L V12 in the LaFerrari), whereas Formula 1 cars have pushed close to 20,000rpm (though usually 16,000 - 18,000) for quite some time.<p>Supercar manufacturer Koenigsegg is in the process of licensing their consumer version of the technology under the trade name &quot;Freevalve&quot;.  They&#x27;ve been developing it and testing it for an incredibly long time (I believe it&#x27;s in its fourth or fifth generation), presumably to keep driving the costs down.  I believe a few Chinese manufacturers are some of the initial companies signing on.  It&#x27;s around a 3-4% efficiency gain on its own.<p>There&#x27;s other fun stuff too, like Mercedes-Benz&#x27;s split turbochargers.  Basically, the turbine is located near the exhaust still, but a shaft runs through the engine to the other side to the compressor which is near the intakes -- less piping to get a cooled charge, less turbo lag (again, shorter piping), a more compact engine footprint, and needing smaller intake side pods than using normal turbochargers.  Be interesting to see if those trickle down to consumer autos, whereas currently manufacturers are instead integrating 48V electrical systems for electric turbochargers (and more advanced lighting, hybrid functionality, etc.)