P84 Engine Development

By Andrew Hooper
July 24 2003


	2004 P84 engine development

	As part of their role as engine supplier to the WilliamsF1 team BMW is constantly in the process of developing new engines for the up and coming seasons. This is no different for the 2004 P84 BMW engine, which has been under development for quite some time. BMW Motorsport Director Mario Theissen, on the BMW Motorsport web site, commented on the current stage of development of the new 2004 P84 engine. Dr Theissen said: "Our engine is scheduled. We started the development work of the P84 earlier because the engine has to deliver a different performance. We started to work on it at the end of 2002. The first test on the test rig won't take place later than last year." The P83 engine was not run on the test rig until July 31. After this BMW was able to quickly test the engine in the back of a WilliamsF1 car. He added: "Our plan is that of 2002. We intend to test the engine in the car for the first time before the end of the season." Dr Theissen also commented on the proposal to use eight cylinder engines instead of V10 engines in future, a move that is not viewed well by the Director. "To switch to eight cylinder engines now would increase the costs drastically, since we not only have to develop the current engine, but we also have to push the research concerning the new engine. It's not enough to remove two cylinders. We would face lots of new problems," Theissen explained.