The Goodwood Speedweek: A Celebration of Porsche's Rich History in Endurance Racing

We are at Goodwood Speedweek, essentially the replacement for the Festival of Speed, and the rules here are masks on inside and outside. Hence, this today's video is about a Porsche, not this or that one, but actually more about this one. Weighing in on the vast history of Porsche in endurance racing, things have been tightening up in recent years. They no longer have an NP1 program, which means at Le Mans they only enter the GTE class and that's all because they're now needy in Formula E.

Porsche has a vast history in endurance racing, but what if I was to tell you that just a few years ago Porsche were on the verge of joining Formula One as an engine supplier? This is a fascinating fact about Porsche's past involvement with F1. They dipped their toes into F1 before building their own car back in 1962 and famously supplied engines that took McLaren to three drivers and two constructors' world championships in the 80s. Hop forward to 2014, and Porsche decided to enter an LMP1 car – the now legendary and frighteningly quick 919 hybrid.

The technical highlight of this car for me is its engine. A truly unique motor defined in a racing car underneath that body work is a 2-meter 500 horsepower V4. Now you can find V6s and V8 absolutely everywhere in motorsport, but V4 in a car is incredibly rare. That engine is coupled with a double hybrid system at the front axle – regenerative braking called CARES – and then at the back, you've got an exhaust-driven hybrid system known as ERS. Couple those two things with that engine, and you end up with a 900 horsepower downforce-obsessed weapon.

The V4 engine was so powerful and efficient that nearing the end of the 919 program, the engineers started to have a think they had a cracking single turbo engine and car system – and suddenly, they've got a package that's not too far away from what you find in the back of an F1 car. So, the order came from the top to start developing a V6 version of the 919s engine that could be F1 compatible for 2021. With Porsche being part of the powertrain working group that decided the new regulations, they did it somewhere in Stuttgart – and on a shelf is a Porsche F1 V6 engine that was built using the knowledge gained from this thing.

So, what happened? Well, Fritz Enzinger, the vice president of Porsche Motorsport, came clean in 2019. He said that they built and tested an F1 engine but their parent company Volkswagen got into a bit of trouble around about that time and cancelled the LMP1 project shifting everything to Formula E. That meant that that group of engineers was essentially disbanded and all of that R&D was essentially put to rest – also, Porsche had been part of that F1 technical working group, meaning that the engine they produced was in line with the regulations that they were working towards simpler, cheaper engines.

F1 has since changed its mind however, sticking with the relatively complicated engines that are in the cars currently – not the engine that Porsche had produced. So, is Porsche's F1 engine dead? Well, there could still be life in it. Enzinger said that even after closing the LMP1 project, they continued to work on the engine for research purposes and two – because if kept simple enough, it could be a good candidate to be used in a future super sports car.

The Porsche rumor mill these days is saying that they could return to F1 either in a hypercar or an LMDH car – and that V6 turbo engine using 919 tech and with electric motors at the front could make for the perfect return to the top. Who knows, we may even get a road car out of it? The Carrera GT used a disused engine that was meant for F1, so in the coming years, we could be in for something very special indeed.

"WEBVTTKind: captionsLanguage: enwe are at goodwood speedweek essentially the replacement for the festival of speed and the rules here are masks on inside and outside hence this today's video is about a porsche not this not this or even this one here it's more about this and weirdly one of these you see porsche has a vast history in endurance racing but things have been tightening up in recent years they no longer have an np1 program which means at le mans they only enter the gte class and that's all because they're now needy in formula e but what if i was to tell you that just a few years ago porsche were on the verge of joining formula one as an engine supplier porsche has dipped its toes into f1 before they built their own car back in 1962 and famously supplied engines that took mclaren to three drivers and two constructors world championships in the 80s hop forward to 2014 and porsche decided to enter an lmp1 car the now legendary and frighteningly quick 919 hybrid and it's fair to say it was a rampant success three lemon titles in four attempts due to some of the greatest engineering in modern motorsport the technical highlight of this car for me is its engine a truly unique motor defined in a racing car underneath that body work is a two meter 500 horsepower v4 now you can find v6s and v8 absolutely everywhere in motorsport but v4 in a car is incredibly rare that engine is coupled with a double hybrid system at the front axle you have regenerative braking called cares and then at the back you've got an exhaust driven hybrid system known as ers couple those two things with that engine and you end up with a 900 horsepower downforce obsessed weapon the v4 engine was so powerful and efficient that nearing the end of the 919 program the engineers started to have a think they had a cracking single turbo engine a car system and an ers system suddenly they've got a package that's not too far away from what you find in the back of an f1 car and so the order came from the top to start developing a v6 version of the 919s engine that could be f1 compatible for 2021 with porsche being part of the powertrain working group that decided the new regulations and they did it somewhere in stuttgart on a shelf is a porsche f1 v6 engine that was built using the knowledge gained from this thing so what happened well fritz enzinger the vice president of porsche motorsport came clean in 2019. he said that they built and tested an f1 engine but their parent company volkswagen got in a bit of trouble around about that time and cancelled the lnp1 project shifting everything to formula e that meant that that group of engineers was essentially disbanded and all of that r d was essentially put also porsche had been part of that f1 technical working group meaning that the engine they produced was in line with the regulations that they were working towards simpler cheaper engines f1 has since changed its mind however sticking with the relatively complicated engines that are in the cars currently not the engine that porsche had produced so is porsche's f1 engine dead well there could still be life in it enzinger said that even after closing the lmp1 project they continued to work on the engine one for research purposes and two because if kept simple enough it could be a good candidate to be used in a future super sports car the porsche rumor mill these days is saying that they could return to the mall either in a hyper car or an lmdh car and that v6 turbo engine using 919 tech and with electric motors at the front could make for the perfect return to the top and who knows we may even get a road car out of it the carrera gt used a disused engine that was meant for f1 so in the coming years we could be in for something very very specialwe are at goodwood speedweek essentially the replacement for the festival of speed and the rules here are masks on inside and outside hence this today's video is about a porsche not this not this or even this one here it's more about this and weirdly one of these you see porsche has a vast history in endurance racing but things have been tightening up in recent years they no longer have an np1 program which means at le mans they only enter the gte class and that's all because they're now needy in formula e but what if i was to tell you that just a few years ago porsche were on the verge of joining formula one as an engine supplier porsche has dipped its toes into f1 before they built their own car back in 1962 and famously supplied engines that took mclaren to three drivers and two constructors world championships in the 80s hop forward to 2014 and porsche decided to enter an lmp1 car the now legendary and frighteningly quick 919 hybrid and it's fair to say it was a rampant success three lemon titles in four attempts due to some of the greatest engineering in modern motorsport the technical highlight of this car for me is its engine a truly unique motor defined in a racing car underneath that body work is a two meter 500 horsepower v4 now you can find v6s and v8 absolutely everywhere in motorsport but v4 in a car is incredibly rare that engine is coupled with a double hybrid system at the front axle you have regenerative braking called cares and then at the back you've got an exhaust driven hybrid system known as ers couple those two things with that engine and you end up with a 900 horsepower downforce obsessed weapon the v4 engine was so powerful and efficient that nearing the end of the 919 program the engineers started to have a think they had a cracking single turbo engine a car system and an ers system suddenly they've got a package that's not too far away from what you find in the back of an f1 car and so the order came from the top to start developing a v6 version of the 919s engine that could be f1 compatible for 2021 with porsche being part of the powertrain working group that decided the new regulations and they did it somewhere in stuttgart on a shelf is a porsche f1 v6 engine that was built using the knowledge gained from this thing so what happened well fritz enzinger the vice president of porsche motorsport came clean in 2019. he said that they built and tested an f1 engine but their parent company volkswagen got in a bit of trouble around about that time and cancelled the lnp1 project shifting everything to formula e that meant that that group of engineers was essentially disbanded and all of that r d was essentially put also porsche had been part of that f1 technical working group meaning that the engine they produced was in line with the regulations that they were working towards simpler cheaper engines f1 has since changed its mind however sticking with the relatively complicated engines that are in the cars currently not the engine that porsche had produced so is porsche's f1 engine dead well there could still be life in it enzinger said that even after closing the lmp1 project they continued to work on the engine one for research purposes and two because if kept simple enough it could be a good candidate to be used in a future super sports car the porsche rumor mill these days is saying that they could return to the mall either in a hyper car or an lmdh car and that v6 turbo engine using 919 tech and with electric motors at the front could make for the perfect return to the top and who knows we may even get a road car out of it the carrera gt used a disused engine that was meant for f1 so in the coming years we could be in for something very very special\n"