Alfa Romeo 890T

The Alfa Romeo 890T (1988: Osella 890T ) was a turbocharged racing engine that was used in the Formula 1 World Championship by Alfa Romeo's works team and Osella from 1983 to 1988 . The designation "890T" followed the nomenclature used by Alfa Romeo since the 1960s and reflects two of the engine's central design features: the number of cylinders (8) and the bank angle (90 degrees). The 890T was the only Turbo-era Formula 1 engine that had eight cylinders. It was considered heavy, complex and high-consumption. From 1983 to 1984 Alfa and Osella achieved a total of 33 world championship points with the 890T; in the remaining years the engine was unsuccessful.

History of origin

The Italian state group Alfa Romeo had been involved in Formula 1 as an engine supplier since 1971 . In 1971 and 1972, Alfa Romeo supplied the McLaren and March factory teams with 3.0 liter eight-cylinder engines derived from sports car engines. They were only used for individual races. From 1976 Alfa Romeo's motorsport department Autodelta constructed naturally aspirated engines with a bank angle of 180 degrees ("boxer engines") or 60 degrees, which were initially used by Brabham and from 1979 also by the company's own works team in Formula 1.

In 1977 , Renault appeared for the first time in Formula 1 with turbocharged engines. After initial reliability problems, in 1979 the superiority of turbocharged engines over conventional naturally aspirated engines emerged. With this in mind , BMW began developing its own turbo engines as early as 1978 and Ferrari a year later; Porsche and Honda followed suit in 1980 and 1981 respectively.

At the end of 1979 Alfa Romeo decided to also design a turbo engine for Formula 1. The development took place again at Autodelta in Milan ; The design engineers were the Autodelta boss Carlo Chiti and three of his employees. After eight months of development, Autodelta presented the prototype of the turbo engine at the Italian Grand Prix . The presentation coincided with the first training set of Ferrari's first turbo vehicle, the 126C .

Technology and development steps

Basic version

While BMW and Renault used existing engine concepts for their turbo engines, the Alfa Romeo 890T was completely redesigned. When designing the Alfa turbo engine, Carlo Chiti, unlike any other designer, opted for an eight-cylinder concept. He hoped that this would create a “balanced relationship between performance and complexity”. The bench angle was 90 degrees. Each bank of cylinders had two overhead camshafts that were driven by a toothed belt. Chiti had four valves and one spark plug per cylinder.

Charging took place via two turbochargers. The first prototypes were equipped with loaders from KKK . For "political reasons", the pre-series engines used in test drives from 1981 and the later series engines were given loaders from Avio , a subsidiary of Alfa Romeo. The Avio loaders proved vulnerable in the years that followed.

In the prototypes, the mixture was prepared using eight carburettors, with each carburetor supplying one cylinder. Engines equipped in this way were used in test drives until the summer of 1981. From the spring of 1982 a mechanical gasoline injection system from Spica was available , which was used largely unchanged until the end of the 1984 season. The mixture preparation could not be adequately controlled without electronic support. The lack of effective control of the mixture resulted in a high number of turbo and engine failures between 1982 and 1984.

Development steps

Compared to other turbo engines, the 890T experienced little further development in the 1980s. Chiti realized that the 890T brought some problems with it. From 1983, however, he concentrated on developing a completely new four-cylinder turbo engine called the 415T , which was to replace the 890T in the 1985 season . After the cylinder heads had been renewed in 1983, the modifications to the 890T were limited to changes in the engine environment.

The main reasons for changes were with regard to stability and fuel consumption. While there were no restrictions on the amount of petrol used in 1983, the regulations stipulated a maximum consumption of 220 liters per race from 1984. In order to maintain this value, Alfa Romeo had to limit the boost pressure during the season. In some races the Alfas drove with a boost pressure of only 2.2 bar. With this they achieved an output of less than 600 HP (441 kW), so that they were only marginally more powerful than a Cosworth DFV suction engine.

Far-reaching interventions took place at the beginning of the 1985 season. Gianni Tonti , Chiti's successor at Autodelta since September 1984, replaced the vulnerable Avio turbochargers with units from KKK, which had already been used on the first prototypes in 1981. For the first race of the season in 1985, the mixture preparation was also revised. First of all, the mechanical Spica injection was supplemented by an electronic control system from Jofa , which analogously controlled the amount of petrol used and reduced consumption by 8 to 10 percent. Two races later, at the San Marino Grand Prix , the 890T engines of the Alfa works team received electronic gasoline injection from Bosch , which conceptually corresponded to the system used by BMW, but was two generations older than that. Due to these changes, the engine could be driven with 3.8 bar in qualification trim and 3.0 bar in racing mode, according to the factory. According to Eddie Cheever , these developments reduced gasoline consumption by 20 percent in 1985 compared to the previous year; at the same time, the performance in racing trim increased by 130 hp (96 kW).

The individual development steps were passed on to the Osella customer team with a delay of several months, sometimes even years.

Technical specifications

Technical specifications
engine	Alfa Romeo 890T
Engine type	Eight-cylinder V-engine (four-stroke), light alloy
Displacement:	1496.7 cm³
Bore × stroke:	74.5 x 43.5 mm
Compression:	7.0: 1
Mixture preparation:	Mechanical gasoline injection Spica Electronic gasoline injection Bosch
Valve control:	four overhead camshafts
Cooling:	Water cooling
Weight:	180 kg
Races	1983-1988

Races

Alfa Romeo works team

Alfa Romeo 183T in the retrofitted paint scheme from 1984

Alfa Romeo 184T (1984)

The 890T was initially intended for use in Alfa Romeo's works team, which was organized by Autodelta from 1979 to 1982 and by Euroracing for the three following years .

Autodelta began testing the 890T in the spring of 1982. An older Alfa Romeo 179 , which had been revised in the rear area, served as the test vehicle . At the 1982 Italian Grand Prix , the penultimate world championship run of the year, the 890T first appeared in an Alfa Romeo 182 that had been modified to accommodate the turbo engine. Andrea de Cesaris , covered a few laps in free practice with the vehicle registered as 182T; In qualifying and in the race, however, like his team-mate Bruno Giacomelli , he used the naturally aspirated 182.

In 1983 the 890T was entered and started at all races of the year. The emergency vehicle was the Alfa Romeo 183T , which technically largely corresponded to the 182T shown in Monza in 1982. 1983 was the most successful season for the Alfa turbo engine. It is true that the Alfa drivers de Cesaris and Baldi dropped out in two thirds of all races; on the other hand, de Cesaris achieved two second places and a fourth place, and Baldi also came across the finish line twice. The good performance of the team, but especially de Cesaris' podium positions, were bought at the cost of high fuel consumption. It is estimated that de Cesaris consumed over 300 liters of petrol at the Hockenheimring , where he finished second. Overall, Alfa Romeo's works team finished sixth in the constructors' championship with 18 points.

1984 saw the restriction of fuel consumption to 220 liters per race. The resulting reduction in boost pressure limited the performance of the engines, which could not compensate for the aerodynamic disadvantages of the Alfa Romeo 184T . In addition, the turbocharger was susceptible to defects. In total, Eddie Cheever and Riccardo Patrese dropped out ten times in 16 races. The best result was the third place Patreses at the Grand Prix of Italy , low point the non-qualification of Cheevers at the Grand Prix of Monaco . Alfa Romeo finished the season eighth in the constructors' championship with eleven points.

As the completion of the four-cylinder turbo engine of the type 415 was delayed for financial reasons, the Alfa works team led by Euroracing started again in 1985 with the 890T engine. Although the engine had an electronically controlled mixture preparation and new turbochargers at the beginning of the season, the team's competitiveness did not improve. In the reporting, this was mostly attributed to the clumsiness of the Alfa Romeo 185T designed by John Gentry , which was occasionally referred to as "unrivable" or as a "rolling obstacle". By the middle of the 1985 season, Patrese and Cheever only crossed the finish line three times; they were always far outside the points. In the second half of the season, the team gave up the 185T and reported the previous year's model again. Each driver only reached the finish line once in eight or nine missions. At the end of the 1985 season, Alfa Romeo discontinued its Formula 1 involvement.

Osella Squadra Corse

Derived from the Alfa Romeo 183T: Osella FA1 / F (1984)

The Turin team Osella Corse, which is primarily involved in sports car and prototype races, also took part in the Formula 1 World Championship from 1980 onwards . In the early 1980s, Osella was one of the teams with the weakest financial resources and used technically simple and often repaired racing cars. Gustav Brunner repeatedly described Osella's cars as “really bad carts”. The Osella were powered by naturally aspirated Cosworth engines until the summer of 1983, after which the Turin team initially took over the twelve-cylinder naturally aspirated engines from Alfa Romeo, which had become dispensable in the Alfa factory team after the turbo engines were used there regularly.

As of 1984, Osella was given access to the 890T turbo engines as a customer team. Initially, these were engines from 1983 with Avio loaders and mechanical fuel injection, which Osella used almost unchanged until autumn 1985. At the end of 1985 Osella received mixed versions with KKK turbochargers and mechanical gasoline injection. From 1986 the team was able to fall back on the analog control system Jofa , which had already been introduced at Alfa Romeo a year earlier. It was not until 1987 - two years after their debut in the now closed Alfa factory team - that the engines with fully electronic Bosch injection were finally available for Osella.

Osella tried repeatedly to switch to more up-to-date engines. In 1986 it was planned to switch to units from Motori Moderni , in 1988 the team wanted to run with Cosworth naturally aspirated engines. These approaches failed in each case due to the lack of financial viability. Alfa Romeo allowed Osella to use the now outdated 890T engines in 1988, but distanced itself from them insofar as the designation "Alfa Romeo" had to be dropped. In 1988 the motors were therefore called the Osella 890T. The factory gave its performance with 730 hp in racing trim; so it did not go beyond the well-prepared naturally aspirated engines.

Osella achieved no success with the 890T engine. Only in the 1984 season were the works drivers Piercarlo Ghinzani and Jo Gartner each able to score two world championship points. In the following years the team struggled regularly for survival.

Minardi

The Minardi racing team, established in Formula 2 since the mid-1970s, entered the Formula 1 World Championship in 1985 with a self-designed car. In the search for a suitable turbo engine, team boss Giancarlo Minardi has been working on 890T engines since 1983. Some sources report that Giancarlo Minardi considered taking over the entire engine program from Alfa Romeo from 1985. Allegedly, a corresponding agreement with Alfa Romeo had existed since the end of 1983. It is documented that Minardi's first Formula 1 car, which bore the designation M184 , was fitted with the 890T engine in the early summer of 1984. In July 1984 Alessandro Nannini carried out the first test drives with the M184-Alfa in Misano . In October 1984, however, Alfa Romeo withdrew its commitment. Most sources attribute this to an intervention by Enzo Osella , who feared direct competition with his financially weak team. Minardi then commissioned Carlo Chiti to develop its own engine, which was available from the spring of 1985 under the name Motori Moderni.

Race results

season	team	chassis	driver	No.	1	2	3	4th	5	6th	7th	8th	9	10	11	12	13	14th	15th	16	Points	rank
1983																					18th	6th
	Marlboro Team Alfa Romeo	Alfa Romeo 183T	A. de Cesaris	22nd	EX	DNF	12	DNF	DNF	DNF	DNF	DNF	8th	2	DNF	DNF	DNF	4th	2
			M. Baldi	23	DNF	DNF	DNF	10	6th	DNF	12	10	7th	DNF	DNF	5	DNF	DNF	DNF
1984																					11	8th
	Benetton Team Alfa Romeo	Alfa Romeo 184T	R. Patrese	22nd	DNF	4th	DNF	DNF	DNF	DNF	DNF	DNF	DNF	12	DNF	10	DNF	3	6th	8th
			E. Cheever	23	4th	DNF	DNF	7th	DNF	DNQ	11	DNF	DNF	DNF	DNF	DNF	13	9	DNF	17th
	Osella Squadra Corse	Osella FA1F	P. Ghinzani	24	DNF	DNS	DNF	DNQ	12	7th	DNF	DNF	5	9	DNF	DNF	DNF	7th	DNF	DNF	2	12
			J. Gartner	30th										DNF	DNF	DNF	12	5	DNF	16
1985																					0	-
	Benetton Team Alfa Romeo	Alfa Romeo 185T	R. Patrese	22nd	DNF	DNF	DNF	DNF	10	DNF	11	9
			E. Cheever	23	DNF	DNF	DNF	DNF	17th	9	10
		Alfa Romeo 184T B	R. Patrese	22nd									DNF	DNF	DNF	DNF	DNF	9	DNF	DNF
			E. Cheever	23								DNF	DNF	DNF	DNF	DNF	DNF	11	DNF	DNF
	Osella Squadra Corse	Osella FA1F	P. Ghinzani	24	12	9															0	-
		Osella FA1G	P. Ghinzani				NC	DNQ	DNF	DNF	15th	DNF
			H. Rothengatter										DNF	9	NC	DNF	NC	DNQ	DNF	7th
1986																					0	-
	Osella Squadra Corse	Osella FA1F	C. Danner	22nd	DNF	DNF	DNF	DNQ	DNF	DNF
			A. Berg								DNF			12	DNF	DNF		13	16	NC
			A.Caffi														NC
		Osella FA1G	P. Ghinzani	21st	DNF	DNF	DNF	DNQ	DNF	DNF	DNF		DNF	DNF	DNF	9	DNF	DNF	DNF	DNF
			A. Berg	22nd								DNF
		Osella FA1H	P. Ghinzani	21st								DNF
			A. Berg	22nd									DNF
1987																					0	-
	Osella Squadra Corse	Osella FA1G	G. Tarquini	22nd		DNF
			F. Forini												DNF	DNF	DNQ
		Osella FA1I	A. Caffi	21st	DNF	12	DNF	DNF	DNF	DNF	DNF	DNF	DNF	DNF	DNF	DNF	DNQ	DNF	DNF	DNQ
1988																					0	-
	Osella Squadra Corse	Osella FA1I	N. Larini	21st	DNQ
		Osella FA1L				EX	9	DNQ	DNQ	DNF	DNF	19th	DNF	DNPQ	DNF	DNF	12	DNF	DNF	DNPQ

Legend
colour	abbreviation	meaning
gold	-	victory
silver	-	2nd place
bronze	-	3rd place
green	-	Placement in the points
blue	-	Classified outside the point ranks
violet	DNF	Race not finished (did not finish)
	NC	not classified
red	DNQ	did not qualify
	DNPQ	failed in pre-qualification (did not pre-qualify)
black	DSQ	disqualified
White	DNS	not at the start (did not start)
	WD	withdrawn
Light Blue	PO	only participated in the training (practiced only)
	TD	Friday test driver
without	DNP	did not participate in the training (did not practice)
	INJ	injured or sick
	EX	excluded
	DNA	did not arrive
	C.	Race canceled
		no participation in the World Cup
other	P / bold	Pole position
	SR / italic	Fastest race lap
	*	not at the finish, but counted due to the distance covered
	()	Streak results
	underlined	Leader in the overall standings

literature

• Ian Bamsey: The 1000 bhp Grand Prix Cars , 1988 (GT Foulis & Co. Ltd), ISBN 978-0-85429-617-0 (English)
• Adriano Cimarosti: The Century of Racing . Stuttgart 1997, ISBN 3-613-01848-9 .
• Alan Henry: auto course . Yearbook 1988–1989 (French edition). ISBN 2-85120-308-8 .
• David Hodges: AZ of Grand Prix Cars 1906-2001 . 2001 (Crowood Press), ISBN 1-86126-339-2 (English).
• David Hodges: Racing cars from AZ after 1993 . Stuttgart 1993, ISBN 3-613-01477-7 .
• Pierre Ménard: La Grande Encyclopédie de la Formule 1 . 2nd edition, St. Sulpice, 2000, ISBN 2-940125-45-7 (French).
• Stefano Pasini: F1 Minardi Team . Ed. CELI Sport, Faenza, 1991.

Web links

• Image of an 890T in an Alfa Romeo 184T

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Ménard, p. 114: "Consommation herculéenne".
2. ↑ The BMW M12 goes back to a four-cylinder naturally aspirated engine from 1968, Renault's Formula 1 turbo had its roots in a 2.0-liter six-cylinder engine for Formula 2.
3. ↑ BMW designed a four-cylinder; Hart and Zakspeed later took up this design for their own engines. Renault and Ferrari (and later Honda and Porsche) developed V6 engines.
4. ↑ Bramsey, p. 37
5. ↑ Bramsey, p. 38
6. ↑ Ménard, p. 114.
7. ↑ Bramsey, p. 40
8. ↑ Motorsport Aktuell, No. 23/1985, p. 23
9. ↑ On the whole: Bramsey, p. 40.
10. ↑ Motorsport Aktuell, issue 37/1985, p. 16.
11. ↑ Hodges: Racing Cars from AZ after 1945, p. 13.
12. ↑ Bramsey, p. 38
13. ↑ Hodges: Racing Cars from AZ after 1945, p. 14.
14. ^ Ménard, p. 115.
15. ↑ z. B. Motorsport Aktuell, issue 14/1988, p. 25.
16. ↑ Motorsport aktuell, Issue 10/1987, p. 23
17. ↑ On the whole: Bramsey, p. 43 f.
18. ↑ Pasini, p. 61
19. ^ Ménard, p. 450
20. ↑ Motorsport Aktuell, issue 12/1985
21. ↑ Only the points scored by Ghinzani were taken into account in the final ranking. Gartner's points were disregarded because his car had not been entered in every race in the 1984 World Championship.
22. ↑ Some internet sources indicate the Osella FA1I as the Tarquinis and Forinis emergency vehicle (cf. e.g. entry list for the 1987 Italian Grand Prix on www.motorsport-total.com ). In the specialist literature, however, it is predominantly assumed that the FA1I was a one-off and in 1987 was only available to Caffi. Tarquini and Forini then each deployed an FA1G; see. Hodges: Rennwagen from AZ after 1945, p. 216 and Bramsey, p. 47 f.