10 Cars That Have F1-Derived Engines

Although it did not get to take a world title, the last stage of BMW in F1, between 2000 and 2009, as Williams BMW and BMW Sauber, was quite fruitful.

The result was the amazing 2005 BMW M5 E60, which had a V10 engine, derived from the one used in the competition car (which happened to be the most powerful of the grid, by the way).

Of course, although the power was somewhat more moderate at 507 hp (378 kW), its benefits were outstanding: 155 mph (250 kph) maximum speed and about 4.5 seconds in the 0 to 62 mph (0 to 100 kph) sprint.

The case with this Ferrari is somewhat special... and that's why it deserves to be on the list. While far from using an F1 engine, as do the rest of the cars here, the Dino 206 GT had an engine used by Ferrari cars in Formula 2 in 1968. Season in which some of its pilots were Jackie Ickx, Derek Bell, and Chris Amon.

Released in 1967, in essence, it was an atmospheric gasoline motor with a V6 architecture and 2.0 liters of displacement, which delivered 180 hp of power.

Born to celebrate the 50th anniversary of the brand, it could be the closest thing to F1 that the Italian firm has put on sale.

The great culprit? The 4.7-liter V12 engine with 520 hp, derived from the one that was used by Ferrari in F1 during the 1989 season with Nigell Mansell and Gerhard Berger.

Only 349 units were assembled.

We didn't include the Transit Supervan 1 of 1971, because technically it doesn't meet our requirements. Instead of an F1 engine, it had a motor inspired by the winner of the 24 Hours of Le Mans: the GT40.

However, its successor, born in 1984, uses a Cosworth 3.9 DFL engine, derived from the DFV from F1, which reached almost 600 hp (447 kW). Given that, it is not surprising that the bus exceeded 186 mph (300 kph).

The final installment of the fastest Transit in the world (at least, so far) was born in 1994, a season in which Ford motorized, for example, the Benetton F1 team, with which Michael Schumacher would proclaim himself world champion.

Therefore, it is not surprising that it used its V8 Cosworth unit with 730 hp (544 kW) of power, mated to a sequential gearbox with six gears. Currently, the vehicle lives in a museum and has a V6 engine, simpler and cheaper to maintain.

The hybrid era of F1, which began in 2014, is being dominated by Mercedes-AMG with three titles for Lewis Hamilton, one for Nico Rosberg, and four constructors' triumphs for the team.

To celebrate, at the Frankfurt Motor Show in 2017, the three-pointed star company presented a hyper sports car, with a hybrid propulsion system inspired by that of the F1 car: a turbocharged 1.6-liter V6 gasoline engine, similar to the one used by the Mercedes AMG W06, supported by four electric motors.

The case of the Porsche Carrera GT is the best example of how to take advantage of a totally catastrophic situation.

Let's put in some background. In 1991, Porsche developed an F1 V12 engine for the Footwork Arrows team. However, the project was as problematic as it was ephemeral: design problems, breaks, bad results... and the team switched to a Cosworth motor for the seventh race of the year.

The good news? On that basis, Porsche began to create a V10 engine for the following season, but it was never used in F1. Instead, it was used in Le Mans at the end of the 90s, and in a street car, which arrived in 2004: the Carrera GT.

To celebrate the tenth anniversary of the Espace, Renault decided to create this prototype, in collaboration with Mazda, which became the fastest minivan in the world.

The donor was the Williams-Renault FW15C, F1 world champion in 1993, which brought a V10 engine boosted to 820 hp (611 kW). Combined with a lightweight carbon body, it was capable of reaching 194 mph (312 kph) and accelerating from 0 to 62 mph (0 to 100 kph) in just 2.8 seconds.

Yamaha supplied engines to different vehicles on the grid, such as Zakspeed, Tyrrel, Arrows, Jordan and Brabham, in the late 80's and early 90's.

From that expertise was born the OX99 V12 3.5-liter engine, which was used in the ox99-11, an interesting project that was abandoned for economic reasons.

A real shame, as the light Japanese sports car had more than 400 hp (298 kW).