Subaru's Tragic F1 Engine Nearly Powered A Koenigsegg

Join the membership to fuel this channel on its way:
/ @visioracer
- Patreon -
/ visioracer
- Patreons -
Peter Della Flora
Brendan
Meemen
DeHelleman
Bill
andre surles
Michael Guerin
Robert Coats
Crashbandit
John Stuart
EpicSeaDragon
John Johnson
- Disclaimer -
This video is fair use under U.S. copyright law because it is transformative in nature, uses no more of the original than necessary and has no adverse effect on the market for the original work.
- Credits -
“1990 March 10 - Subaru Coloni F1 test @ Firebird International Raceway” by Jean-Michel Boileau
• 1990 March 10 - Subaru...
“Subaru F1 Car British Grand Prix 1990 Pre Qualifying Commercial” by CarsSexy
• Subaru F1 Car British ...
“¿Sabías que SUBARU corrió en la FÓRMULA 1? La historia del COLONI C3B” by EVO MASTER
• ¿Sabías que SUBARU cor...
“Koenigsegg CC "The Dream"” by Jean-Michel Boileau
• Koenigsegg CC "The Dream"
“90 march 23 - Subaru Coloni pre-qualifying session @ F1 Brazilian GP” by Jean-Michel Boileau
• 90 march 23 - Subaru C...
“1989 - Aguri Suzuki F1 season with Zakspeed-Yamaha” by Jean-Michel Boileau
• 1989 - Aguri Suzuki F1...
“90 march 09 - Subaru Coloni pre-qualifying session @ F1 USA GP” by Jean-Michel Boileau
• 90 march 09 - Subaru C...
“90 may 11 - Subaru Coloni pre-qualifying session @ F1 San Marino GP” by Jean-Michel Boileau
• 90 may 11 - Subaru Col...
“1985 F1 Austrian GP - Pierluigi Martini engine problem” by Jean-Michel Boileau
• 1985 F1 Austrian GP - ...
“1988 September 07 - Subaru Motori Moderni boxer 12.35 engine presentation @ Milan Michelangelo hotel” by Jean-Michel Boileau
• 1988 September 07 - Su...
“The Exciting and Rarely-Seen World of F1 Pre-Qualifying - 1990 Canadian GP (60fps)” by Rob Hurley
• The Exciting and Rarel...
“Subaru F1 Car” by Anthony Parle
• Subaru F1 Car
“1989 August 30 - Pierluigi Martini test Minardi-Subaru boxer 12 @ Misano” by Jean-Michel Boileau
• 1989 August 30 - Pierl...
“90 march 08 @ Subaru Coloni thursday pit work @ F1 USA GP” by Jean-Michel Boileau
• 90 march 08 @ Subaru C...
“90 - Honda F1 head Osamu Goto impression on Subaru F1 engine” by Jean-Michel Boileau
• 90 - Honda F1 head Osa...
“90 july 13 - Subaru Coloni pre-qualifying session @ F1 British GP” by Jean-Michel Boileau
• 90 july 13 - Subaru Co...
“89 oct 26 @ nov 06 - Jiotto Caspita-Subaru Motori Moderni boxer 12 @ Tokyo Motor Show” by Jean-Michel Boileau
• 89 oct 26 @ nov 06 - J...
“Motorjournalen - Koenigsegg” by plym
• Motorjournalen - Koeni...
“Koenigsegg Motori Moderni boxer 12 engine” by Jean-Michel Boileau
• Koenigsegg Motori Mode...

[@il-ma.le.]

The engine was an original project by Motori Moderni, Subaru simply jumped aboard because the flat-V displacement it used was superficially indistinguishable from their signature architecture(boxers).

[@drunk3n_m0nk12]

I've only ever really seen pictures of the engine. It's really nice to get some good background info on it. I can't help but imagine what could have been if this went differently.

[@FFox98]

never would have imagined Subaru was in the F1

[@Xayuap]

why not?

[@Iowa599]

Because there's no AWD.

[@CyanRooper]

​​@@Iowa599Fun fact: there have actually been four wheel drive cars in F1 with a total of 8 different cars using four wheel drive in the 70+ years of Formula 1 (which would make for an interesting video): 1) Ferguson P99 (Sir Stirling Moss said it was the best car he ever drove) 2) BRM P67 (only took part in one race as BRM were busy with creating their H16 engine at the time. The P67 did prove successful in hillclimb racing though and it won the British hillclimb championship in 1968) 3) Lotus 63 (though briefly before going back to rear wheel drive) 4) Matra MS84 (it was French) 5) McLaren M9A (only took part in one race) 6) Lotus 56B (this car, according to Colin Chapman himself, came the closest to actually becoming the first four wheel drive car to win a race) 7) March 2-4-0 (this was a six-wheeled car with power being sent to four rear wheels. Was tested but never raced in an actual Grand Prix) 8) Williams FW08B (another six-wheeled car with power being sent to four rear wheels. Never raced). Formula 1 officially banned four wheel drive in 1982 so nobody tried to create a 4WD F1 car since. If it hadn't been banned Subaru definitely would have tried to build a 4WD F1 car using a similar system as the one used in their rally cars. Which makes me wonder if we could have had a Subaru/Mitsubishi rivalry in both F1 and the WRC 🤔

[@Iowa599]

@@CyanRooper that makes me picture an open-wheel car with 6" of ground clearance & knobby tires drifting a muddy corner & hitting a small ramp… F1+WRC

[@CyanRooper]

@@Iowa599 I mean, we kind of already have those kinds of cars with side-by-side vehicles (SxS or SSV) like the Polaris RZR, Yamaha YXZ1000R etc.

[@planetzebulon21]

Head gasket leaking, it’s a Subaru feature.

[@nevinbontrager8828]

I am fond of this engine and story, because of owing an EG33 boxer 6 equipped subaru svx! I have heard this story many times, and this was a great telling! Thank you!

[@hugejohnson5011]

Awesome car the SVX! They were a rare sight around my neck of the woods, and were close to a technological wonder as I remember. I owned a 911 back then, and used to rib my friends who had new Corvettes about a Subaru that had as much horsepower as their cars did! Fun times!

[@corollavirus4age]

thats hot!

[@drunk3n_m0nk12]

I love my SVX. The eg33 is such an amazingly smooth engine. Total night and day difference from the built ej25 in my WRX.

[@hugejohnson5011]

@@drunk3n_m0nk12 I'm a gearhead, and I've often wondered why more outfits hadn't adopted the boxer engine in modern times. It isn't just some kind of a gimmick, it is an engine architecture that makes sense on many different levels. I owned only one Subaru, way back; a 1986 station wagon that I bought in 1990. It really was in nice shape, as a secretary at our local MB dealer owned it since new. I loved that car! 1.8 rubber band motor, that never gave me an ounce of trouble. It was a good car.

[@drunk3n_m0nk12]

@@hugejohnson5011 They're insanely easy to work on too. I own 3 of them (92 SVX, 11 WRX, & 12 Outback) and there isn't anything on them that I can't do in my home garage with a decent set of tools.

[@hugejohnson5011]

I am surprised that Motori Moderni got as far as they did with that engine program, and had no computerized engineering records. That was not common even by the standards of the day. Only in Italy could they function as such! Or, was there something else at play, such as someone pleading a lack of records, not wanting the information to be sold or shared? Hmmm.....

[@alexjenner1108]

Carlo Chiti made flat-12 engines when he was at Alfa Romeo. This includes the Alfa Romeo 33TT12 sports prototype championship winner from the mid 1970s, which was later converted into an formula one engine for Brabham which won a couple of races. He later changed the V angle from 180° to 60° for the Alfa Romeo 179 F1 project. It would be interesting to compare the Alfa Romeo mid 1970s flat-12 with the Motori Moderni 1989 flat-12, perhaps not a lot of differences. The power output wasn't a huge increase for 10+ years and a larger engine.

[@fuse8052]

Subaru excels in flawed engines. Super neat video. 60 valves... 5 per cylinder is too many.

[@wickiezulu]

What grabs my interested with the Subaru 1235 Flat-12 is not so much the engine itself that proved lacklustre in motorsport. Rather it is the fact that Subaru, Dome or (less likely) Koenigsegg could have provided a non-German rear/mid-engine boxer-powered sportscar alternative to Porsche, which in the case of Subaru and Dome could have carved out a more accessible Japanese niche beneath Porsche with just a EJ20 Turbo engined 2-seater alone prior to the Boxster and Cayman.

[@youtubebannedme]

porsche is not a true boxer design, they are pretty much 180° V engine, and ferrari also offered a flat 12 engine

[@wickiezulu]

@@youtubebannedme Meant Porsche in relation to their road car engines, speaking of V vs boxer design it would be interesting to clear up the mystery on if the 1235 was itself a true boxer design or not.

[@youtubebannedme]

@@wickiezulu yeah i was talking about the 80's testarossa, i guess we'll never know about the 1235 engine

[@tim300wsm]

Head gasket goes boom was my first thought on reading title

[@igor-rp5mw]

You must be living in a cave. It was one model engine within few years range that had brittle graphite head gasket. That issue resolved long ago.

[@pruis3144]

Sounded insane😮

[@Spectrolite1]

Another splendid video from Visio!

[@dukie1616]

Great work as always, thank you👏

[@ziggy6645]

I’m amazed It didn’t blow a head gasket during all that testing

[@bharat1366]

I love your channel. Its a treasure cave for auto enthusiasts. You are such an inspiration.

[@MilanStojakov]

Very nice footage 👏

[@Ramsi-Berlin]

Awesome what you find out for many interesting things about engine's ❣️👌🏼 Love from Berlin 🇩🇪 Ramsi 😘 🙋🏻‍♂️

[@deanharris7149]

Great video!

[@bgd73]

subarus own math back in the day fit well with the mentality.. not their egnine, but it is interesting. their own boxer at that era was 2.62 inch stroke with a chevy 305 sized piston. Screaming lunatic ingredients..and they never let it truly run. We all got the signature tug boat thumping sound to this day instead. An interesting video is the aussie group that made 4 valve heads for the suabru EA series. Sounds like a crotch rocket motorcycle. max rpm is 5 digits.

[@Erebus-PCFX]

The sad story is Carlo Chiti ended up killing himself after the failure of Motori Moderni, alone...

[@jonlee580]

We need a video on the Honda F1 engines and why they dont out them in production vehicle

[@napalmholocaust9093]

Glad the subpar engine was rejected. Koenigsegg has exceeded everything Subaru is capable of.

[@apricity69]

How fast has a Koenigsegg lapped the Isle of Man?

[@Tom-wl9sx]

Really interesting information. Didn't know Subaru was in the F1. 🙃

[@maaxm]

When I worked for Coloni in 2008, there was an engine block sitting around in a container with car parts of that era.

[@christianlekstrom2398]

Swiss carage are doing a CC12,don´t know if it´s this engine but they have the most advaced Koenigsegg service garage outside of the factory themself Mrjww has a video where it´s brought up...

[@VelvetThunderB99]

Koenigsegg in F1 would be wild

[@ShittyUserName]

It would be fine but chances of success are low, they have no money, no factory, not enough people so a brand new entry is out of question because it's too big an ask but also buhing an existing team isn't an option because that's simply too expensive

[@CyanRooper]

​@@ShittyUserNameThey did try to race in Le Mans in the GT1 class by building a car that complied with the rules at the time only for those rules to be changed thus preventing them from competing.

[@ShittyUserName]

@@CyanRooper LeMans is pocket change in comparison to F1 so I would see that as a more viable option even today, and has more marketing relevance as well

[@gerogyzurkov2259]

​@@ShittyUserNameNo way WEC has more market relevance. F1 has more growth and more marketing. WEC has less growth.

[@ShittyUserName]

@@gerogyzurkov2259 do koenigseggs look like F1 cars? No. Can they adapt for example Jesko to hypercar rules? Yes. More market relevance does not mean bigger market

[@15DEAN1995]

Flat 12 engines sound epic

[@TheSlowDude]

Thanks again :-)

[@MikkelL03]

It would have been so fucking nice if someone would make a VR(same concept some vw came up with) engine back when engine regulations were less restricted.

[@zayseeu8337]

very interesting makes me still want a porsche or german MONSTER

[@hatefunwrx]

I really hope as an engineer he continues to try to develop and perfect such a potential monster

[@waterbnb7204]

that flat 12 sounded so goddamn good 😢

[@Commander-McBragg]

Awesome sound, though.

[@TyskenGBG]

Got a bunch of those engine blocks and other stuff 😂

[@xxxxghostxxxx2052]

Subaru engine are heavier than any car maker. The EJ20 is 42lb more than 4G63T, the new BRZ engine is way heavier than K20/K24 and make less HP. They are under perform.

[@allandriver2066]

K24 is 300lbs with exhaust. EJ20 is 348lbs, but this includes all ancillaries including turbo and intercooler, so there isn't much in it.

[@procrastinator1842]

What? How, they have no balance shaft, no counterweights...how could they be? My short block weighs about 75 lbs...

[@CDN296]

Flat 12 Koniegsegg would be something else

[@hardwaylearner]

Subaru has been making unreliable powerplants for ALL disciplines! 😂

[@Kacpa2]

Thats not true at all. Stop spreading dumb lies based on one engine that had issues to entiriety of their output. It was EJ25 only, both na and turbo that had issues and not any other engine they ever made. EJ20 and all other versions but 2.5 were suoerbly reliable, so was EZ30 and EZ36 flat six motors. Same with FA and FB motors(except some.minor issues with newest BRZ/GR86 motor apparently not having good enough lubrication when driven extremely hard on track). You only ever bough 2.5L ejs in US like fools so you had it fail. If you bought ej20 and ej22 instead then you would never have those issues at all. JDM and european subarus were mostly 2.0L including everything from most pedestrian to the sporty like STi. EJ25 was also.offered and it is one thst is known as problematic, but literarily no other engine has headgasket issues or any other problems.

[@SolaricAngel116]

Subaru is what it is.

[@igor-rp5mw]

Stock sti drivetrain holds up to 1000 hp reliably. Stock sti engine holds 500 hp easy for long time. 500-650 is a question of time. 1000 hp dyno pulls on stock sti engine? You got it. It won’t last but it makes it without blowing up. Name other 4 cylinder that in stock unopened long block can make 1000 hp and stock diffs, axels, gearbox. It won’t last but it makes. Hondas blow up at 600, evolutions blow up at 600 hp and gear box is another story. BBR built is proof.

[@EchoWhiskey11]

Hey man, you need to be careful what you say on the Internet. The Subaru Mafia will go to war for their cars.

[@ImInLoveWithBulla]

Didn’t BMW/Williams mess around with not a flat, but a super shallow angle V10 in the early 2000s? It was something like 140 degrees. Along the same time they made the hideous walrus car.

[@RapideWombaticus]

What could have been...

[@minerska3395]

4:54 typical subaru engine 😂

[@ScaRlaK319]

It was a flat v. In my opinion, if they make it a 10 cylinder and make it a true boxer. It would have been successful

[@amyschumersanaltumor1501]

f1 engine on Facebook marketplace is wild💀

[@user-fs5nu6dl5r]

Koenigsegg nearly became the swedish alfa romeo or fiat

[@surfside75]

Pictures show its a flat.. look at the heads.

[@TheAllAroundMan]

boxer engines and 180 degree V engines differ internally

[@VisioRacer]

Some people do not agree with this statement, but I consider any 180° Vee and boxer engines a flat design - cylinders are simply flat. The difference is the rod offset for opposing cylinders.

[@someonecalledeulogio2280]

"Lastima que ese motor era mas malo que la tos" - victor abad

[@Mitutumuch]

Wieners? What? 😂😂😂😂😂 Your welcome, you cannot unsee the intro

[@upsidedowndog1256]

Nice bit of history. Not winning is not uncommon in F1. 2nd place is the 1st loser, but without them there would be no winners!

[@peanutbutterpadre1519]

2nd place? It couldn’t even qualify…

[@upsidedowndog1256]

@@peanutbutterpadre1519 At least they tried. What have you done like that? I try all of the time to go beyond my scope. It usually works but sometimes failures are the best lessons.

[@peanutbutterpadre1519]

@@upsidedowndog1256 at least they tried? you really think the world is about participation trophies 🤦 im not a multi billion dollar company but im sure i could fail to qualify too with way less money wasted😂 idk why you would even try to compare my accomplishments to a manufacturing company contracted to do a job and failing miserably. i do swap engines though but id never use Subaru trash.

[@upsidedowndog1256]

@@peanutbutterpadre1519 Actually I don't believe in participation trophies. My point was that MOST companies can't get a handle on many of the formulas in F1. Without a full grid there is no show and no money for anyone. Remember 6 cars running at Indianapolis? I couldn't believe my eyes. I swap aircraft engines every day. I am no fan of Subaru but at least it sounded like a real F1 car, unlike this hybrid crap with the cars farting and growling around the track! F1 fan 1973-2013.

[@ethansilva4228]

Say what now?

[@fhwolthuis]

Bertrand Gachot was a Belgian, not Dutch

[@VisioRacer]

Born to a French father and German mother in Luxembourg. I simply used the Lux flag next to the birth year as he is of a Belgian-French nationality

[@fhwolthuis]

@@VisioRacer ah, I see! 😀

[@napraznicul]

Subaru is widely knowh by their WORST BOXER ENGINES which was EVER made on that planet. Not only as reliability, but also by performance AND mechanical operations acces. To modify an subaru engine for 800-1200bhp for more than a dyno test... you should change EVERYTHING, the block included. Better thash that garbage and install ANY other engine in the world... just to make space for it.

[@VisioRacer]

Funny thing is that this boxer design was Motori Moderni's, Subaru only provided funding

[@Payday5]

aint any engines requires you to change everything to make 1000 bhp+? i mean why the hell would you need a 1000 hp anyway? its not reliable for daily driving

[@napraznicul]

@@Payday5 because it's fun (but if you drive daily a PRIUS, you are unable to understand that 🤣) One friend of my use an R8 /980bhp to transport his son to kindergarden. Is no problem in urban traffic (dsg, 20injectors, 10 meth ports, in city runs with meth off and usually using only direct port injectors) By the way, MOST of the serious engines are able to hold 800- 1000bhp (in fact is about torque levels) using STOCK BLOCK and STOCK CRANKSHAFT, sometimes even stock conrods. Stock heads in many many situation, only camshaft upgraded (cam profile to keep longer time valves opened, nothing very fancy)

[@xom.]

​@@naprazniculhow much does an r8 cost compared to a subie

[@AmalgamationofMan]

Subaru never had a chance. They've never made a single reliable engine in the history of their brand. Their cars are powered by engines that were originally designed in the late 1800's. Subaru has never done anything all that innovative. Their product line is full of unreliable, anemic cars with fragile transmissions. Even their fast cars are slow.

[@VisioRacer]

I see we have a full-time Subaru hater in here. First of all, I suggest to watch the video before commenting, the engine was not a product of Subaru's engineering team, it was a Motori Moderni product. Subaru only provided funding to obtain an engine with their name on it. That's it.

[@procrastinator1842]

Wow. A bit of hyperbole there. Plenty of garden variety subarus from the late 90s/early 2000s still putting around the streets with 200-300000 miles on the clock.

[@subasurf]

Subaru making terrible engines....it's tradition.

[@oetic5016]

a ford v8 makes that car the single most mundane cookie cutter car conpared to what it could have been

[@Carlos_Jzx]

If only ppl would put a little more though to things would realize we are getting screw for example Koenigsegg made a technology that has changed F1 forever and is so efficient that F1 doesn't even have refuel on their sport and if you wondering what that tech is call it's name is Free Valve and is amazing on extracting Power and MPG that's how ICE can move up on the evolution pole but we all know that there a forces that don't want efficient engines for the masses.🤷🏾‍♀️

[@aquilaaudax6033]

✋🏼🇦🇺👍🏼

[@nickname3471]

This would be so much more interesting if you could understand the english spoken.

[@planetzebulon21]

Or you could just listen…

[@VisioRacer]

Everybody else understands and if you for whatever reason don't, there are always generated closed captions, so there is not real reason to bother to complain about understanding.

[@Alcyone850]

I understood perfectly, thus I feel that it may be a hearing issue...

[@dylanzrim3635]

If they could re-enter with todays rules I think they’d do ok even with the ground effect. They’d sound better too

[@ThePontiacgto65]

Not all flat engines are boxers ,he was or not? and Gachot is not an engineer but a pilot and not Dutch🇳🇱 but French 🇨🇵😉

[@VisioRacer]

Ah, yes, of course. I forgot to re-write that, sorry!

[@ThePontiacgto65]

@@VisioRacer For once there's a small mistake it's not a big deal And as usual, the video is interesting. 👍🏻

[@nhaixin69]

Subaru never made a good engine by history.

[@jameshoffa7085]

You just copied a four year old Drivetribe video and changed the title slightly. Foreign thief.