I give you the most powerful car to ever grace Formula One: the 1400+ BHP Benetton B186 from 1986.

First, some background:

Benetton’s F1 team is legendary not only for the two consecutive title wins in 1994 and 1995 (both courtesy of Michael Schumacher), but also for the fascinating way they entered the sport. They did so by purchasing the Toleman F1 team (with which Ayrton Senna made his debut in 1984) and rebranded it as their own. They would start the 1986 F1 season with the B186, a unique car from multiple standpoints.


The chassis:

Nothing especially noteworthy here, apart from the fact that it was designed to fit two drivers that had a 15 cm (6 inch) difference in height.


The engine:

The B186 was powered by BMW’s M12/13 engine, a 1.5L inline-4 that traces its roots in the 1960s, and could be found, in one form or another, in various BMW road cars. For some reason, BMW thought it would be a good fit for their F1 engine program and they threw literally everything at it to make it work. It started out as a fairly ordinary engine among its turbocharged brethren (like Renault and Ferrari), but in 1986 it cemented its reputation as the most brutal and insane engine in F1 history, with power peaking at around 1400 BHP in qualifying trim and 900 BHP in race trim. At the time, other turbocharged engines in F1 sported a V cylinder configuration (V8 for Alfa Romeo and V6 for Renault and Ferrari) which allowed the use of two turbochargers. This helped with max power, turbo lag and reliability (since each individual turbocharger was less stressed). The BMW M12, being an inline-4, could only use one turbocharger, and given the origins of this engine problems were quick to arise, mostly reliability ones. In fact, reliability on this engine was so bad that they literally welded the cylinder heads to the pistons, as no head gasket could survive the sheer power of that tiny 4-banger. To achieve 1400 BHP, the team also had to use special fuel, and wear protective gear while handling it. And don’t get me started on the turbo lag that comes from extracting 1400 BHP from a 1.5L engine…


The car’s results:

During the 1986 F1 season, the Benetton B186 did secure a win in Mexico (courtesy of Gerhard Berger) and two pole positions (both by Teo Fabi), but poor reliability meant retirements were very common. As a result, the team only finished 6th in the Constructors’ Championship.