"In 1982, the Renault V6 turbo developed 585 horsepower, whereas when it was first used in F1, back in 1977, it put out 525, so the increase in power has been minimal. But during those years, we had concentrated on other areas: reliability, smooth power curve and a reduction in throttle response time, Once we has reached our target in there areas, we turned our attention to finding more power and in 1986, the Renault V6 turbo put out 870 horsepower in race trim. Therefore, having found a 60 horsepower increase from 1977 to 1982, we had gained almost 300 from 1982 to 1986.
In theory, all one has to do was to increase the boost pressure to increase horse power on a turbo charge engine. However, the engine components had to be able to withstand the extra forces. This was the problem we faced when we started to look for more power, starting in 1982.
The first obsticle was detonation. This phenomenon occurs when a large quantity of air fuel mixture enters the cylinder bores and provokes an abnormal combustion. On a road car, detonation, also know as pinking, but does not damage the engine.
But in Formula 1 engine, the force of the detonation is such that the piston can be destroyed, through hot gases escaping between the combustion chamber and the sump."
Its from a water injection manufactures website.
