Turbo chargers: We explain F1's turbo metamorphosis - and relive the fear of the turbo glory days, when men were forged from iron and tamed 1044kW animals

摘要

No one paid much attention to the single-car Renault entry at the 1977 British Grand Prix. Resplendent in Renault's corporate yellow, white and black and driven by Jean-Pierre Jabouille (who, incidentally, also designed the car) Renault's RS01 made history at Silverstone that day as the first turbocharged car to race in Fl. Powered by a 1.5-litre V6 Renault Gordini engine, the RS01 quickly became a joke in pitlane. Nicknamed 'the yellow teapot' for its propensity to detonate engines amid huge plumes of smoke, Renault nevertheless persisted with development, firm in its belief that turbocharging was Formula One's future. In the hands of Jabouille the RS01 failed to finish every race in 1977 and barely made it to the finish line in all but one race in 1978 (Jabouille scoring the first points for a turbocharged car with a fourth place in the US grand prix).