TAG-Porsche TTE PO1

The TAG-Porsche TTE PO1 was a 1.5 litre, 90 degree V6 turbocharged racing engine designed by Hans Mezger at Porsche for Formula One. Porsche built the engines while TAG Electronics paid for the whole engine programme, which is why the unit carried the TAG name. McLaren fitted it to its carbon fibre MP4/2 chassis, and it was first used in the 1983 Dutch Grand Prix, at the insistence of Niki Lauda, who felt the new engine needed race testing before a championship challenge could be mounted. In the MP4/2 it produced about 485 kilowatts (650 bhp) in race set-up and up to about 597 kilowatts (800 bhp) in qualifying set-up, with maximum turbo pressure. The car scored 12 wins in 1984, a record for one team in a season at the time, and Lauda took that year's drivers' title by half a point. Porsche refined the engine for 1985 with more power and better fuel consumption, and Alain Prost won the drivers' championship that year as McLaren took a second constructors' title. The engine has no article of its own, so this entry rests on the McLaren MP4/2 article.