Pneumatic Valve Technology in Racing
Pneumatic valve springs gave Renault an advantage with its turbocharged engines, often said to be the most powerful. However, reliability and poor handling of their chassis kept the cars from success until 1989 when Renault provided Williams with a new V10 engine to begin a winning streak. Renault won the constructors' championship with Williams in 1992, 1993, 1994, 1996 and 1997, and with Benetton in 1995. Nigel Mansell, Alain Prost, Michael Schumacher, Damon Hill and Jacques Villeneuve each won a Driver's championship in the 1990s with Renault engines.
Pneumatic valve springs are also found in several Moto GP motorcycle engines, debuting in 2002 with the Aprilia RS Cube. In 2005, Team Roberts was the first to use pneumatic valves full time in their uncompetitive KTM powered bike. Today, almost all of the MotoGP teams use pneumatic valve technology on their bikes, including Yamaha, Suzuki and Honda. Ducati uses a desmodromic design.
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