Nissan Unveils 88 Pound 400-HP Race Car Engine

cartechboy writes "Motorsports used to be about lots of horsepower, torque, and big engines. In recent years there's been a shift to downsizing engines, using less fuel, and even using alternative energy such as clean diesel and hybrid powertrains. Today Nissan unveiled a 400-horsepower 1.5-liter three-cylinder turbocharged engine that weighs only 88 pounds. This engine will be part of the advanced plug-in hybrid drivetrain that will power the ZEOD RC electrified race car that will run in the 2015 LMP1 class during the race season. Nissan says the driver of the ZEOD RC will be able to switch between electric power and gasoline power with the batteries being recharged via regenerative braking. Even more impressive, according to Nissan, for every hour the ZEOD RC races, the car will be able to run one lap of the Le Mans' 8.5-mile Circuit de la Sarthe on electric power alone. If true, that will make it the first race car in history to complete a lap during a formal race with absolutely zero emissions. If this all works, we could be witnessing the future of motorsports unfold before our eyes later this year when the ZEOD RC (video) makes its race debut at this year's Le Mans 24 Hours in June."

Series hybrids

[GrahamCox]

If you're going to build a series hybrid, why bother with pistons and cranks? Just make the turbo bigger and you have... a gas turbine. Use it to drive a big alternator and viola! The turbine can run at constant speed and be optimised for that one speed - the rest of the drive train is purely electrical. Someone should at least test the concept.

Re:Sure, but what about

[geekd]

If it's going to run LeMans, then it'll have to last 24 hours. :)

Kidding aside, it's not unusual for a race car engine to get rebuilt / replaced after every race. Heck, F1 used to use different engines for qualifying and the race. The qualifying engines were so lightweight and high strung they only lasted 12 to 15 laps. (F1 races are around 60 laps, depending on the track)

Re:Sure, but what about

[Cramer]

As en enduro racer, *grin* no, it doesn't have to last 24hrs. It does if you want to FINISH. (also, there's nothing in the rules that prevent an engine replacement during the race. It takes a fair amount of time to swap an engine.) You don't see F1 teams doing it because there's no point; they'd never recover the dozen lost laps. NASCAR has been known to, but they're getting back out to maintain season points. We do it because we wanna race; we're going to be 50+ laps down, but we don't care at that point. (hell, we replaced the transmission at an HPDE once -- my first HPDE, actually. Replaced a head gasket at another.)

Re:Samzenpus headline

[ackthpt]

If I remember correctly, that Ford RS-200 was one of the car choices in a racing game some years back, maybe Driver: San Francisco. It was one of the best cars in the game and I'd never heard of it. It flew, but it was difficult to handle.

Which was the moot point when the FIA series ended. To much power, too difficult to maintain control. Probably the first time any racing series achieved the upper limit in power. Many races now require restrictor plates to limit power, returning the race to a contest of driver skill over engineering prowess.

Re:Samzenpus headline

[50000BTU_barbecue]

Saw a special on youtube, basically the spark plugs are melted halfway through the course and they're just dieseling to the finish line.

Re:Samzenpus headline

[lgw]

Yup - top fuel is special. For any claims about engine power, it really matters where on the scale from "rebuilt every 3 minutes of operation" to "rebuilt every 300k miles" the engine lies.

Re:Samzenpus headline

[Ralph Wiggam]

Watching Top Fuel drag racing can be boring, but the technology is amazing. Here's a video showing how much fuel is provided to each cylinder during a race-

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xGTbQuhhluY

Re:Samzenpus headline

[petsounds]

Which was the moot point when the FIA series ended. To much power, too difficult to maintain control. Probably the first time any racing series achieved the upper limit in power.

I would argue that the 1967 Formula One season [wikipedia.org] was the first time a racing series had cars that were too powerful to control. 400-500bhp V8 and V12 engines attached to four wheels and a gas tank, sitting on old-style treaded tires with no downforce wings. In fact, the two fatalities during this season (including Lorenzo Bandini's horrendous accident [wikipedia.org] at Monaco) forced the FIA to mandate new safety features, such as requiring wings on the cars.

Re:Samzenpus headline

[dunng808]

I would go back even further. Pre-WWII cars had large displacement motors that produced far more power than could be put to use on dirt roads and the fragile tires of the day. I agree with the point that the move from the 1.5L formula in 67 brought faster speeds, exactly why the change was made. Lotus introduced wings; the FIA did more to ban them than encourage their use.

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