Innholdsfortegnelse for March 2018 i Racecar Engineering

The 2018 LMP1 grid was looking rather bleak until Ginetta declared that it would compete, claiming the first privateer spot. This was followed by the news that Mecachrome would supply it with 650bhp in the form of a 3.4-litre V6 turbocharged, direct injection engine. This LMP1 concept is an evolutionary step from the V6 already raced in both GP3 and F2, with the former naturally-aspirated and the latter a turbo with port injection. ‘After the first GP3 and Formula 2 tests, we realised that this engine could be a good base for an LMP1 car. Not only could this V6 meet the power demands of LMP1, but direct injection was also feasible and it met our cost objectives,’ says Bruno Engelric, managing director of Mecachrome Motorsport. ‘The current WEC regulations…

More akin to an H on its side, the H16 was built up of two flat-eight engines stacked on top of each other British Racing Motors (BRM) had an inconspicuous entry into Formula 1 back in 1950 with the highly anticipated but ultimately unsuccessful V16. Such was the disappointment of the crowd after the car stalled on the start-line at its debut that driver Raymond Sommer was bombarded with coins. While Juan Manuel Fangio did manage to score non-championship wins with the temperamental V16, BRM only became a force in the Formula 1 World Championship as its cars became more conventional. The team particularly excelled in the sport’s 1.5-litre era (1961 to 1965), using a high revving P56 V8 engine. But for the 1966 season the displacement limit was raised…

Two Type 43 models were built by Lotus for the BRM H16 engine. This car was entered twice for Peter Arundell halfway through the 1966 season before being entrusted to Jim Clark for the Italian GP. Monza suited the sheer power of the engine and Clark managed to set the third fastest time in practice. He had a bodged start and eventually started the opening lap in last place and then retired shortly thereafter. The next outing was the US Grand Prix at Watkins Glen where all the pieces did fall into place and Clark managed to score the only grand prix victory with an H16 engine in this very car. After its F1 career it was fitted with a Ford small-block V8 and raced in F5000. It is now…

These days, in motorsport, most effort with regard to the engine is focussed on maximising efficient interaction between the fuel and air within the combustion chamber, as well as the tuning, mapping and monitoring of the unit. But the same level of consideration is often not given to the actual sealing of the engine, which can lead to difficulties later on. Ancillary components such as seals can sometimes be undervalued, but are nevertheless extremely important. There is no point spending large sums of money developing a high performance dry sump engine, using high vacuum, if the crankshaft seals are not capable of sealing and maintaining that vacuum. One company that takes a unique approach to the design and development of high performance seals is Race-Tec Seals. By using its in-house…

‘We have reduced the torque, that’s just simple engine maths – when you reduce the displacement you reduce the torque’ With a year of development under their belts, LMP2 and DPi teams contesting the IMSA United Sportscar Series introduced their updates for the 2018 season at the ‘ROAR before the 24’ test at Daytona in January. Apart from the new GTLM car from BMW (page 8) and the heavily updated Mazda from Multimatic (page 16), there was also the new tyre from Continental, designed to address the problems seen in the 2017 Daytona 24 hours, while Cadillac turned up with a smaller capacity engine, down from 6.2 litres to 5.5 litres. The prototypes were to 2018 specification, with the ‘joker’ packages that were allowed by the FIA and ACO to…

The four months of lost time put the team under immense pressure, and perhaps compromised the ultimate set-up for the car BMW’s history with endurance racing has been somewhat chequered in the last 20 years in that, while it won the 1999 Le Mans 24 hours overall with the V12 LMR, one of the best-looking prototype racecars the world has seen, in GT racing the picture has been more complex. From the M3 GT2, featuring a 4-litre V8 engine which did not exist in true production form, to its new car, the M8, which is based on the 7 Series executive saloon, the firm has often not had a car that fits with the traditional GT philosophy along the same lines as Ferrari, Porsche, Aston Martin or Corvette, with their…

Ginetta has fought for its place in the top tier of WEC, staving off a plan to introduce an LMP2-plus concept Ginetta finally took the wraps off the car that it hopes will win at Le Mans, the Mecachrome-powered G60-LT-P1, at Autosport International in January. The new LMP1 was unveiled by Ginetta chairman, Laurence Tomlinson, technical director, Ewan Baldry, and Graeme Lowdon, who confirmed that the intention was for Manor Racing – of which he is sporting director – to run the car alongside an LMP2 entry in the FIA World Endurance Championship. Following the withdrawal of Audi and Porsche from the WEC, leaving Toyota as the only major car manufacturer involved in LMP1, Ginetta has fought for its place in the top tier of the series, staving off a…

The second of three P83s built, this example was first raced by Jackie Stewart in the 1966 Italian Grand Prix at Monza, but the H16 engine expired just a handful of laps into the race. It was then raced three more times that year by Graham Hill, but he failed to reach the finish on each occasion with this car. Underlining that the drivetrain and car were more reliable in 1967, Mike Spence was a regular finisher with this chassis that season. His highest finish was fifth, but he achieved this in five grands prix and also placed sixth twice. Last raced at the 1967 Mexican Grand Prix, where Spence – of course – finished fifth, this BRM was eventually sold to the late Tom Wheatcroft and displayed for many…

With the automotive industry shifting its focus from conventional internal combustion propulsion to varying levels of electrification, the motorsport industry is now also starting to shift, and this has seen a number of start-up enterprises enter the business for the first time. Among these is Xing Mobility, a Taiwanese company who started with an initial goal of becoming a new competition car constructor for the growing Asian market. ‘I had been working at Tesla Motors from 2006 to 2012, during that time I worked in Asia and came to realise the potential advantages of operating an engineering consultancy in the region,’ Azizi Tucker, chief technical officer of Xing says. ‘I moved to Taiwan, started a consultancy and joined with some local businesses who wanted to build an FIA CN spec…

Well-known motorsport engineering and technology company Prodrive scooped the top award at the annual Motorsport Industry Association’s (MIA) Business Excellence Awards, which were held at Autosport International. Prodrive won the The Business of the Year Award (with annual sales over £5m). The company has created innovative solutions in automotive, aerospace, marine and other sectors as well as making championship-winning race and rally cars. In September Prodrive celebrated its 300th win of a race or rally since its formation in 1984, when its Aston Martin team took a class victory in the Austin, Texas round of the WEC. Prodrive employs more than 500 staff in Banbury and Milton Keynes. While it is perhaps best known for its many successes in global motorsport – rallying with Subaru, Mini, Volkswagen; Le Mans and…

‘I want to be in the hunt for wins come the latter half of the season, and surprise some folks in the championship fight too’ The Daytona 24 hours in 2017 saw the competition debut of Mazda’s DPi car, powered by a 2-litre, 4-cylinder turbo engine built by AER, which was housed in a chassis designed by Riley Technologies and Multimatic Motorsports. The RT24-P promised much, but somewhere between the drawing board and the track problems arose, and it’s fair to say that the car never fulfilled its potential. The relationship between Multimatic and Riley began when Larry Holt, the vice president at the former and also its motorsport boss, was approached by Mazda to find a way into the IMSA series. Holt was not at all keen on building…

For the 1967 season BRM built one brand new car for the H16 engine. It was slightly lighter and featured a revised cooling infrastructure. That season it was raced by Jackie Stewart on five occasions but he never managed to reach the finish. Mike Spence also tried the car at the opening round of the 1968 season but again was forced to retire before the end of the race. Like many of the BRM cars it eventually ended up in the Donington Grand Prix Collection museum. In more recent years it was restored to full running order by specialists Hall and Hall. In 2016, the car was demonstrated for its new French owner by Hall and Hall’s Andy Willis during the Goodwood Revival celebration of the 50th anniversary of Formula…

QUESTION In discussions about early Corvairs and other cars with swing axles, I’ve found out about a device called a ‘camber compensator’. It’s a kind of leaf spring under the rear end that is supposed to keep the rear wheels from tucking under the car. But do these things actually work? And, if so, what exactly do they do? THE CONSULTANT The camber compensator is essentially the opposite of an anti-roll bar, or sway bar. It adds stiffness in ride or heave (synchronous wheel movement) and not in roll (oppositional wheel movement), whereas the anti-roll bar does the opposite. It doesn’t cure the jacking completely but it reduces it. It accomplishes this without increasing rear load transfer, which would be the result if we used stiffer springs or droop limiters…

With governments all over the world continuing to encourage manufacturers to develop electric technology the question has to be asked – how much longer will internal combustion engines (ICE) be around? Short answer: for a very long time. ‘Recent news headlines have been making claims such as; “No more IC engine vehicles allowed on the road after 2040”, “Death of the IC engine”, “Volvo are only making electric cars from 2019”, and in most cases these announcements are all incorrect,’ says Steve Sapsford, director of business strategy at Ricardo. ‘What has actually been said is that vehicles won’t have IC engines as the sole source of propulsion after 2040. Instead, the majority of vehicles will be some form of hybrid, whether it be full hybrid (HEV), plug-in (PHEV), mild hybrid…

With an ICE it is often said there’s no replacement for displacement. The electrical equivalent to this is there is no replacement for C rating In December I was at a trade show in the US catching up with my colleagues from Racecar Engineering. It was suggested that given ChassisSim’s presence in Formula E and other electric powertrain projects, I should write an article spilling the beans. I’m actually not going to do this, since our customers would get rather grumpy. But this is a great opportunity to talk about, and put some numbers to, the most important yet fragile link in electric powertrains – the electric cells. The big difference between an internal combustion drivetrain and its electric counterpart is the lithium ion/polymer cells (LIPos) you use. With an…