The Glorious V6 Turbo

Does anybody find it interesting that the V6 twin turbo has become the racing engine of choice?

IndyCar went to the 2.2L turbo V6 in 2012 and has now specifically mandated a twin turbo set up for both Chevy and Honda. They’ll have a 500-700bhp and in a car weighing less than 1,600lbs, it’s that damned fast!

F1 is transitioning to a 1.6L turbo V6 for the 2014 season and complimented by KERS, it will have around 750bhp.  This will be interesting as turbocharging has been outlawed for some 20 years now.  Honda is getting involved in 2015, having one of the dominant engines during F1’s turbo era.  I wonder if it has anything to do with their IndyCar motor….

For the TUSC, Ford’s EcoBoost twin turbo V6 set 2 FIA certifies closed course records at Daytona International Speedway with Michael Shank Racing.  I saw the car at last years Rolex24 quietly sitting by the MSR transporter and was thrilled to see the same engine as my car in a race car.  After the record attempt, Chip Ganassi Racing dropped their series dominating  BMW V8’s for this engine, so it must be something special.

It’s obvious in the current state of racing, we’re trying to cover a number of areas; power, fuel efficiency, packaging, etc.  The turbo V6 covers them all for a number of racing styles; F1’s sprint format, IndyCar’s longer distances and TUSC’s long endurance events.

I just don’t see it in NASCAR anytime soon…….

State of the Art

2014 Audi R18 E-Tron testing in Sebring, FL.The new Audi R18 E-Tron being tested this week at Sebring International Raceway is arguably the most advanced race car ever built.  I would hazard to say it is more advanced than then Sebastian Vettel’s World Championship winning RB9.  Yes, I said it! More advanced then the most successful F1 car ever built.  (I am starting to like where LMP1 is going, but more on that later.)

What I find interesting is that the technology on the Audi is very applicable to the cars we drive now.  It’s a hybrid system designed to win races, but I have never been a fan of hybrids, always a proponent for good-old-fashioned internal combustion engines.  More cubic inches, bigger turbo’s, faster rev’s; any trick to get more power (Tim “The Tool Man” Taylor, enter stage right). Then the Prius comes along and  “hyper mile-ing” becomes an obsession.

The goal is to win but with a set amount of fuel.  The rules for 2014 put a higher importance on fuel economy than it has in the past and Audi has responded with what is essentially a whole new car.  Like the previous R18 E-Tron, it still has the V6 turbo diesel powering the rear wheels and a Williams Hybrid Power Kinetic Energy Recovery System (KERS), just like the one used in F1, at the front.  This gives the car 4 wheel drive at points during the race.  New to the car is an electric turbocharger utilizing a heat-to-energy recovery unit (I am guessing on the exhaust) for power.  This helps reduce turbo lag and allows the motor to run more freely.

This is a truly impressive vehicle.  With competition from Toyota and now Porsche, the race is on!

Why I love sportscar racing!

I am sitting here watching the last race of the year, the WEC in Bahrain.  While it is still 11:00AM here, the 6 hour race still has 2 hours to go!  Yes, I love the racing.  Why?

It’s the cars!  and there are a lot of them.  The GT’s are real cars but the Prototypes look like something from the Jetson’s.  And there is so much variety.  This year in GT alone there will be at least 7 makes At Daytona: Porsche, Audi, Ferrari, Aston Martin, Corvette, BMW and Viper.  In Europe, Bentley can be added to that list too.  In the mix and match world of the prototypes, we’ll have engines from Ford, BMW, Acura, Nissan and Mazda (a diesel, by the way) in chassis’ by Riley, Lola, Oak, Oreca and Acura.  And this is just in the US.  The WEC has kept the P1 top level prototype class with the hybrid Porsche’s, Audi’s Toyota’s as well as the gas powered Lotus’s, Oaks and Morgans.

It’s the teamwork! Yes, I said teamwork.  During most races, each car has at least 2 drivers.  For the long races, the 24 hour and 12 hour races, there can be as many as 4 drivers.  They have to set the car up so not only are they comfortable for 2+ hours of seat time, but so the other drivers are comfortable  too.  And if all goes well, the engine is never shut off.  The tires, brakes and any other wear part are changed during pit stops by a crew of mechanics that have to deal with the long hours and potentially inclement weather.  These are the hardcore guys who keep the cars on the track and are usually up for the entire race!

This years IMSA  has the Tudor Championship,  the “normal” 13 race schedule.  Four races,  the Rolex24 at Daytona, the Sebring 12 hours, The 6 Hours of the Glen and the Petit Le Mans, are also the North American Endurance Championship (NAEC).  With these, several European based teams are planning on coming over to race just these marque events.

So, my plan for this year is to attend The Rolex24 and Sebring with the possibility of Petit Le Mans at the end of the season.  I will have many pictures and some reports of the happenings at those races.

The “Merger”

So, the 2013 season has ended and both Grand-Am and ALMS are officially no more.  Grand-Am bought the ALMS from Don Panoz for a lot of money.  Green saves the day, not just the environment….

This is good!  For many years I was an open wheel fan, but the split killed it.  I went the ChampCar way and sorely missed the Indy 500.  The IRL folks missed the competition.  It was not good.

But it was, in many ways, similar to the sportscar’s separation.  The IRL had Indy.  They had what amounted to spec cars (they still do!). ChampCar had the names and the variety of makes, both in chassis and engines. Grand-Am had a very tight control of specs and it had the Rolex 24 at Daytona.  ALMS had the killer cars.  I’ll eventually work my way through those tracks that shared both series, but I digress.

With the merger, we have lost P1 and GX.  We kept those classes that had exciting racing.  The new rules package is going to be interesting when it is finalized, but if the testing at Sebring and Daytona show anything, they may be on the right track.  OK, I am not a fan of flying cars, so there are going to be tweeks.

In all honesty, ALMS’s P1 class was dying. Not enough participants.  Audi and Rebellion were WEC teams who party crashed on select races and somehow made it work, sort of.   There were not enough teams.  I hazzard to say the same holds true for the WEC p1’s, even though Porsche is joining.

GX just didn’t take off.  There were 3 cars for most of the season; the 2 factory backed Mazda diesels and the lone privateer Caymen by BGB.  BGB won through sheer determination against a major corporation making it’s comeback in motorsports.

So we have the Daytona Prototype’s, P2’s, PC’s and 2 GT classes.  We have a great mix of the high tech, high horsepower, true street machines and pure racers, it really is the best mix in racing, the best of both worlds.  Imagine F1 meeting IndyCar!  Yes, we now have it!

Welcome

This is a website devoted to racing in general and sportscars in particular.  I love racing.  Any kind of racing.  Do you have midgets on emu’s?  I’ll watch.  Then comment on it!  I have definite opinions, so beware!  This is, after all, a fan site!  I’ll post news when it happens, but I may throw in a curveball with it!

Also know, I do want your thoughts to!  If you don’t like what I say, be nice (it is my site!!!) but post your thoughts.  Let’s have some fun!