RE: Porsche LMP1 confirms 4-cyl hybrid

[m444ttb]

I bet Mark is really looking forward to driving a car with a (presumably) heavy dependency on energy recovery systems!

[SimonBeeeeer]

So they've confirmed its a Inline 4...

No mention yet of fuel type. One of their earlier videos released on engine development had a shot of what appeared to be a rocker cover with 'TDFI' on it.

Could we see a mid-capacity 4 cylinder turbo diesel from Porsche? With the Hybrid supplementing the top end?

[Dave Hedgehog]

Hoppelemine said:

I wonder that will sound like at full throttle???

like my dyson

[Tib]

zeppelin101 said:

Inevitable, unfortunately.

Base-spec 911s will be 4 cylinders within the next 5-8 years I would think.

I fear you may be right. Yet more versions of the 911. Yay.

As it stands, I won't be in a position to buy a new boxster, so I don't care all that much. Truth is I probably wouldn't have bought one if they were a 4 though.

[jl34]

How dull. Between that and an Audi diesel cant see the appeal of watching it without a decent soundtrack. it's certainly nothing to look at

[CedricN]

Porsche has been working with 4 cyl turbo downsizing last years for the road cars, thats no secret. So it will probably be good marketing wise with the 4cyl in the racing cars Hope at least its not a dull soudning as a diesel, it shouldnt have to.




They were a little ahead of themselfs with the downsizing trend though...

1980 924 GT at Le Mans. Finished at an incredible 6th place, spending least time of all cars in the pits

[Krikkit]

xRIEx said:

Krikkit said:

I wonder if this engine has come, at least in part, of the still-born F1 engine project, back when the regs said I4 rather than V6?

Either way, the current LMP1 regs are certainly spicing up the technical side. V6 TDI Hybrid, V8 Hybrid and now I4 hybrid. Excellent.

And of course the Deltawing had (has - is it still racing?) a 1.6 turbo I4. From the Juke

Had is definitely the operative word - I can't remember what it's going to have in future (if the legal battles are sorted), but iirc it's a Mazda-derived lump.

[scubadude]

Much as aero engined behemoths are fun Porsche has to race and beat Audi with the etronomatic, you can't just lob a V10 Petrol at that and hope for the best.

In racing terms its no longer about an IC engine, its about a "powerplant" that is reliable, economical and light, if that combo is I4, Battery, electric motors and stuff then so be it, whatever it ends up being it has to equate to a similar bhp/tonne to be competitive surely.

If we're lucky it'll be abit like this- http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hzGGW8JV4dU

I think its all interesting, would rather all the cars where different, where are the gas turbines, warp drives and Eye of Harmony? :-)

[RobGT81]

SimonBeeeeer said:

So they've confirmed its a Inline 4...

No mention yet of fuel type. One of their earlier videos released on engine development had a shot of what appeared to be a rocker cover with 'TDFI' on it.

Could we see a mid-capacity 4 cylinder turbo diesel from Porsche? With the Hybrid supplementing the top end?

They confirmed last year that they would use petrol and Audi would use diesel.

[Kenzle]

So Porsche are playing the efficiency game with Audi? They won't be faster at outright lap times but aim to pit far less often and so average a higher speed over the 24H?

[red997]

I really don't get what all the fuss is about - nothing stands still - eg would you like to be reading this site with a slide rule rather than a pc etc ?

I'm sure somewhere a big V8 will still be produced to keep us all happy, albeit probably not in a Porsche..

I love the big engine Porsches;
but I can't help but think that if they succeed in making an inline 4 hybrid that makes a car go like stink, handle better cos it's light have potentially a lower Cog - where's the problem?
as someone already said - you can change the perceived note of an engine in many ways - just to suit the style / taste of car for example.

and I wish Porsche success in LM - Mr Weber deserves some good fortune.

[scubadude]

anonymous said:

[redacted]

I thought most people just wanted skids and crashes?

[zeppelin101]

I like the sound of race-bred 4 pots. Clearly I'm in the minority.

[debateaments]

anonymous said:

[redacted]

Yes, you take changes on their merits. And on this instance I am pretty confident Porsche engineers did their research better than us. Their main goal is to win, not give us a nice sounding engine. If that means a 4 cylinder engine so be it.

[zeppelin101]

anonymous said:

[redacted]

I never said I liked it more. I just said I liked it.

Face it, the days of retarded and relatively inefficient engines in motorsport are coming to an end.

[Dave Hedgehog]

Kenzle said:

So Porsche are playing the efficiency game with Audi? They won't be faster at outright lap times but aim to pit far less often and so average a higher speed over the 24H?

i very much doubt any audi or porsche will be allowed to finish out of the stipulated VAG head office approved position

[RobGT81]

anonymous said:

[redacted]

Except Audi want to use diesel so they would give it up and the series would be worse off for it.

[pfijcali]

It will sound like a rice burner on steroids.

[debateaments]

anonymous said:

[redacted]

Alright, so this was a discussion targeted towards the regulations rather than the manufacturers using the rules.
The problem, I think, of not allowing smaller engines/hybrid systems etc is that would keep most if not all manufacturers away from the series anyway. The only reason they bother with said series is that they could use their findings in the development of road-going cars. It has to be relevant to today's world and (unfortunately) minimum six pot petrol engines aren't.

[993RSGT3]

Kenzle said:

So Porsche are playing the efficiency game with Audi? They won't be faster at outright lap times but aim to pit far less often and so average a higher speed over the 24H?

This year's winning Audi made more pit stops than the 2nd placed Toyota (34 vs 30), but qualified ahead of the Toyotas, so it's not just about speed or pit stops, but overall strategy.

On the sound front, I'm not sure that a turbo 4 pot wont sound good - the turbo era BMW engine sounded pretty OK to me

Edited by 993RSGT3 on Wednesday 11th December 15:01