Originally Posted by
Kitdy
His statement could have more application in a racing engine.
I PM'd some UCP dudes here and I think (but I don't want to misquote them) they seemed to indicate that the biggest drawback of an I6 design in a road car (say, a BMW) was packaging in the engine bay - kinda like the design issues faced by using flat-X engine a la Porsche and Subaru.
When it comes to engines used in prototype race cars, I think the criteria all change quite drastically - and regulations are a large part of why certain engine configurations are favoured.
I ain't no engineer, but even for me, it seems exceptionally odd that AM went for an I6. AMR-One seems to be a mess right now, and even with more development time I would be surprised if it could compete with the diesels let alone the best gasoline cars.
Off topic, I have been reading a bit about the regs for LMPs on another forum and it really seems to me that the various subclasses has created quite a minefield for potential entrants. As Wouter's article indicated, that new HPD V6 is woefully uncompetitive, and I have heard Hindy complain that older engines have an advantage, and while Honda has adhered to the spirit of the regulations, others have not.
HPD V6 is down on power according to my friend working at Wirth, but there are other reason why the Acura/HPD car is less competitive than before. Namely the car is actually not a budget capped car like most others in class, thus the car has more restriction than other P2 car.They are sorting it out though, as Spa result have shown with the Strakka car finishing 3rd in class, and apparently was only due to them being caught out by safety car and lost a lap. ILMC does not have ALMS' new complicated safety car procedure to prevent that from happening....
University of Toronto Formula SAE Alumni 2003-2007
Formula Student Championship 2003, 2005, 2006
www.fsae.utoronto.ca