This KV Racing car still uses a Honda engine next season, but that will change in 2012
It’s a three way game for engines in the Izod IndyCar Series for 2012 now – engine supplier Honda has recently been joined by Chevrolet and now Lotus! Lotus has just announced that it will be supplying in-house engines and are bodykits for the IndyCar series. It will also be creating a motorsport facility in Indianapolis.
The first team to be using the new Lotus engines in the 2012 IndyCar series is KV Racing Technology. Chevrolet also has its first customer – Team Penske. The 2012 rules stipulate engines of 2.4 litres in capacity, a maximum of 6 cylinders, and turbocharged to produce between 550 to 700 horsepower. The Chevrolet engine will be a twin-turbocharged 2.4 litre V6, and we can expect Lotus to follow a similar configuration with their IndyCar engine.
“We will be using the knowledge gained from our extensive research into E85 bio fuel and turbo charged engines to ensure we extract the maximum performance. As you would expect from the company that pioneered aerodynamics in sports car and F1 racing over the years, our aero body kit will also be a world class solution. So all in all, will the 2012 Lotus IndyCar will be as innovative and revolutionary as the Lotus Type 38 that won in 1965 and changed Indy forever? Maybe – we’ll have to wait and see!” said Claudio Berro, Director of Lotus Motorsport.
There seems to be a whole load of stuff happening with Lotus ever since Dany Bahar joined the management team!
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oo, .. lotus this good
lotus have their own engine??? since when… i thought they use toyota engine for their own car….hmMmmmm
yer la, 1st time dengar, campro tak la lotus pun, cuma guna teknologi lotus jer.. so next campro turbo la ni? 2.4L leh letak kat dalan next gen perdana ni…
Just like proton use mitsu lancer to become their own proton inspira…XD
anyhow, plz use this engine in upcoming Perdana Replacement model..thanx
aly,
They don’t currently have their own engine. Thus I suspect would be working with a technical partner to supply it. It could either be with Toyota or Cosworth. Probably depends on which is party will be more cost-effective.
Cosworth and KV Racing are both owned by Amercian entrepreneur Kevin Kalkhoven so there is a natural relationship there. Probably less red tape than with Toyota.
The current Honda V8 Indycar engine is actually produced by Ilmor for Honda.
hope they can detune the engine, degrade it to 250hp and slap it into perdana replacement
i can see the HONDA word so big at the aerial of the car…i thk the engine is something like Lotus outside “Honda inside” or may be “Toyota inside”
read the caption dude. lotus engine only comes into play in 2012.
Lotus / Proton famous to do this kind of things…put other brand engine and name it as their own brands…now Proton NO CAMPRO in Insipra….BACKward style by proton & Lotus…
Claudio Berro’s a Ferrari man. Dany Bahar also a Ferrari man. Lotus is going to be Ferrari in British Racing Green?
That seems to be Dany Bahar’s plan. Analysts are questioning whether its the right move.
as long as it makes money, i think its the right move :)
maybe u dont remember this
‘ Lotus NEF engine introduced in early 2006 with the Lotus APX Concept. The Lotus NEF engine is a 3.0 liter V6, and they also another engine that have 1.5 liter inline-3 could just be half of an NEF. The NEF was supercharged, which leads me to believe this new engine’s method of forced induction will most likely be a supercharger as well since the integrated exhaust manifold makes no mention of a turbo manifold ‘
From what I read in the net, there is possibly that Lotus will rebadge Cosworth engine. Just don’t know which model of engine or maybe a new model of engine from Cosworth. Lotus maybe will doing modification on that drivetrain.
Could be right about the Lotus NEF engine but it could be unlikely for the following reasons:
1. The engine has never been in production and thus untested
2. It’s a 75deg V6 which is not ideal for this race application.
3. It’s a production car engine not designed to be a stressed chassis member and will need serious weight reduction.
The basic architecture of the NEF seems designed for production cars, not single seater racing thus they might as well start from a clean sheet of paper or capitalize on the high level know-how of a company like Cosworth.
As far as forced induction turbo is probably the better way to go rather than supercharge and not that difficult to switch.
Point is a whole lot of redesign work would be needed to adapt the NEF for Indycar. If the V6 angle is broader, at least there would be a better chance of trying to adapt the block into the race car.
Lotus flourish under Proton! Hooray for Proton!
Wondering.. when proton can get full package from LOTUS..
Osamu Goto (the legendary Ayrton Senna Turbo F1 engine project)
PROTON+LOTUS+COSWORTH+RENAULT+OSAMU GOTO = WIN!!!
waiting for details.. even Mercedes-Benz know the potential of Indycars, bought the Ilmor who first develop racing engine in Indycars and rebranded it to Mercedes-Benz HighPerformanceEngines Ltd. for current Mercedes-Benz F1 engine project.
PROTON with Dany Bahar is on the right direction!
Still proton who owns Lotus still having the dated Campro engine. Pelik.
Interesting, considering this will be the first time Lotus has built its own engine for racing application.
Or is it? Could Cosworth lurking somewhere in the background?
If Proton can make own engines, of course Lotus can. There is always Ricardo Engineering at Shorham by Sea near Brighton to help.
OK, with the help of powertrain consultants of course..but I thought Ricardo is more on car transmission system expertise..
most proly originate from 2.4 v6 toyota camry engine and tuned by lotus….