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IndyCar
INDYCAR: 2013 Engine Regulation Changes Confirmed
Marshall Pruett gets the inside scoop on the changes to IndyCar’s 2013 engine rules and major development items for Chevy and Honda.
Chevy and Ilmor Engineering, winners of the 2012 IndyCar drivers' and manufacturers' titles, will use the 2013 engine regulations to try and keep Honda at bay. (Photo: Marshall Pruett)
Drawing from a successful season spent using a brand-new turbocharged engine formula, the IZOD IndyCar Series has made a few interesting changes to its 2013 engine regulations.
The series’ original set of engine regulations specified an itemized list of items that opened up for revisions and re-homologation after the first year of competition with the 2012 engines had been completed, with fuel systems as the biggest area of development to explore.
“As you know, direct injection (DI) was allowed this year and used by Honda and Chevrolet in addition to port injection,” said Trevor Knowles, director of engine development for the IndyCar Series.
“The rules allow the manufacturers to revise their fuel systems for 2013. I don’t know yet how much either of them intends to change, but Ilmor have said they want to re-homologate some parts for next year so I assume there will be some changes. Lotus ran only port injection and may make the switch for next year.”
(SPEED.com has confirmed that due to a lack of funding from Lotus in recent months, all engine development has ceased.)
With the rules allowing two fuel injectors per cylinder—one in the intake fuel port and one in the cylinder head for DI--Chevy and Honda made use of both out of necessity.
Due to the fixed location of each injector, and the need to flow a high volume of fuel through small-displacement engines turning 12,000 RPMs, relying 100 percent on the more efficient burn that the DI injectors offer wasn’t an option.
Proper feeding of each cylinder also meant the less efficient port injector had to be used, but with more than a year of data to draw from, IndyCar’s engine builders are now hard at work devising the best ways to improve consumption rates and make more power with new fuel systems.
“Because we are going to be allowed to run both DI and high-pressure port injection, we will have to test it,” said Wayne Bennett, who oversees the championship-winning Chevy IndyCar program for engine builder Ilmor Engineering. “In theory, with targeting of the fuel stream there could be a performance gain with the high-pressure port injection, however, if gains can’t be realized then [those revisions] would not be pressed into action.”
Although the engine rules only allow for the new fuel systems to be pressed into service once the 2012 season ended, Bennett says the Chevy Ilmor team has been working continuously to find gains whenever possible.
“Development is ongoing all year round and whether we have an off-season or not wouldn't affect the planned development,” he remarked. “I think we would all rather be at a track racing for a longer period of time—a longer season--but as like I mentioned, it doesn't affect development. As DI is a new technology to IndyCar racing, we have and will continue to try to exploit more gains from the system.”
Knowles detailed the next major item that will be altered in the engine rules for next season.
The series’ original set of engine regulations specified an itemized list of items that opened up for revisions and re-homologation after the first year of competition with the 2012 engines had been completed, with fuel systems as the biggest area of development to explore.
“As you know, direct injection (DI) was allowed this year and used by Honda and Chevrolet in addition to port injection,” said Trevor Knowles, director of engine development for the IndyCar Series.
“The rules allow the manufacturers to revise their fuel systems for 2013. I don’t know yet how much either of them intends to change, but Ilmor have said they want to re-homologate some parts for next year so I assume there will be some changes. Lotus ran only port injection and may make the switch for next year.”
(SPEED.com has confirmed that due to a lack of funding from Lotus in recent months, all engine development has ceased.)
With the rules allowing two fuel injectors per cylinder—one in the intake fuel port and one in the cylinder head for DI--Chevy and Honda made use of both out of necessity.
Due to the fixed location of each injector, and the need to flow a high volume of fuel through small-displacement engines turning 12,000 RPMs, relying 100 percent on the more efficient burn that the DI injectors offer wasn’t an option.
Proper feeding of each cylinder also meant the less efficient port injector had to be used, but with more than a year of data to draw from, IndyCar’s engine builders are now hard at work devising the best ways to improve consumption rates and make more power with new fuel systems.
“Because we are going to be allowed to run both DI and high-pressure port injection, we will have to test it,” said Wayne Bennett, who oversees the championship-winning Chevy IndyCar program for engine builder Ilmor Engineering. “In theory, with targeting of the fuel stream there could be a performance gain with the high-pressure port injection, however, if gains can’t be realized then [those revisions] would not be pressed into action.”
Although the engine rules only allow for the new fuel systems to be pressed into service once the 2012 season ended, Bennett says the Chevy Ilmor team has been working continuously to find gains whenever possible.
“Development is ongoing all year round and whether we have an off-season or not wouldn't affect the planned development,” he remarked. “I think we would all rather be at a track racing for a longer period of time—a longer season--but as like I mentioned, it doesn't affect development. As DI is a new technology to IndyCar racing, we have and will continue to try to exploit more gains from the system.”
Knowles detailed the next major item that will be altered in the engine rules for next season.
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