INDYCAR: Inside The Global Racing Engine

IndyCar

INDYCAR: Inside The Global Racing Engine

A small, inexpensive and powerful new 4-cylinder engine is set to become a major player in 2012. We go inside the concept with its inventor, Audi's Ulrich Baretzky.

Marshall Pruett | Posted June 03, 2010 Hayward, CA

Audi Sport's Ulrich Baretzky. (Audi Sport)

With the announcement of the new IndyCar Series engine rules – something I call the Global Racing 4-cylinder engine-slash-let’s keep Honda happy by allowing a V-6 -- you’ll need to know the man behind one half of the engine equation, Audi Sport’s Head of Engine Technology, Ulrich Baretzky.

Baretzky, the artist and creator of the German marque’s ALMS and Le Mans-conquering gasoline and diesel-powered engines, ranks amongst the greatest racing engine designers of the last two decades. A Picasso of horsepower, Baretzky’s 3.6L twin-turbo V8 engine won Le Mans from 2000-2005, taking six consecutive ALMS championships and 61 total wins along the way.

It was replaced by his monstrous 5.5L twin-turbo diesel V12 for 2006, where it won the classic 24-hour race on its debut and again in 2007 and 2008. The V-12 was exchanged for his latest pride and joy, the compact 5.5L twin-turbo diesel V10, which produces close to 700 hp and almost 1200 ft-lb of torque while shifting at just 4300 rpms.

For a man whose Le Mans engine makes as much torque as almost four Honda IndyCar V-8s, it’s a bit humorous to think that the successor to his low rev diesel masterpiece is something as small, light and tightly wound as the 2.0L, inline-4cyl Global Racing Engine (GRE).

Rather than have manufacturers do as they’ve always done – to go in different directions and spend small fortunes on building wholly unique racing engines for a particular series – Baretzky wondered if a large group of car companies could come together to agree upon a common set of engine rules that would give them something to use in a variety of racing series, and would also save them money.

Provided they all could settle on a type of engine, its size, its power, and how to make it suitable for almost every form of racing, manufacturers could arm themselves with the kind of solution that makes shareholders happy, that speaks to the changes in the global economy, that takes the environment into account, and also provides a technology transfer back to production cars.

The GRE isn’t the Holy Grail of engine concepts, but it’s close. With IndyCar’s announcement of an engine that can have up to six cylinders and a maximum of 2.4 liters for 2012, the GRE seems like a perfect fit for American open-wheel racing. I’d also wager that the GRE figured heavily in the cylinder/displacement decision made by IndyCar’s ICONIC panel. And that suits the GRE’s inventor just fine.

Barrel-chested and with hands like mallets, the hearty German is the closest thing we have to an old school IndyCar engine builder at the moment. His mind is always searching for something new, something better, and he can turn his scribbled drawings into reality on his own – a Bavarian Smokey Yunick, or “Smokey Ulrich” as I call him.

While his motors are currently found in fendered racing cars, Baretzky’s free thinking could soon find its way into whatever 2012 IndyCar chassis that emerge. Despite the popularity of his idea, Baretzky prefers not to take the credit for the GRE’s concept due to the heavy input it has received from manufacturers throughout the world.

“It’s strange that always people say it’s my engine. It is not. Maybe I took the opportunity to express a need for it in the right moment and the right place, but the final version comes from many fine minds.”

First announced at an engine efficiency symposium in 2008 at Oxford University in England, the GRE, initially known as the World Racine Engine, has piqued a lot of interest amongst Audi’s fellow racing engine manufacturers.

With the symposium ahead of him, and having sat through far too many sleep inducing dissertations, Baretzky was looking for a fresh presentation to deliver. The GRE concept was soon hatched.

“I was sitting in a hotel in Spain waiting for my wife to return. She was in a conference because she’s a physician so I had quite some time to think about it and it’s boring to talk just about fuel consumption and things like that. Talking about overall efficiency is something else. That is what I thought of. Total engine efficiency. Efficiency could be that you make one engine and you could use it for a lot of racing categories at the same time, and this is efficient for each manufacturer. Make one engine which can be used for different series at the same time, so you have the development costs once. They spend far less.”

With this revolutionary approach in mind, Baretzky thought of more ways to make the GRE versatile, relevant and long lasting.

It's odd that the man known for making crazy engines that power even crazier machines is the one who came up with the model for small displacement and total efficiency. (Marshall Pruett)

“The other thing you have is the trend in the automotive industry to downsize the engine, that's why it is a ‘global’ race engine, why it was meant to be something between 1.6 and 2 liters. This fits what most of the world is doing today to deal with the fuel crisis and the pollution problem. And this four cylinder engine can be used by itself or with direct injection, and it can be turbocharged. You can use many types of fuels, and because of its small size, you do not need to fill it with the same volume of fuel a V-8 requires. So with all the ingredients you can make an engine that is efficient and [has] long life. I always wanted to make an engine which lasts at a long distance between rebuilds. And also, the technology and the development can be used in a production engine. Not very many racing engines can do this. Everybody has a 2L or a 1.6L engine in production, so this is a natural fit.”

In layman’s terms, Baretzky’s GRE concept is an auto manufacturer’s dream. With racing budgets being slashed in every form of the sport, the GRE gives a company almost limitless options for where it can be used. In terms of rules, many aspects of the engine would be common, but some areas would be left open for each manufacturer to do things their own way. Those “free” areas would be tightly policed as not to let development costs skyrocket.

Looking at the open-wheel “Road to Indy” ladder, anyone from Dodge to Hyundai could supply a single GRE for FF2000, Indy Lights and an IndyCar using the same power plant – kind of like the ultimate crate motor. In its naturally-aspirated form, and with a smaller displacement, it’s an inexpensive engine for a feeder series. If a team wanted to step up to the next level, the engine can be rebuilt to the larger 2.0L capacity, have a turbo system installed and then go race at Indy.

“That's the genius thing about it. If you want to have it for a particular series, if you want to have something like 800 hp you can easily do that with a 2L version of the engine; if you need less a powerful Indy Lights engine, you can reduce the boost and lower the power and the torque and with the same engine. Or you could go lower in power and displacement and take the turbo off for something like Formula 3. All with the same motor. That's the cheapest way to do it.”

The same GRE could just as easily fit into a Midget, a touring car, or whatever else a manufacturer might want to use it for, and the same levels of power and displacement options exist. Baretzky says the reaction from the manufacturers who attended the Oxford symposium was overwhelming.

“After I made this presentation at Oxford, I got a huge reply from a lot of other manufacturers and colleagues who said that’s a fantastic idea because for the Volkswagen group, for example, it has many different brands. They build this engine once and it could be used in many different categories at the same time. So the saving for a group like General Motors or Volkswagen is very big. GM could put this in a rally car, a formula car and also maybe a small stock car, if they wanted. They could do IndyCar. They choose what power they need, and bolt those items to the engine, and it is done. They see the efficiency and how to save money with this immediately.”

With major support internally and from rival manufacturers, Baretzky arranged for a conference to discuss how the engine should be built and to establish a basic set of rules. What was expected to be a major fight between competing brands over the engine rules turned out to be something altogether different.

“I had a telephone conference with many manufactures on the phone. It was Chevrolet, Citroen, BMW, Porsche, Volkswagen, Ford, and of course, Audi. They're all were fascinated about it and participated very much in defining the rules. This was last year. And it was huge agreement; it was not really a discussion, it was not really a dispute, not a disagreement. We discussed about small items but never about the basics, never. It was agreed by everyone from the beginning. It was strange!

Baretzky, at his pivotal 2008 Oxford symposium. (Audi Sport)

“Always people tend to think that we are unable to talk to each other but it's absolutely not this way – it was a surprise to most of those as well, that they could not imagine that you could talk for 90 minutes with many on the phone and you go away and say it went fantastic. What we achieved in 90 minutes, we wouldn't have expected with a three day meeting.”

While the GRE might sound like a spec engine, Baretzky points out that each manufacturer will be able to express their own identity and to flex their engineering capabilities if they choose to build one.

“This is not a one-make engine, it's far from that. It's not an engine where all dimensions are defined, no, no. In terms of the layout, basically, we have agreed to be smart, to not allow anyone to waste big money on things, to make exciting engines that will have the DNA of each manufacturer, so what we did altogether, we designed some minimum or maximum dimensions in some parts. Let's say minimum weight for con rods. A minimum diameter for main bearings to avoid excessive development.

“We looked at the block, and decided it was 84 mm bore for example + or - 3 mm, so you could start with an 82 mm bore or you could go up to 87 mm bore. This already shows that you have freedom to make your own type of engine. But this was the main point that we all brought our common sense and knowledge together to this or that, the right dimensions was the discussion. This was a fantastic process; everybody contributed his ideas to make the best out of it, and we believe new manufacturers will find this concept something they will enjoy.”

The group decided to stick with petrol-based engines for now. Audi’s heavy investment in diesel racing engines notwithstanding, Baretzky says the manufacturers agreed that diesel racing engines are not ready for a global format, so the GRE has been designed to accept everything from gasoline to bio fuels.

Durability was another design aspect the group worked towards, with 6000 km (3700 miles) between rebuilds as the target. Compared to the 1200-1400 miles IndyCar teams have between rebuilds today, the GRE can go almost three times longer, which cuts out a number of expensive rebuilds.

Because of the compact size of the 2.0L inline-4, the GRE comes in at 40 pounds under the Honda V-8 (240 pounds for the GRE to 280 for the Honda) with its turbo system and ancillaries attached. The Honda, at 3.4L, is light to begin with, and Baretzky says the GRE can be made lighter, but reducing weight is expensive and so far, the manufacturers involved have been satisfied with the 240 pound figure.

The GRE concept is meant to provide a power solution for the ladder series as well as IndyCar racing or any other form of motorsport a manufacturer or independent engine builder has in mind. (LAT).

The next logical step in the equation – who will start building GREs – didn’t take long for Baretzky to answer. After their teleconference and the set of rules and dimensions were agreed upon, three manufacturers – including one American marque who has expressed an interest in returning to open-wheel racing – initiated the production process.

“There are three manufactures that have already done this engine or are just about to do it. One is Ford, the other is BMW, and the third one is Citroen. They had started to work on this engine months before the rules had really been set up. The rules have now been set up, just in March this year from the FIA. They have adopted the rules that we have designed. And BMW and Citroen, Citroen even more so because they really started with a white sheet of paper and started to make a real global race engine completely free from any production engine. This completely started in July or even earlier last year. They have been so convinced about this idea. So these engines really exist. And others will follow soon.”

Baretzky says that after winning most of the world’s major endurance races, winning Indy is a major personal goal of his, but it will take a shift in corporate philosophy before he books a ticket to Indianapolis. Audi’s racing culture has been centered on the ALMS, Le Mans and the DTM – showcases for big engines making big power while sipping fuel. A shift to using small engines like the GRE to do the same job is needed before he will be able to produce their own version of the design he inspired.

Beyond using bio fuels to stretch fuel economy, the GRE rules have been developed to make use direct fuel-injection (DFI), something Audi employed with their 3.6L twin-turbo V-8s, which delivered an increase in fuel mileage that was upwards of 10 percent. Porsche unveiled their own DFI system in 2008 for their RS Spyder Le Mans prototype, and the system returned a seven percent mileage increase with their naturally-aspirated 3.4L V-8. Not only does DFI increase fuel mileage and reduce the frequency of pit stops, it also provides a nice marketing angle for manufacturers to promote. The phrase “go fast while saving fuel” has never been heard in IndyCar racing…

Baretzky’s “pick your power level” approach to the GRE is similar to what Lola has proposed with their 2012 chassis, where teams could use the same tub to compete in both Indy Lights and the IZOD IndyCar Series, with interchangeable bodywork and aerodynamics that suit the different regulations.

Swift, whose 2012 chassis is based on their Formula Nippon car (think Japanese GP2), is also a candidate for serving as a Lights and IndyCar chassis. With the GRE also fitting the same usage model, the ICONIC panel has a rather easy solution right in front of them. 2012 chassis manufacturers should be implored to follow Lola’s model, and 2012 engine manufacturers should follow Baretzky’s model.

“This is the exact mindset I believe is needed in this new era of racing. Manufacturers now have very tight budgets and sponsorships are not so easy to find anymore. We must break this mentality that professional auto racing must be very expensive. Fans of motor racing do not say ‘look at how much money they spend’ when they see the cars go by. They say ‘look how fast the cars go. Look how exciting this is.’ Money is not critical to providing good competition or good entertainment.”

With added robustness to account for high boost pressures and a long duration between rebuilds, the GRE will fit right in with the rest of the 2012 engines that are set to replace the current Honda V-8. (LAT)

Cost estimates for a complete GRE – one that is ready to produce the kind of power the ICONIC panel is looking for – have varied. Some manufacturers have looked at subsidizing their GREs, offering them for around $40,000 in their most basic form. Baretzky expects an IndyCar-level GRE, one that isn’t subsidized, to sell for something in the region of $250,000, complete. With almost 30 hours of running between rebuilds, annual costs for an IndyCar GRE could run upwards of $350,000 to $400,000 dollars. For the sake of comparison, teams currently pay $1.4M for their annual IndyCar engine lease and rebuild package. I've heard Honda's financial aim for the 2012 engine is meant to be about a third of their 2010 lease rate, so the move towards cost conscious IndyCar engines isn't exclusive to the GRE.

The potential budget decrease the GRE offers, and the fact that it would be an asset teams will own, is something Baretzky thinks will appeal to the IndyCar Series.

“Engine availability is a very restrictive point at the moment and a lot of people are complaining about the fact that the engine is taking away as much as half of their budget every year. Maybe this figure is less for bigger teams, maybe 30 percent, but it is still a large figure. Economic restraints are forcing people to build to realistic racing engines today, and so we will see how Indy adapts to this. Using the [GRE] wouldn’t mean that racing is getting boring, no, it means on the other hand that a bigger number of engines will be available on the market. It is possible for this in American racing, and in Europe. If you have a chassis or an engine that can have multiple uses, this fits how we live in 2010. We are no longer in 1990, or whenever.”

A new aspect of the GRE concept recently emerged when it was announced that the engines would be made available for purchase by independent builders. If Rick Long and Speedway Engines want to produce their own version of the GRE, or if they simply wanted to service and build the units from Ford or any other manufacturers his clients work with, the option is waiting.

To use a term we’ve heard routinely from the DeltaWing group, it’s an “open source” approach to engines.

“One very important point, written in the rules was a proposal from the FIA saying you have to homologate this engine before January 1 of every year if you want to use it. And after six months, everybody who wants to purchase a cylinder block, cylinder head, or whatever part, you can order it. You have to supply it within six months at a defined price. So that means, in other words, the basic element of the engines is on the market and everybody who wants to do that can develop on this space his own engines making con rods and pistons and all the stuff himself but he can machine these parts according to his ideas as much as the rules permit.

With independent builders allowed to buy, build and brand their own GREs, it could revive the IndyCar engine building industry. (LAT)

“You have to supply him CAD drawings so he can make his own design on it and make his own manufacturering and develop his own engines. But he has to homologate it under his own name. So if he would buy, for example, an engine from Citroen he cannot call it a Citroen after that. No, it's then his own name. This would mean that even smaller companies could start to develop engines like that on the market without being forced to make big investments at the beginning on castings and major designs because they cannot afford them.”

With Honda committed to a V-6 turbo for 2012, with Mazda sitting on an engine that’s ready for use today, and with the likelihood of other manufacturers bringing their own interpretation of ICONIC’s engine rules to the series, the GRE isn’t the only solution available. But it is an attractive option -- it bypasses the need for a clean sheet design and all of the millions of dollars that go with producing a brand new motor from scratch.

It’s possible for the GRE, with a variety of names on the cam cover, to compete as a unique design with Honda, Mazda and any other concepts. Like a proud parent, Baretzky hopes his idea for a global engine – one that came to him while on holiday – is embraced by the major players in American open-wheel racing. A GRE could even be seen powering a 2012 chassis as it tests later this year, but the real proof of its attraction will come when the first race of the new IndyCar era gets under way.

“I hope so. I hope it does,” he said. “It depends on the rulemakers. If they want to let manufacturers spend silly amounts on a small four- or six-cylinder engine, it will be unfortunate. They have a blueprint with the global engine to have the racing they want, to have options, and to save their teams a lot of money. This also shows they want to be “green” which has never been done in Indy, I believe. This sad comedy regarding the situation with the oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico reminds consumers of the times we live in. It makes people want to be more considerate about their fuel choices.

“I think, to make a race category in a way that you are consuming just half of the fuels at the same speed, that's the biggest and most revolutionary step I think people could have ever done in American motorsports. It will really lead motorsports in the right direction. I can just hope they have the courage to do so. The engines are there. There’s no question whether the engines are available. We will see if the rulemakers are ready to make a different culture for Indianapolis.”

Marshall Pruett is SPEED.com’s Auto Racing Editor, and also covers IndyCar and sportscar racing for the site. Pruett grew up at ‘Pruett's Olde English Garage,’ his father's shelter for abused foreign cars, and spent his childhood being dragged across the West Coast to help with his dad's amateur racing exploits.

Pruett spent 20 years working in the IRL, CART, IMSA, and most of the known open-wheel feeder series before retiring from active duty in 2001. And in case you were wondering, he isn’t related to Scott Pruett.

Marshall lives in Northern California with his wife Shabral, and can be emailed .