For the first time, Porsche has revealed the details of the engine featured in its Le Mans winning Porsche 919 Hybrid. This engine has a capacity of just two litres and it is the most efficient combustion engine Porsche has built so far. This engine has offered the basis for a technology transfer to the new four-cylinder turbo engine in the Porsche 718 Boxster. Motorsport knowledge was directly applied to the interspace between the cylinders, the short stroke and the central direct fuel injection.
The 919 Hybrid is being developed in Weissach at Porsche’s Research and Development centre. The engine development crew worked very closely with the engineers from production cars.
The 919’s four-cylinder is not a flat engine like the new turbo generation for the 718 Boxster, instead it has a 90 degree V-angle. The small powerhouse, with which Porsche took its 17th overall win at the 24 Hours of Le Mans last year, produced over 500bhp. For the 2016 race season, the regulations require a lower amount of energy from the fuel used per lap and have also reduced the fuel flow for all prototypes. Together with the electrical energy from two recovery systems (brake energy from the front axle as well as exhaust energy), serving the e-machine on the front axle, the Porsche 919 Hybrid’s overall power system now produces approximately 900bhp.
The teams can choose between diesel and petrol engines, naturally aspirated or turbocharged engines, various displacements, and one or two energy recovery systems. This set-up puts the focus on innovations that can have a significant impact on future production sports cars.
