An IndyCar powered by Chevy’s specialized 2.2 liter V6 engine has won four of the last five IZOD IndyCar Series races this season. In fact, cars cradling the engine — GM’s first in the series since 2004 — straight up dominated St. Petersburg when six of the first eight finishers ran the GM powerplant. But what do consumers get out of a Chevy engine competing in IndyCar? According to Mark Kent of GM Performance Vehicles and Motorsports group, there will be carryover to production cars:
“Going four-for-four at the racetrack and winning the Louis Schwitzer award has exceeded our expectations, but the ultimate goal for this project has always been to develop powerful fuel-efficient engine technologies that could be transferred to production cars,” said Kent before the week before the Indy 500 race. “Racing has always been a great proving ground for advanced powertrain technologies, and this IndyCar V-6 is no exception.”
The “Louis Schwitzer” Kent is referring to is the prize awarded to Kent and colleague Matt Wiles. The award, now in its 46th running, recognizes individuals for innovation and engineering excellence in the field of race car design specifically related to the annual Indianapolis 500 race. The engine’s development team consisted of contributors from the GM Global Advanced & Race Engine Engineering Group, Ilmor Engineering, Hitachi and the Chevrolet IndyCar teams.
The Chevy IndyCar engine is currently run by Team Penske, Andretti Autosport, KV Racing Technology, Ed Carpenter Racing, Panther Racing, Dragon Racing, and Panther/Dreyer & Reinbold Racing. The twin-turbo direct-injected 2.2 liter V6 mill, which makes the most power at a stratospheric 12,000 RPM, is currently the highest-revving direct injected engine in the IndyCar rivalry; and according to GM, some of the DI turbo capability found in the mill will also power the new 2.0 liter turbo-charged Ecotec LTG motor in the upcoming 2013 Chevy Malibu good for 259 hp and 260 lb.-ft. of torque.
But our question is this: how and when will Chevy begin leveraging its expertise in race car engines and carrying the learnings to street cars — for people who truly care about the engine and the car’s performance. It’s safe to say that your average Malibu buyer couldn’t care less about the fact that components in his or her engine are shared with or are similar to those found in an IndyCar… right? After all, we’re talking about mainstream mid-size family sedans here, not compact performance machines.
So if the goal is and always has been to “develop powerful fuel-efficient engine technologies” that carry over to production cars, wouldn’t the most effective use of that development aptitude consist of giving the people who truly care about high-power motors and exhilarating performance what they want? If so, then a boosted motor in your average bread-and-butter midsize family sedan is a start, but is still a far cry from what those following IndyCar and rooting for Chevy-powered machines really desire. Neither is a roaring, rumbling, and hefty small block (not that there’s anything wrong with that).
Ultimately, technology has evolved to such a point that the small IndyCar V6 is rumored to make upwards of 800 horsepower. And I’d love to see this kind of technology carry over to production vehicles that matter (compacts and subcompacts, for instance), even if only half of that power makes the cut.
So will you please wake me up when Chevy applies its IndyCar engineering prowess to a high-performance Chevy Cruze, or anything smaller than a midsize Camry fighter?
Comments
NOPE! didn’t do squat for production motors back when Chevy used to make winning Indy engines in the past. why now.
in fact GM has made numerous AWESOME racing motors in the past, and except for the the big blocks of the 60s, next to none of that filtered to the street.
LS7?
@Grawdaddy — you’re right about the LS7… I just wish for a more linear (even?) transfer of racing technology, as right now it seems that only the high-performance, high-dollar powerplants make it to the street. For instance, what about the engine from the Cruze WTCC program? Would love to see it make its way over into a production vehicle, even if it were detuned somewhat.
Not really, there’s nothing super special about the LS7. It’s just a big displacement LS engine with titanium rods and warmed over L92/gen 3 truck heads. Basic old school hot rodding with modern refinements. The C5/C6R racing program just brought a lil “prestige” to the production motor.
The problem with Indy and F1 tech, is that it’s pretty much useless in a street car. Believe it or not, when you factor in the reliability, ease of maintenance, and demands required of everyday cars, they put race cars to shame.
Besides, you only run 12,000rpm 2.0l turbo v6s because the rules dictate you do. Any engineer worth a damn will just stuff the biggest laziest motor he could in the lightest chassis. But the sanctioning bodies won’t allow it.
Don’t get me wrong I love racing tech. But the ICB is not gonna see some sudden new evolution in its basic operation that evolved from racing tech. It’s more likely to be forced to evolve thanks to gov regulations and fuel economy needs. ( which interestingly, almost always boost performance once the new tech is fully understood) ie variable valve timing, engine managing systems, most of the emmisions related sensors in modern engines and so on.
Racing tech doesn’t so much as push the envelope as showcase the “state of the art” of the very old craft of making cars.
that new IZOD Chevy looks good in that livery!
If this was the old GM I would say, no. No chance would anything on that track find its way into production cars. At the new GM? I don’t even know. With Bob Lutz gone I have my doubts and I still generally maintain a “we’ll see” attitude. I have my criticism of the new 2.0L turbo that GM seems to be making a fuss about. I’m not impressed with ANY 2.0L turbo 4 that makes less than 300hp. And one that makes under 260 is a waste of time. A non-starter, in my book. Hyundai has a 2.0 that makes 274hp without trying. GM should be trying to outdo that bit of kit. Not trying to keep up. I say come with at least 280 in a non-SS version or stay the hell home and stop talking crap about INDYCAR heritage…sounding like damn SAAB and their bullshit “born from jets” crap they tried to push down people’s throats for years…good riddance to both of them…Unless we, the learned, aren’t paying attention, those engines were built with assistance from Ilmor. They were the same company that built the unstoppable Mercedes pushrod V8 engines that dominated INDYCAR for the 1994 season, not to mention other work for Oldsmobile and Honda. They know what they are doing…but how much of their assistance can GM really hope to transfer without legal problems?
^^^What he said^^^
A year later, and here I am replying 😉
As far as I know, Hyundai’s 274 hp number for its 2.0T isn’t SAE rated, but is rather a number they came up with themselves (like their fuel economy). I bet the real number is 250ish.
there is no doubt race engine technolgy is a learning experiance for manufactures.
allways has been.
what is amazing to me is on the internet any one can claim to be an expert….
go sell several million cars …then write your OPION…
You know Dan, when one lives and breathes a certain industry and a certain organization in that industry year in and year out, then said person learns certain things and comes to many realizations.
Whether or not that makes him an “expert” is another question (I’d argue that it comes pretty close)… but what it undoubtedly results in is the ability to raise questions about and offer insight into pertinent topics, which is the purpose of this Opinion Desk piece.
Now, do you have anything pertinent to add to this discussion that is outside the obvious?
like i said manufactures have learned much from raceing.
thats my only point.
whats yours? that becuse you dont see what you think you should that nothing is gained from building race engines?….thats what it sounds like to me….
“like i said manufactures have learned much from raceing.”
But have they applied what they learned from racing to production cars that consumers can enjoy?
In other words, you have a racing program like the IndyCar series. Chevy is involved with it from an engine R&D perspective… right? So, has the program, and the millions of dollars sunk into marketing, branding, sponsorships, and the aforementioned R&D, resulted in better road-going Chevrolets you or I can buy? If so, how?
Even if there is track-to-street carryover (IndyCar to production cars), then why aren’t we seeing more cars from Chevrolet that can take advantage of it? Currently, the only performance cars from the brand are the Corvette, Camaro, and SS sedan — all of which are as far from an IndyCar or a Chevy IndyCar engine as one gets.
Where are the performance-oriented Sonic/Aveo, Cruze, or Malibu?
Wouldn’t the “race on Sunday, sell on Monday” adage be much more effective if Chevy actually offered these models, and tied its IndyCar R&D and promotional/marketing efforts into cars it can actually sell to racing enthusiasts? Without such models, Chevy is spending all this money in IndyCar… but doesn’t seem to be getting much out of it since it doesn’t have cars to sell that take advantage of the promotional efforts.
i guess the differance is that after working for gm for 30 years i understand how manufatures learn what can and should be passed to the consumer..they often learn things ,,,,very important things that are used in every day cars its just nobody knows out side of the engineering departments….in this day and age the fact we have 400 plus horespower cars is amazing and with good gas milage….
they learn and use..have for years ..
Ok, so for the sake of our discussion, let’s assume that some track-to-street tech transfer is taking place when it comes to engine technology. Then, does it benefit the bread-and-butter engines (the fours and the sixes), or just the eights?
If it does benefit the fours, why not put them in cars that those who care about spirited (performance) driving actually buy, such a high-performance Sonic, Cruze, or Malibu?
I’d argue that the primary reason that manufacturers/brands participate in IndyCar isn’t to “learn” about technologies and transfer them to production cars, but rather to placate their name/logo all over the place (the car, the stands, the memorabilia, the commercials, etc.). Ultimately, the goal of participating in a series is to, at the end of the day, sell more cars — right?
So the fact that Chevy doesn’t offer these cars (and others like them) don’t exist and aren’t available for sale creates an extremely disjointed marketing effort in a series like IndyCar.
Case and point: what does a guy looking to spend $25,000 on a performance car have to buy from Chevy? Nothing.
On the other hand, he can choose from the following models from the competition:
– Hyundai Veloster or Genesis Coupe
– Ford ST
– VW Golf GTI/Jetta GLI
– Honda Civic Si (also an IndyCar engine provider) or a Honda CRZ
Coincidentally, the first three brands in the list above have experienced tremendous growth over the last few years on a global scale, closing the sales volume gap with Chevy.
So I ask again, how does IndyCar participation translate to production cars that people can buy? If your answer is “engines”, then which features and engines specifically? And beyond that, why are the engines available in cars that could stand to use them the most (Cruze, Sonic, Malibu) in high-performance variants?