FEATURE NISSAN VK45DE
Tech Spec Nissan VK45DE
Configuration: V8, 90 degree Capacity: 4494cc Valves: 32
Power: 450bhp at 7,000rpm
Torque: 580Nm at 6,800rpm Crank: bespoke flat plane Restrictor: 40mm Oil: Motul
Intake: bespoke, direct injection Ignition: Zytek electronic Weight: 150kg
Joint effort T
By Ian Wagstaff
o go 3.353 seconds a lap faster than one’s nearest rival is certainly a statement of intent, even when there are only four starters. But that was what happened at the Sebring 12 hours in March, the opening round of the American
Le Mans Series. Soheil Ayari set the LMP2 pole position time in the Signatech ORECA, powered by the new Nissan VK45DE engine, giving a clear indicator for the rest of the season. Weeks later on the European side of the Atlantic, the engines were performing just as well; at the 6-hour race at Le Castellet, southern France, the top three LMP2 places in qualifing were held by Nissan-powered teams. During the race, one of those teams, Greaves Motorsport, went on to win the LMP2 class, and finished on the overall podium. This year’s race at Sebring heralded a new era in which former 3.4 litre normally aspirated and two litre turbo
LMP2 engines were elevated to LMP1, and all power units for the class now have to be based on engines homologated for GT racing cars. Engine manufacturers complained bitterly, claiming
that the road-based engines were more expensive to develop for racing purposes, but the governing bodies stood firm, and companies such as Zytek were forced to search for an alternative solution. The British company had to ditch its Le Mans Series
title-winning ZG348 V8 engine, which also won its class at Le Mans. The Derbyshire-based manufacturer had already
developed a good working relationship with Japan as it supplies the EGS (Electrically-Assisted Gearshift System) for use in Japanese Super GT and Formula Nippon and also the development KERS for the Honda NSX GT FR Hybrid. There are close personel links between the two
www.racecarengineering.com • August 2011 51
Built in England with British and Japanese engineering, the VK45DE heralds a new direction for sportscar engines
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