

Subaru’s new FA20DIT is being developed into a highly efficient racing engine for Le Mans Prototypes. The apparently radical eLMP R engine from Revolutionary Technologies United (RTU) is a 1.6 turbo charged short stroke boxer engine based on a standard Subaru block, it was revealed for the first time at the PMW Expo in Cologne, Germany.

It is expected that it will produce in excess of 550bhp and can run with very little cooling indeed due to its use of a patented ‘Pseudo Adiabatic’ combustion process. This the team behind the project would make a car using it not only highly fuel efficient but also highly aerodynamically efficient due to significantly reduced cooling demands. However the engine is on the heavy side at 130kg.



The man behind the project, Al Solari has something of an interesting past in sportscar racing but claims that this technology has already been proven on a five cylinder Audi engine which developed in excess of 800bhp. Certainly if the technology works as claimed then the engine would (aside from its weight) be highly competitive in a fuel flow restricted formula.

Performance figures and verification of the RTU claims will be announced at the Autosport Engineering Show in January on stand E1162.