Subaru will be heading to Le Mans next season, but not in the way fans of the automaker would like to see.
Instead of campaigning a race car, the Japanese automaker will be an engine provider with its new FA20DIT powerplant. The engine is being developed as a highly-efficient racing engine for Le Mans Prototypes and is a 1.6-liter turbocharged Boxer engine based on the standard Subaru block.
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The powerplant is expected to produce around 550 hp and will be able to operate with very little cooling thanks to its use of a patented “Pseudo Adiabatic” combustion process. Though the engine is a bit on the heavier side, weighing in at around 285 lbs, teams using it will benefit from a highly fuel-efficient engine and can enhance their race car’s aerodynamics as a result of the reduced cooling demands.
[Source: Racecar Engineering]
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