RET127 Temp Digital

REPORT : 24-HOUR PROTOTYPE ENGINES 2020 taken to the 24-hour event but in the end each car used only one. The quickest Acura in qualifying was the #6 car, second on the grid just 0.05% from pole. Alas, the #6 sustained accident damage early in the race, the upshot of which was fourth overall, five laps adrift of the winner. The sister car suffered more extensive damage in the fourth hour, which cost half-an-hour of running time and left it last in the eight-strong DPi field, 22 laps off the winner. CADILLAC ECR AT DAYTONA  Cadillac continues to campaign the 5.5 litre version of its DPi-V.R naturally aspirated pushrod V8, as race-prepared by ECR Engines. For the first year of DPi – 2017 – a 6.2 litre version was campaigned, as profiled in RET 103 (June/July 2017). The modifications involved in the switch to 5.5 litres were detailed in our 2018 24-Hour Prototype Engine report ( RET 112, August 2018). In the Grid section of RET 116 (February 2019) we described the development of the 5.5 litre version for the 2019 Daytona 24 Hours. That engine continued in use through to the 2020 Daytona 24 Hours unchanged. ECR Engines director of engineering Matthew Wiles noted, “We are operating in a BoP environment, so any engine development for performance is neutralised. Our development is therefore for reliability, and what I would term ‘economic reliability’ is important for us as a business.”  ECR Engines’ sportscar programme manager Scott Meesters added, “In 2019 we had no reliability issues so we had close to zero development. We monitor the engines when we get them back from the teams. As we go through our disassembly procedures, we record items of interest from one disassembly to another across different engines in the fleet for possible future changes, but we are not talking of major components here. It is really small items at this time.”  Wiles added, “We continue to look at the small aspects where we can improve the durability and potentially increase the mileage of our engines, balancing that against cost.” In terms of engine mileage, Meesters said, “Our target for the dyno validation is 33 hours, and we have hit that target, which comes out at around 4300 miles. But we only keep each engine in service for around 3800 miles, to give us a safety factor.” 48 ACURA HPD AT DAYTONA HPD AR35TT V6 DPi 3.5 litre, 24-valve, SOHC twin turbo President: Ted Klaus Vice-president and COO: Stephen Eriksen Race team leader: Allen Miller Large project leader: Mark Crawford Technical director: David Salters Systems and calibration lead engineer: Jordan Eber Lead engine and chassis technician: Steve Gough Track support group leader: Daniel Bella Engine track support #7: Robert Binns Engine track support #6: Eric Hsu 6 Acura DPi (Xtrac/Michelin) 4th – 828L 4th DPi 7 Acura DPi (Xtrac/Michelin) 8th – 811L 8th DPi ECR Engines supplied a naturally aspirated 5.5 litre V8 for the Cadillac DPi car (Photo: Anne Proffit) JDC Motorsports ran a pair of Cadillac DPi cars – #5 finished third, #85 fifth (Courtesy of IMSA) “We are operating in a BoP environment, so our development is for reliability – what I call economic reliability”