EcoBoost turbo hits the track

Ford is taking its EcoBoost turbo six to the racetrack – but not in Falcon! The Blue Oval used the Las Vegas SEMA aftermarket show to today announce that Chip Ganassi Racing will campaign twin turbocharged 3.5-litre V6 powered racers in the US United SportsCar Championship (USCC) beginning with the opening race of the 2014 season -- The Rolex 24 At Daytona in January.

The USCC is owned by NASCAR, which early this year announced the merging of the Grand-Am endurance series with the American LeMans series in an attempt to better promote sports car racing in North America and attract manufacturer involvement.

Jamie Allison, Director Ford Racing, said the company saw the series as an opportunity for the Blue Oval.

“As a global brand, Ford sees the series as a way of promoting our production engine technology through competition.”

Allison stated too that USCC, the Lemans 24-hour race and Asia GT racing share very similar engine regulations which allows Ford the potential to race the EcoBoost V6 on three continents.

The USCC series is tightly controlled by NASCAR to ensure exciting racing, and as a result engine power is capped at about 447kW for the 2014 season – an increase of 37kW from the 2013 cap.

“This new Ford EcoBoost race engine shares 70 per cent of its parts with the 3.5-liter V6 engine that a customer can buy today in their Taurus SHO,” said Allison.

“This is Ford engine technology at is best – direct injection, turbocharging and high efficiency. And there may not be a better place to continue to develop and improve it than endurance sports car racing.”

The Ford V6 engine has been developed for competition by Roush-Yates, which began testing and development of the engine package more than three years ago. It was an on-off project initially until NASCAR approved turbocharging for the endurance series.

John Maddox, responsible for the Ford V6 development, shared some interesting insights with motoring.com.au at SEMA.

“The engine’s maximum output is limited to 600hp through air inlet size restrictions and boost restrictions. We also expect NASCAR will limit peak revs of this engine to 7300rpm -- while naturally aspirated engines are allowed to rev to 8000rpm.”

The rules require using the factory engine block and cylinder heads, but crankshaft, pistons, connecting rods are free.

“This is a very reliable engine,” said Maddox. “We’re confident it will sustain more than 50 racing hours before needing a rebuild.”

The cost? A question not often answered, but best estimate is $85,000-$90,000 per engine. The Bosch fuel injectors each cost more than $1500.

 “We are very excited to be switching to Ford power for our sports car program,” said Chip Ganassi.

“Over the last 10 seasons we have been able to experience a great deal of success in Grand-Am and now with the dawn of the new United SportsCar Championship we feel that Ford power will be a key ingredient to writing the next chapter of our sports car program.”

Ganassi Racing has won 17championships at the top levels of North American motor sports, and also has five Rolex 24 At Daytona wins to its credit -- including the win in January 2013 with BMW V8 power.

Michael Shank Racing recently took the twin-turbocharged V6 in race trim and the new-look Daytona Prototype car – created with Ford corporate design influence – to Daytona. There driver Colin Braun set a new closed course speed record of 222.971 mph (over 360km/h), as well as FIA records for standing start 10-mile and 10-kilometre runs.

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