Infiniti IRL results

[Nismo]

Congrats to Nissan/Infiniti on a good season in the IRL Northern Lights Championship this year. Infiniti's main driver, Eddie Cheever, scored 3rd place overall in the points standings. He also would've won the last race in Texas yesterday if it wasn't for that danm Goodyear kid passing him on the last lap of the race. It looked like Scott [Goodyear] got some speed going by drafting Eddie and then broke out, passed him, and quickly cut back in to prevent Cheever from re-passing on the final turn. It was good racing, and Cheever still got 2nd in the race and 3rd overall.

The big news is that Nissan has completely re-worked the 3.5L Infiniti engine for next year so expect even more power from an even lighter and more reliable engine next year. http://forums.freshalloy.com/forum/images/icons/smile.gif

[Deadpool]

i read or heard that the engine will feature 780 to 800 hp.

[Nismo]

<BLOCKQUOTE><font size="1" face="Verdana, Arial[/img]quote:</font><HR>i read or heard that the engine will feature 780 to 800 hp.<HR></BLOCKQUOTE>That would be great, but that would be a tough achievement. The current design (3.5L Normally Aspirated) puts out around 650hp burning methanol. The real problem for Infiniti and Oldsmobile's engine designers is the 10,700RPM limit set by IRL regulations. Because with a normally aspirated engine, the easiest way to make power is to spin it faster, the 'low' rev limit is a real hinderance.

By comparison, Turbocharged 2.6L CART engines spin at around 16,000RPM--using valve springs--and make around 900hp burning methanol. Formula 1's Normally Aspirated 3.0L engines spin closer to 19,000RPM--using hydraulic valves--and produce around 800-850hp burning regular pump gas.

Personally, I'd be happy if Infiniti can break the 700hp barrier because 200hp/liter for a Normally Aspirated engine spinning at 'only' 10,700RPM would still be quite an accomplishment. And if they can do better, more power to em!

[**DONOTDELETE**]

Goodyear might go work for Cheever next year. 1st and 2nd place finish for Infiniti at the Indy 500, and the IRL champioships?? http://forums.freshalloy.com/forum/images/icons/grin.gif

[RPS13]

Isn't Cheever the only driver with an Infiniti motor this past year?

[Nismo]

At first, Eddie Cheever was the only Infiniti-powered driver. Later in the 99' season, Robbie Buhl's Oldsmobile engine blew up and instead of spending the $$ to fix it he switched to Infiniti. A few other teams would have already switched to Infiniti if not for the money already invested in their Oldsmobile setups.

[RPS13]

Oh. When I first heard about the victory, I told my friend. He replies that that is the only car with an Infiniti motor. That bit of news sure did rain on my parade.

It's great that the only Infiniti motor was able to win, but at the same time it makes it seem like the motor won't be around for long.