Next year will be racing with a plastic motor from Belgium

Posted on 20-05-2015 at 7:44 by Dizono – 14 Comments”

At least, that is the goal of the chemical company Solvay, which in the eighties also contributed to the first car engine which is mostly out of plastic was erected.

At the time, went to a four-cylinder engine with 320 hp and a weight of 69 kilos, conceived and designed by Matti Holtzberg. The block found its way into a Lola sports racing car, and did initially well. Unfortunately there were soon problems with the cooling, plastic carries the heat are simply less well off than metal.

Also this time the block will not be completely constructed out of plastic, but are about ten major and heavy parts replaced with plastic ones. Among others, the water and oil pump, camshaft and camshaft pulley, throttle body and the fuel injection of plastic. The Belgian Solvay will use seven of its advanced plastics. Or, as with the ééncilinder BMW engine, which recently passed, also the cylinder is a plastic, mentions Solvay.

The four-cylinder Polimotor 2 should ultimately be between 63 and 67 kilos weighing, slightly less than the first Polimotor, and about 41 pounds lighter than the block on which it is based. To the technique to the ultimate test, will the Polimotor 2 find its way to the Norma M-20 racing car. Next year, the car needs to go join a race at Lime Rock Park, in Connecticut, United States.