Porsche LMP1 details revealed

It was Mark Webber who took the Porsche 919 hybrid World Endurance Championship challenger for a spin sometime in June last year, when he was still under contract with Red Bull Racing and even at that time, he said he'd enjoyed driving it.

Since them we wanted to know what beast powered this challeneger and finally the specs are out for the world to see. Porsche revealed that the 919 hybrid World Endurance Championship challenger will be powered by a two-litre V4 engine.

Porsche LMP1 technical director Alex Hitzinger explained that a vee had been chosen over an in-line configuration for reasons of weight-saving and packaging. "In a car like this, you want the engine to be a structural part. If you would go for an in-line four you would have to have some kind of spaceframe around [the engine] and that is obviously additional weight and complexity."

Porsche also confirmed that the energy-storage system for the 919's hybrid systems is a lithium ion battery pack and the company also plans to run this car in the the highest category of hybrid power discharge.

The exhaust-driven energy-retrieval system which has been developed by Porsche is distinct from the others and rather than running off the turbocharger, the motor-generator unit on the Porsche is driven by a separate turbine in the exhaust system.

It's interesting to see that with the need for small displacement four-cylinder turbosin the market, Porsche is looking at this project as a test for future fuel-efficient, high-performance solutions.