Anyone can build a small engine. Hell, Ford's tiniest Ecoboost engine has the displacement of a soda bottle. And now Nissan's managed to build a wee little engine that puts out a stunning 400 horsepower with just three cylinders. And at 88 pounds, you could use it as part of your CrossFit regimen.
The tiny turbocharged engine will propel Nissan's Batmobilesque ZEOD RC, due to race at the 24 Hours of Le Mans later this year. With a displacement of just 1.5 liters, the lil' mill has a better power-to-weight ratio than the high-revving V6 engines that power this year's Formula 1 racers.
Nissan calls it the DIG-T R, and it's as compact as it is light. The engine is just under 20 inches tall and a little over seven inches wide – small enough to fit in a plane's overhead bin – before you bolt on the turbo, induction system and exhaust.
The smaller engine comes as Nissan strives to boost efficiency at Le Mans, where greater fuel economy on the track means less time in the pits. The ZEOD RC is the successor to the wild DeltaWing that ran the 24-hour race in 2012, and the tiny engine is part of a cool gas-electric hybrid drivetrain.
According to Nissan, each stint – the time spent on track between pit stops – will last about one hour. The first lap will be run on electricity alone, and when the battery is depleted, internal combustion will allow the car to complete the stint. Nissan's still not saying just how it will recharge the battery to make the first lap of subsequent stints, so there's that. And although we commend Nissan for bringing a hybrid to Le Mans, the ZEOD RC is not quite the "world’s fastest electric racing car" they promised.
Regardless, the 186-mph sled should put on quite at show at Le Mans, and while Nissan won't be racing for points (the ZEOD RC is occupying Garage 56, the spot reserved for experimental vehicles), it has a shot at proving that electrically powered racing has a place in the world's greatest endurance race.
As for that engine, we think it has a place in a small, two-seater along the lines of the Subaru BR-Z. Get on that, Nissan...
