Martinelli unveils Fiat's new Formula 3 engine
Paolo Martinelli is a name familiar to anyone who follows the technical side of Formula 1 racing. He joined Ferrari's powertrain department after graduating college in 1978, and has been in charge of the Scuderia's engine development program since 1994. Last year, however, Martinelli left Maranello for an executive role at Ferrari's parent company Fiat. The racing world has been waiting ever since to see what the motorsport-powertrain legend would produce next, and now they have their answer.
Next to a giant model of the Fiat 500 at the Bologna auto show last week, Martinelli, now Vice-President of Fiat Powertrain Technologies, took the wraps off of 420F3. Like sister-company Ferrari, which is working on the development of an engine for the A1GP racing series, Fiat will be offering the 420F3 engine to competitors in the Italian Formula 3 championship.
[Source: Italiaspeed]
The engine is derived from race-proven architecture. Previous iterations have propelled the Grande Punto Abarth Super2000 rally car towards Italian, European and Intercontinental titles, as well as N.Technology's Alfa Romeo 156 race cars, which have taken six FIA World Touring Car Championships (WTCC). Now adapted for Formula 3, the 2-liter 16-valve 4-cylinder engine produces 220 bhp and is available to F3 teams for purchase as part of a Є38,500 package that includes the airbox, clutch, exhaust and electronics, or for a Є16,000 annual lease.
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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
KazO 7:30PM (12/10/2007)
110bhp/l isn't a particularly high specific output #, especially for a dedicated race engine. I'm guessing there are max output rules in the series. IIRC the max output in WTCC is like 275 with what's supposedly a similar engine.
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Carlos 8:14PM (12/10/2007)
Well considering it's not a very large engine, no forced induction, why are you surprised it's not making more power? Maybe they wanted to keep the peak hp some where in this atmosphere and not upwards of 9k.
Cypher09 8:15PM (12/10/2007)
It could be the smallish looking air restrictor on the intake plenum, but 220hp is completely underwhelming for a 2L race motor.
hashiryu 9:55PM (12/10/2007)
The formula Atlantic 4AGE engine....a decade old, 1.6L powerplant, makes at least 250hp. Costs less too.
You are slipping up Mr. Martinelli
hashiryu 9:59PM (12/10/2007)
.....and its redline is only 10K
HotRodzNKustoms 10:05PM (12/10/2007)
It gets worse Super Vees are making 220-240hp with 20-25 year old 1.8 VW motors.
2007RC46SP2 11:24PM (12/10/2007)
2005 RSX K20Z1 makes 210bhp
new Type R is making over 220
F20C 240bhp
i understand that this thing is restricted
but for over $56,000usd WTF!
Richard 7:32PM (12/10/2007)
Fiat Group's leveraging of Ferrari's success.
Brilliant!
Brilliant management!
Well Done, Luca!
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Insiderunknown 9:32PM (12/10/2007)
I agree, heck Dodge neon race preped 2.0L's can make 200hp
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HotRodzNKustoms 9:44PM (12/10/2007)
In road racing I rather have a 220hp motor with a wide linear powerband than a 300hp motor with a 100rpm wide powerband that comes in at a million rpm's.
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naggs 10:04PM (12/10/2007)
you can have just as wide a powerband
its just going to be higher, no problem if the car is geared for it
in a race motor, you dont have to choose between torque and high rpm, you can have high rpm and torque which makes big power
im actually guessing that this is a typo, 320 hp would make sense
EMC 10:13PM (12/10/2007)
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Formula_Three
They run a 26mm (1") diameter air restrictor that limits the engine to about 200HP and about 5000rpm - 7400rpm.
So it's not a typo. In fact getting 220HP out of it looks to me to be quite good!
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EMC 10:15PM (12/10/2007)
oops... that should be "at about 5000 - 7500rpm"
why not the LS2/LS7? 12:17AM (12/11/2007)
If they keep developing this for 10 years, it'll be more powerful than F1 engines...
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nagmashot 1:49AM (12/11/2007)
amazing the low level of knowlege ...
A 200hp-240hp 2.0l Honda production engine would have 100-150hp with that 26mm (1") small air restrictor (FIA rule to level the power) ... getting 200hp out of a 2.0l n/a engie that can suck his air only through a 26mm (1") hole is pretty amazing technical level!
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