Delphi's Diesel Technology Helps Bring Victory in the Endurance Racing Championship

With eight class wins and two second-place finishes, RCZ number 545 displayed consistent speed and reliability to dominate its class throughout the season.The team's sister car followed it home in most of the races, scoring six second places and one third place.



While many of the competing vehicles were highly adapted for racing, Peugeot entered cars that were largely unmodified from the vehicles that its customers drive. The class-winning RCZ was classified 13th overall out of more than 500 cars in the championship, which included former Le Mans 24hr cars and ex-DTM German Touring Cars.



The cars also featured a nearly standard production ECU and a standard charge air cooling system.



This is an outstanding achievement for Team Peugeot RCZ Nokia, said Delphi Diesel Systems Managing Director John Fuerst. It's very satisfying for us to have supported our customer in such a public demonstration of their vehicle's capabilities.



The key change to the standard engine was an increase in turbo boost pressure -- lifting the torque from 340Nm to 400Nm and the power from 120kW to 150kW. Delphi's production 2000 bar common rail system with Multec® balanced-valve fast servo-solenoid injectors met the modified engines' demands with minimal revisions. The only significant modification required was to change the nozzle definition, optimizing the spray pattern to suit the increased swirl created by the higher boost levels. The new configuration also increased maximum fuel flow, contributing to the increase in power and torque. The standard fuel pump was retained without modification, as were Delphi's production charge air coolers and radiators.



For a race car to use a production ECU is rare, said Fuerst. Delphi technical specialists modified the software of the standard ECU to allow Peugeot to re-calibrate the engine mapping to suit the demands of endurance racing with the re-tuned engine.



Looking back over the season of gruelling long-distance races, Fuerst said Peugeot's confidence in the use of near-standard road car systems has been vindicated.



Endurance racing is the ultimate durability test, he said. We are very pleased with the speed, reliability and consistency shown by both cars and with the part played by Delphi in helping the team to victory.