Squadra Corse confirms development of its first bespoke racing engine for its 2024 LMDh car 🏁
the 963, which also gets a blown V8 that has roots in an older naturally aspirated engine - and that’s without mentioning the all-new V6 that Honda has cooked up for the Acura ARX-06 or the 5.5-litre V8 Cadillac is working on.
Now Lamborghini has joined club awesome by confirming that its own future LMDh project will be powered by a twin-turbocharged V8. This is significant not just for its own sake, but also because it will be the first racing engine fully developed in-house by Squadra Corse, the motorsport division that celebrates its tenth anniversary next year.
Of course, whatever the final technical specifications, the new engine will be twinned with a class-mandated Energy Recovery system featuring an electric motor developed by Bosch, storage and control unit courtesy of Williams Advanced Engineering, and a seven-speed hybrid gearbox from Xtrac. Additionally, it will need to weigh 1030kg without driver and fuel, be no more than 2m wide and 5.1m long, and use its combined 681hp output to get to a top speed of 211mph.
The latter was teased alongside the engine announcement on Monday, although the team has still not applied a name to its new contender, which is lined up for a WEC entry in 2024 after testing kicks off next year. Naturally, Lamborghini was at pains to remind everyone that it is ‘embarking on a future of hybridisation in its road car production’ and that competing in LMDh aligns not just with its latest company strategy, but also the experience of developing an upcoming generation of sports cars.