VK50 Standard engine for LMP3 race series

[mutant 9]

Just saw that the Nissan VK50 is the standard engine of the Le Mans LMP3 class. Kind of cool. Any know how different it is from the one in the FX50?

nice to know that the engine is living on since production of the qx70 5.0 stopped last year. makes me less worried about the reliability of the engine.

Now if we can just figure out how to make the exhaust sound like this:

Sorry if this has been covered before. Did a search and nothing came up.

 

[jbaker1121]

In the LMP3 class they use the VK50 - The VK50 they use is rated at ~420bhp (some say 420 some 450, some 500) it's "Nismo-tuned" and supplied by Oreca (a French racing team, they build race cars), mated to a Xtrac 6-speed sequential paddle-shifted gearbox.

The Le Mans Prototype 3 Class (LMP3) class is basically the lower end prototype Le Mans class - the cars can't actually race in Le Mans - its a class more for introduction for new drivers, teams, manufacturers, etc to endurance racing.. In LMP3 Every car uses the same engine, transmission, and the same Michelin tires but each manufacturer designs their own chassis and aero.
Next is LMP2 (the Vk45 NIssan V8 has been used in LMP2) and LMP1 which have less restrictions, faster cars, and is more like normal circuit racing.

420 hp out of the Vk50 is not too far off from some breathing mods and an aggressive tune. The most HP I put down was 367AWHP (on DYNOJET and a crappy tune that had all the power near redline) and if you take an average AWD drivetrain loss of around 15-25% for our cars (The GTR has been tested at anywhere from 10-20% ours is likely 15-25%) my crank would be around the 420hp mark. Some think the DYNOJET reads high, so let's say I put down 350AWHP - that would still be around 415hp with 15% loss)

So, it's likely that their VK50 is very similar to the one found in the FX50 and has just been tuned up. I got around 25hp from test pipes and a tune. I'm sure they could get much more out of the VK50 than even the 420hp number.


This is cool to know. Thanks!