Analysis and Design of a New Air-Scoop for a Lamborghini Off Shore Race Engine 2004-01-1855
In this paper, the intake system of the Lamborghini L804-V4 racing engine for the U.I.M. Class 1 World Off Shore Championship is analyzed. Since new rules by the Union Internationale Motonautique imposed the use of an air restrictor at the air scoop inlet, to limit the maximum engine power, it was necessary to redesign and optimize the entire air intake system.
The work was carried out by exploiting both experimental and numerical approach in synergy in order to analyze the different characteristics and performance of a diffuser down stream the restrictor. The aim was to recover as much as possible kinetic energy in terms of static pressure in the air box. A further challenge to face was represented by the attempt to reduce the non-uniform air flow distribution to the different 12 cylinders, typical of this configuration.
Experimental analysis was carried out by performing either engine performance tests, or steady flow bench tests of diffusers characterized by different shapes and/or positions. The engine performance of various prototype configurations were measured at the engine test bench.
The definitive designed snorkel was finally checked at sea by Spirit of Norway boat confirming the good performance of the optimized air intake system. Spirit of Norway adopted the snorkel for the races and won the UIM Class 1 World Off Shore 2003 Championship.
Citation: Grimaldi, C., Battistoni, M., Cavalletti, M., and Reichenbach, C., "Analysis and Design of a New Air-Scoop for a Lamborghini Off Shore Race Engine," SAE Technical Paper 2004-01-1855, 2004, https://doi.org/10.4271/2004-01-1855. Download Citation
Author(s):
Carlo N. Grimaldi, Michele Battistoni, Michele Cavalletti, Carlo Reichenbach
Affiliated:
University of Perugia, Motori Marini Lamborghini
