Got excited, and then GM let me down...

[bszopi]

INDIANAPOLIS – Chevrolet's all-new Midget racing engine was unveiled today at Indianapolis Motor Speedway by GM representatives and United States Auto Club (USAC) team owner Tony Stewart. Designed by GM Racing specifically for the USAC National Midget Car Series, the new purpose-built, four-cylinder Chevrolet racing engine will initially power Tony Stewart Racing (TSR) drivers Tracy Hines and Levi Jones in upcoming events. The new Chevy Midget engine will be available to all USAC competitors through independent engine builders.

Whole article: http://media.gm.com/us/chevrolet/en/...ine/index.html

Why couldn't they have made a 6-cyl, methanol breathing, 350+ HP V6 for the midgets?!?! Bastards...

[SappySE107]

ricers...

j/k:P

[oldscsc]

Methanol...that would be a PITA over gas . The LQ1 originally dynoed at 281 HP, with a full, restrictive exhaust. I'm sure you know that Hydramatic couldn't come up with a FWD tranny that could take the beating and they had just gotten away from RWD in '89 so they didn't want to go back. That's why there was no 7,000 RPM screamer, emissioned and all in a production car.

[pocket-rocket]

At least they are resurrecting the L67 for midget cars. No one likes a car fire, open wheel or not...

[SappySE107]

They are? That makes no sense. I think you found pills and ate them.

[pocket-rocket]

I meant to type "aren't". It was late, leave me alone :P

[SappySE107]

That 3.4 DOHC info is mostly wrong, but its fun to believe in fairy tales.

[LeftVentricle]

Ecotec, right? It's a hell of an engine, to say the least. The Solstice/Sky and Cobalt's turbo variant makes the highest specific power of any engine GM has ever put into a production car, something like 2.1 hp per cubic inch—higher even than the Corvette ZR1's supercharged LS9 (~1.67). GM uses (used?) a supercharged Ecotec in their Cobalt drag car that makes 1000 hp from the parts bin. Sadly (or happily, depending on your perspective), it's looking like the four cylinder is the engine of the future.

[bszopi]

I don't think this is an Ecotec...

"The Chevy Midget engine is a clean-sheet-of-paper design," said GM Racing director Mark Kent. "Most of the engines in the USAC Midget series are either based on the four-cylinder Chevy II engine that dates back to the '60s, or they are a conventional V-8 engine cut in half. The opportunity to design an all-new Chevy Midget racing engine was an invitation for some of our best and brightest engineers to create an engine within the USAC guidelines that would be competitive in both performance and cost with existing engines. There is definitely a 'wow!' factor with the new Chevy Midget engine – every component is recognizable, but they're repackaged and rearranged in a very innovative way."

In accordance with USAC rules, the Chevy Midget racing engine displaces a maximum of 166 cubic inches and burns methanol fuel. The inline four-cylinder aluminum block has dry iron cylinder liners, and the aluminum cylinder head has two valves per cylinder operated by pushrods and rocker arms. Maximum output is in excess of 350 horsepower.

Pics: http://gm.wieck.com/forms/gm/*query?...mgt&source=all

[Azrael]

At the very least it's a pushrod engine.

[RidgeRunner]

Wow, such pretty hardware...

[kflo 93 gt]

Kinsler has to make the hottest intake manifolds in this country, maybe the world other than Ferrari's badass race engines.

[bszopi]

Kinsler does, yes. But that is not who is listed in the article. Its Kistler Racing Engines.

Kistler - http://www.kistlerengines.com/

Kinsler - http://www.kinsler.com/page--Home-Page--13.html

And just to show how sexy they really are...