The notion was credited to Audi's Ulrich Baretzky, and if memory serves the GRE was widely heralded in a RaceCar Engineering issue from July. Of 2008.

Now the first "Global Racing Engines" have seen the light of day. This discussion began in another thread, but is best continued separately.

BMW, Citroen, and Ford introduced their 1.6 L turbocharged racing engines about two weeks ago at the Paris Auto Show. They will compete in WRC (World Rally Cars) next season. They are 300 HP engines.

Delta Wing Lovers rejoice, you now have a tangible alternative. Previously the plan was for installation of a detuned AER MZR-R engine, quoted by Bill Lafontaine of Delta at $150,000 a copy. Of course, the price on the GRE's hasn't been disclosed yet....

Feel free to start another Delta thread if you wish to share these exciting developments. For the real IndyCar world, a little more truth dripped out of Baretzky's GRE today.

We already know that the performance targets for the 2012 IndyCar require 750 peak horsepower: that's full tilt bizzo, on a road course with the planned overtake assist engaged.

There are at least two existing alloy 2.0 L production engine blocks that can handle this stage of tuning, and they have already been proofed in competition in other categories. At WOT (wide open throttle) for 1,000 miles? Not yet, but the engines and the correct architecture exist.

The 1.6 GRE? If they can handle much more than the 300 HP tune, nobody has shown the proof. These are alloy engine blocks designed for light weight commuter cars. I say blammo, the whole GRE concept blows up unless you design and build a bespoke engine block to handle the job. The GRE proposed for Formula 1 in 2013 may look like one of the 300 HP rally car engines, but they will require a complete redesign from the block up.

Until today, we read a lot of enthusiasm for this plan. I'm sure that in another two and a half years, Baretzky will be proud to watch the GRE's race in F1. They have the time and cubic Euro's to make it happen. How many?

Here is what Cosworth had to say, in the course of negotiations about the GRE for F1. And why they are among the stakeholders who are pushing to keep the current V8 formula:

"Cosworth has a particular interest that everything remains the same. The engine builders from Northampton are financially limited. Cosworth believe though, that one can develop with 20 million € a four-cylinder inline engine, as long as there are strict limits on speed and boost pressure, but even this sum to be allocated to their customers. This is no longer with a lease rate of six million euros per year. For financially weak teams would be not good news."

Blame Google for the translation, the link will appear below. Cosworth's estimate is far below the figures tossed out in the article by other builders. That's $28.2 MILLION dollars for the development. Add on costs of mass production, facilities for rebuilds, distribution and tech support, a hefty participation fee to Indycar, and voila: we have our own GRE. In 2013. Maybe they can trim the lease price down from $8.46 MILLION a year?

Wow, this is surprising. Baretzky told Randy Bernard that there were three GRE's ready to go. In some jumpin' little 300 HP pace cars, maybe. Those, we could see next year. If IndyCar can afford them....

Honda has projected a lease price for the 2.4L V6 twin turbo at about $650,000 per year in 2012. If and when a competitor appears, the price goes up according to HPD's Erik Berkman.

There still remains no plan to continue using the V8's beyond 2011, which in my view is a wasted opportunity to introduce variables. At least there would be the prospect of racing two engines with different performance curves, under an equivalency cap. Not gonna happen. Not with a GRE, either.

It remains to be seen if an auto manufacturer will finance an engine program for IndyCar, even if it is based on an existing 2.0 L 4 cylinder turbo race engine. That route eliminates most development costs which have already been devoted by privateers building GM, Ford and Mazda engines.

And now we can guesstimate the cost of a clean sheet of paper design:call it $20M, and I would add at least another $15M to cover the additional expenses mentioned. Argue any of this if you wish, but please bring facts to the table.

It's tiring to read fantasies. There are plenty of other places to find those.

Reality check:

http://www.auto-motor-und-sport.de/f...o-2786432.html