InterviewInterview WilliamWilliam ClayClay FordFord JnrJnr RaceRace transmissionstransmissions ImprovingImproving onon thethe veryvery bestbest VolvoVolvo D5D5 LeanLean BoostBoost TheThe world’sworld’s firstfirst all-aluminiumall-aluminium DirectDirect InjectionInjection five-cylinderfive-cylinder dieseldiesel engineengine waswas NewNew routeroute toto engineengine downsizingdownsizing developeddeveloped inin recordrecord timetime –– withwith thethe Spring 2002 helphelp ofof Ricardo Ricardo know-howknow-how Our automotive systems make driving more of a pleasure.

Today’s driver expects their journey to be a much more enjoyable And we continuously improve performance by using our and productive experience. understanding of vehicle dynamics and chassis systems to create ride and handling that improves the enjoyment of any journey. To deliver this, Visteon is continuously developing the in-car environment. Our interiors, climate control, communication and Our philosophy of designing systems with the driver in mind entertainment systems are flexible enough to meet drivers’ has prompted 18 of the world’s top 20 vehicle manufacturers to individual desires and, of course, their comfort and safety needs. work with us.

From an environmental perspective, our engine management To find out more about how Visteon make vehicles more of systems cut emissions without cutting back on performance. a pleasure for today’s driver, visit www.visteon.com contents 14 Spring 2002

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NEWS FEATURES QUESTIONS & ANSWERS

Industry update 4 Volvo’s new diesel 8 William Clay Ford Jnr 6 Supercharged MINI Cooper S is launched With premium diesel sales poised for take- The removal of Ford CEO Jac Nasser last supported by Ricardo engineering, Visteon off, Volvo needed its own diesel engine. November stunned the industry. But the Ford develops a one-piece facia, Eaton unwraps Tony Lewin describes how, with help from Motor Company is fighting back under the a hydraulic energy-storage system, US Ricardo, it’s one of the most advanced of all guiding hand of Henry Ford’s great- government axes PNGV in favour of grandson, William Clay Ford Jnr. His Freedom CAR project, rear steer-by-wire That final two per cent 12 Revitalisation Plan will reduce capacity, arrives from Delphi. And Ricardo chief Audi dominates long-distance sportscar create redundancies, slash costs and make executive Rodney Westhead has a welcome racing. Ricardo supplies the transmissions. for a healthy and profitable Ford. He message So how can the best gearbox be made even explains to Anthony Lewis and Chris better? William Kimberley finds out Wright how it will work News from Ricardo 20 Ricardo publishes its new Diesel Report, Keeping the peace 14 Maxime Boniteau 18 plans a diesel seminar for May, and reveals The British Army frequently finds itself in a Renault is taking a very different approach growth and profits in its interim results. peace-keeping role. The Ricardo conversion to high-image luxury car design from the Ford’s Group A rally kit for the Focus 2.0 of a Land Rover into a Rapid Deployment conservatism favoured by the established features Ricardo calibration, and Dallara Vehicle makes the task a little easier leaders. As the radical Vel Satis is launched, chooses Ricardo transmissions for its new the company’s director of product planning single-seaters. Plus an insight into Ricardo Lean Boost Direct Injection 16 for upper range models explains the bold engineering support for Maserati’s new Direct injection brings fuel efficiency to strategy to Tony Lewin Spyder gasoline engines. Pressure boosting with a lean mixture brings even more, and could be the key to downsizing

Editor: John Simister Ricardo enquiries Design editor: Paul Bale at Visual Image UK: +44 (0) 1273 455611 USA: +1 (734) 397 6666 Germany: +49 (0) 711 806082-20 Conceived and produced for Ricardo Czech Republic: +42 0296331150 by TwoTone Media Ltd Business development: [email protected] Anthony Smith [email protected] Head office: Ricardo plc, Bridge Works, Shoreham-by-Sea, Tony Lewin [email protected] West Sussex BN43 5FG, United Kingdom

Spring 2002 Ricardo Quarterly Review 3 in brief Cooper S raises MINI game US Army goes hybrid package, with the water pump Heavy duty hybrid trucks will ingeniously moved to the rear of be widespread in the US Army by the middle of the decade, the supercharger. improving both environmental External changes include a performance and “energy large hood scoop to feed the security”. Fuel currently intercooler, and the suspension accounts for 70 per cent of the has been stiffened to handle the bulk tonnage transported by extra performance. The other army vehicles during combat, major change is a six-speed but the army plans a 75 per gearbox with three shafts and cent cut in its fleet fuel con- two final-drive pinions, a configu- sumption by 2010. ration chosen for its compact- ness which suits the MINI’s Massachusetts slow to follow California restricted width. Following Texas and New The Cooper S marks the York, with Vermont also likely launch of the MINI brand in the to do likewise, Massachusetts US, where sales began in mid has decided not to adopt strict March. Japan was next, at the Californian emissions stan- The highly successful MINI the past two years – as reported the end of March, while dards yet. The main concern is range now has a Cooper S flag- in RQ Autumn 2001. European buyers must wait until the target of 10 per cent ZEVs ship, reviving the model name of With 163bhp, achieved with June (UK) and summer 2002 in new car sales, which is the ultimate original-style Mini the help of an Eaton supercharg- (other EU countries). It will be thought unachievable by the launched in 1963. The new car er, the Cooper S has a 48bhp worth the wait, as first press original 2003 adoption date. has a supercharged version of power advantage over the regu- reports suggest that the Cooper The new proposal is 2007. the 1.6-litre engine already seen lar Cooper. “Of course, the S S may be the most entertaining Netherlands proposes in the MINI One and MINI name refers to the shape of the hot hatchback since the mid- distance charging Cooper: the unit is built in Brazil intake path from the airflow 1980s Peugeot 205 GTI. “It even The Dutch government is plan- by Tritec Motors Ltda, a joint meter through the supercharger sounds like an original Cooper ning to charge all vehicles venture between the BMW and then the intercooler,” says S,” said one journalist, “because according to how far they are Group and DaimlerChrysler. It MINI powertrain leader it has a deep exhaust note and driven from 2004, using satel- represents the next stage in a Johannes Guggenmos, not the supercharger whine mimics lite technology. The idea is to programme with which Ricardo entirely seriously. He points out the old car’s transfer-gear noise.” make the scheme revenue- has been intimately involved for that the installation is a very tight JOHN SIMISTER neutral, so those driving over 18,000km a year pay more than now, others pay less thanks to reduced fuel, car and purchase taxes. Delphi launches rear

US carmakers exhorted to use aluminium steer-by-wire The Aluminum Association GM’s Sierra Denali luxury pick-up has championed the lightweight become the first truck to be fitted with metal’s use at January’s four-wheel steering, although several Detroit Auto Show, giving cars have been so equipped during awards to Nissan for the the last decade. And, for the rear Altima and Chevrolet for the wheels, it is a steer-by-wire system. Trailblazer SUV. Both vehicles Delphi’s QuadraSteer uses signals use much aluminium, helping to reverse the trend towards from steering wheel angle and front ever-greater weight. wheel position sensors, computes them with road fronts which, says Delphi, greatly enhances stabili- speed information and decides which way the rear ty, especially when towing. Sulphur-free diesel in wheels should turn. This is possibly the first time rear-wheel steering Europe from 2009? In low-speed manoeuvres the rear wheels has been applied to a solid rear axle. Actuation is EU environment ministers turn up to 12 degrees in the opposite direc- by electric motor and a rack-and-pinion. have set 2009 as the target tion to the fronts. At medium speeds they Delphi is among the components manufacturers date for sulphur-free diesel. stay straight (the default position in case developing steer-by-wire for the front wheels, but This would enable vehicle of a system failure), and at as yet it is not legislated for by the European manufacturers to develop high speeds they Commission. Legislation is expected to be in place cleaner engine technology, turn a little in the by 2004, with low-volume production by 2005. currently inhibited by high lev- els of sulphur. same direction as Driving enthusiasts need not worry: Dr Ulrich the Eichhorn, Volkswagen’s executive director for AW Knowledge (AWK) research, environment and transportation, says [email protected] that with the right feedback sensors such a system can give excellent steering feel to the vehicle. AWK

4 INDUSTRY NEWS Ricardo Quarterly Review Spring 2002 Eaton previews hydraulic energy storage HYDRAULIC Launch Assist Detroit, the device could pro- (HLA) is the name of a new duce fuel economy improve- device, developed by Eaton, ments “as high as 25 or 30 per which can store and release cent”, significantly higher than kinetic energy in the form of claims made for electrical inte- hydraulic fluid pressure. grated starter/alternator devices. Revealed at the Detroit Auto The concept, patented by the Show in January, the device US Environmental Protection works by recovering some of the Agency, has been developed energy normally lost during brak- jointly by Eaton and Ford. Eaton ing and using it to pressurise a has already invested “millions of fluid, which is held in an on- dollars” in HLA-related work, but Visteon develops board accumulator. predicts that the business could The stored pressure is then be worth more than US$500m one-piece facia unit released briskly through across the motor industry by the hydraulic pumps to assist the end of the decade. As shown at NEW plastics technologies are seam lines are consistent. vehicle as it pulls away. Used in Detroit, the F350 concept also driving some innovative interior The company has also refined a large SUV, or a pick-up such used an electrically-driven developments. Visteon has its “negative thermoforming” as Ford’s Mighty F350 Tonka turbocharger to banish lag in the devised a laminate insert mould- process, in which a complete concept which previewed HLA at turbo’s response. AWK ing process which inserts a pre- instrument panel made from a formed laminate skin into a con- TPO skin is produced in much ventional moulding press before the same way as a styrofoam the injection-moulding cycle to cup. It is an alternative to pow- form a complete facia panel. der slush moulding. The fully-recyclable result is a Developments such as these one-piece moulded polypropy- have won Visteon, originally a lene panel with selective soft- Ford subsidiary, a contract to touch zones. It can have a two- manage the production of entire tone appearance if required, interiors for the next generation without the use of paint, and of GM’s small cars. AWK

A message from the Chief Executive THE new all-aluminium D5 engine is the first ever diesel to be produced by Volvo Car PNGV out, Freedom CAR in and was one of the high- lights of last year’s new THE Bush administration in the Ford, DaimlerChrysler and the engine product introductions. US has axed the PNGV US Council for Automotive It is particularly pleasing (Partnership for a New Research – will work together to therefore that in this issue of Generation Vehicle) project, bring down the cost of the RQ we are able to bring to started by the Clinton adminis- hydrogen fuel cell to an econom- you the story of the Ricardo tration in 1993, in favour of a ically acceptable level. involvement in this D5 engine new initiative called Freedom According to an editorial in project, drawn from inter- CAR (Co-operative Automotive Automotive Environment Analyst, views with both the Volvo been launched. Those of you Research). the Bush administration has been and Ricardo teams. who read the Autumn 2001 Whereas PNGV aimed to criticised for failing to address This was a highly complex issue of RQ will know how develop an internal-combustion shorter-term solutions, given that programme carried out to a much pride Ricardo shares family car capable of 80mpg in fuel cell cars are 10-15 years challenging time-scale, but with BMW in this excellent normal use, Freedom CAR is away from widescale production. one which has delivered a new family of premium small embracing the hydrogen-pow- The critics forget that manufac- state-of-the-art product wor- cars. As ever, the value and ered fuel cell option. turers have already invested thy of the Volvo Car brand. In innovation of Ricardo tech- Part of the plan is thought to much time and money in fuel cell the news section I am also nology is only truly measured be a desire to reduce the US cars, says the newsletter, and pleased to see that the latest in the quality of products of dependence on imported energy. that hybrids – the likely products addition to the MINI family, our customers. The partners – the US of the PNGV programme – are the MINI Cooper S, has now Rodney Westhead Department of Energy, GM, already available. AWK

Spring 2002 Ricardo Quarterly Review INDUSTRY NEWS 5 Ford to the rescue

These are tough times for the Ford Motor Company. Chairman (and, since the departure of Jac Nasser in November, chief executive officer) William Clay Ford Jnr has shuffled his management pack and announced several restructuring actions as part of his company’s Revitalisation Plan, a product- focused programme designed to strengthen Ford’s position in the marketplace and improve its financial results. These actions are aimed at enhancing the company’s ability to produce the highest level of quality cars and trucks while reducing the cost structure.

Between now and mid-decade the Photo: PA automaker plans a reduction of North American plant The turn of the century has proved dif- manufacturing operating capacity by about one million ficult for the Ford Motor Company. What is the overriding message that units. This will mean the loss of around 12,000 hourly you have got to get across to both company workers and car buyers? employees in North America, plus an additional 1,500 We are not a nameless, faceless corpora- salaried personnel, to reach a goal of 5,000. tion. We are global, but we are also local and a family firm. We must re-polish the A material cost reduction programme has been blue oval and get it shining brightly again. Right now we are in the middle of a initiated with North American suppliers which, along painful but necessary transformation of with other material cost reduction efforts, should our company. We’ve made some progress but we are not finished yet. Our improve ongoing annual pre-tax profits by $3 billion by Revitalisation Plan is based on executing the fundamentals of our business to build mid-decade. Ford’s new CEO spoke to Anthony Lewis great products. What we are outlining is a and Chris Wright at the North American International comprehensive plan that builds for the future. It’s going to take everyone in the Auto Show in Detroit earlier this year. extended Ford family – employees, suppli- ers and dealers – working together, over

6 WILLIAM CLAY FORD Jnr Ricardo Quarterly Review Spring 2002 time, to make it work. Although the actions What effect will the Revitalisation Plan Now that Jac Nasser has gone, you have we have outlined are difficult, they are nec- have on Ford vehicles in the short term? made several new management appoint- essary steps to lead Ford back to a strong There do not seem to be very many new ments – including a number of British financial and competitive position. models scheduled. executives such as Nick Scheele as chief Low-margin models such as the Mercury operating officer and David Thursfield as You have talked of plant closures. Where Cougar, Mercury Villager, Lincoln Continental president of Ford of Europe. What is the will these be? and Ford Escort will be discontinued this significance of that? We are looking at closing five plants in the year. North America is not as fortunate in These are people who have earned their United States: Edison Assembly, Ontario having new product coming through as stripes. I have seen the way in which they Truck Plant, St. Louis Assembly, Cleveland Europe but we still have some significant have restructured Ford’s operations in Britain Aluminum Casting and Vulcan Forge. In addi- vehicles in the next two model years. This and Europe – including the transformation at tion no new products have been identified for spring we will launch the redesigned Ford Dagenham from a car factory to an engine two plants: Ohio Assembly and Cuautitlan Expedition and Lincoln Navigator. Later this plant. This will form the blueprint for bringing Assembly. We are pursuing the sale of year we will introduce the Lincoln Aviator, an American operations back on track. You can’t Woodhaven Forging Plant and major down- upscale version of the Explorer. In 2003 we take the hill if no one follows you. This com- sizing and shift reductions at 11 plants. We will launch a restyled F-series pick-up plus a pany is way too big for one person to man- are also looking at line speed reductions and replacement for the Mercury Villager. We age alone. I’m under no illusions; the next changes to operating patterns at nine plants. plan to invest $20 billion to roll out 20 new year is going to be very tough. There will be In order to remain competitive and profitable, or freshened models in the United States bumps along the road, but I’ve got good peo- we must make some hard decisions to align by 2005. ple around me. And I’ll let them do the job. capacity with our anticipated sales. At the same time, the company is continuing its The new vehicles you mentioned are At this year’s Detroit Show you invited commitment to North American manufactur- niche or variations of existing models employees as well as the media to the ing operations with investments of about $20 which will not expand Ford’s market unveiling of the GT40 concept. What mes- billion over the next five years in new product share. What other plans do you have for sage are you giving out there? programmes and spending. This will add new models? I wanted to use the success the original flexibility and increase our ability to respond We are looking at several projects including GT40 achieved at Le Mans in the 1960s to quickly to changes in market demand. a subcompact sport utility and a mid-size remind everyone that this company has ways sport wagon. I think we can maintain our cur- of emerging as a winner after tough times. This is obviously not good news for North rent market share over the next two years Our heritage brings perspective to what we America, but what effect is there likely to with what we have available and the new do now. We’ve had tough times before and be in Europe and the rest of the world? products planned. come through them – and we will do it again. Beyond North America Ford will continue the implementation of the European Can you tell us a little more about the You have a big challenge ahead. Are you Transformation Strategy, the Premier shared savings programme you plan with looking forward to it? Automotive Group strategy, the turnaround in suppliers? Yes I am. I feel like a football coach before a South America and a revised direction for Ford spends about $50 billion annually on big game and I actually felt more pressure Ford Financial. I don’t see any fallout in outside purchasing and we believe suppliers when I was outside looking in. Now I’m call- Europe; Ford of Europe is absolutely on can find $3 billion on cost savings if given an ing the shots I’ve got my game plan in place. track. Jaguar, Land Rover, Volvo and Aston incentive to share in them. We will dedicate We’ve got to get our business structure right Martin – which together form part of Premier 300 engineers to work with the supply base – and we will. Our business model is not as Automotive Group – are central to the com- on cost-reduction targets, and suppliers will robust as it should be, but we are fixing it. pany’s future success and profitability. I don’t get 35 percent of any savings. We want co- We have had issues with quality and war- ever envisage selling them off. I believe we operation with suppliers to get their best ranties. Costs will have to be cut but we can be extremely profitable again – and we ideas, and I believe this shared approach will won’t be penny wise and pound foolish. will be. not jeopardise quality as across-the-board Sometimes cost-cutting with a meat cleaver demands can. looks easy to do – but [it] costs you more in Ford is building a new plant in the long run. You can’t cost-cut your way to St Petersburg to serve the Russian prosperity. market. Is it possible there could be more new factories in Europe? I would not rule out opening new Ford facto- ries, even in Britain, even though it has been said following the ending of car production at Dagenham that Ford-badged cars would never again be built in the UK. Yes, I’d con- sider it. But the conditions would have to be right. It would have to be a modern factory. But I have a very open mind on that. Britain has been a great place to do business.

Would Britain have to join the Euro before you would consider such a move? I would prefer the UK to be in the Euro-zone in terms of all of the company’s business in the country, but it is not a critical factor.

Spring 2002 Ricardo Quarterly Review WILLIAM CLAY FORD Jnr 7 Five alive Volvo Car Corporation had traditionally relied on buying off-the-shelf engines from its competitors to stay in the diesel market. Then it realised the premium diesel segment was about to take off, and turned to Ricardo for expertise. Just 24 months later, it began building what could well be the most advanced diesel engine in the world, the five-cylinder D5.

Tony Lewin reports t’s rare to find a company with the “We’ve always had the desire to go into courage to switch its policies while in the diesels, and when we designed our petrol Ifull rush of success. It is rarer still to find a engines we put the capacity into the bottom major and highly respected international end to accommodate a diesel. But there’s player who will go public about the change always only so much resource in a company and concede that, perhaps, what it was [to do the job] and we therefore continued to doing before was less than perfect. buy in diesel engines — from Volkswagen, But that’s just what Volvo Car did in 1998 for example.” when it decided to build its own diesel However, looking further ahead it was engines, after many years of insisting that clear that, as well as being costly to buy and buying in diesels from other carmakers was upgrade, the five-cylinder inline diesel from the best strategy. Audi was also approaching the limits of its “Knowing what we know now, I must admit development. More important still, says that we should have focused on our own Crabb, it was commercially dangerous to be Volvo D5 innovations diesel engines earlier. Now we are going to dependent on a competitor for engines in a concentrate on a really powerful entry that market that was clearly poised for such mas- First all-aluminium five-cylinder diesel will quickly establish a sound basis for suc- sive growth. First in-house diesel from Volvo cess and large volumes,” explained Volvo “That’s why we decided to go for a better Developed in 24 months from concept CEO Hans-Olov Olsson at the launch of the business case, bring the technology in house to manufacture D5 in the summer of 2001. and commit to a programme internally.” Weight of 186 kg vs gasoline engine “Early next year [2002], our Cross Country This, remember, all took place well before at 168 kg range will be expanded with a newcomer to the dramatic moment in early 1999 when a First use of second-generation Bosch the SUV segment, the XC90. It is extremely beaming Ford CEO, Jac Nasser, announced common-rail fuelling important to have a good diesel engine in that the American giant had bought Volvo’s Electronically controlled 1600 bar this category. By the time this new model is passenger car business. Pre-Ford, Volvo cer- injection pressure unveiled, our latest diesel engine will have tainly did not have the muscle to go it com- Electronically controlled variable convinced the market that we belong among pletely alone in developing its own diesels, nozzle turbocharger the very elite in diesel technology,” Olsson though its highly flexible Skövde engine plant Electronically controlled EGR to concluded. had always had provision for expansion into reduce combustion temperatures It was a decision prompted by the already- diesel manufacture. Cooling of EGR for further seven per accelerating pace of diesel car sales in Derek Crabb and his colleagues at Volvo

cent NOX reduction Europe, itself triggered by rising fuel prices Car were nothing but realistic about the chal- Roller finger cam followers for and the advent of CO2 emissions-linked lenge they faced in bringing a new genera- reduced friction vehicle taxation in several European Union tion of diesel engines into production in Machined on same lines as gasoline member states. Yet Volvo Car faced a thorny record time and with limited resources. “We versions problem, as powertrain director Derek Crabb had a team of diesel engineers inside – explains: about 25 people – who were capable of

8 VOLVO DIESEL ENGINE Ricardo Quarterly Review Spring 2002 applying engines,” he Cox’s sentiments are remembers. “And to echoed from the Volvo side ‘The final delivery of launch our engine from by Crabb: “If there was a concept to industrialisa- problem like a cylinder head the economy target tion in just over two years gasket failure, it wasn’t a with only 25 people need- question of whose fault it versus the NOx ed a lot of support. We was – it was simply a ques- didn’t have the right tion of who was going to requirements was knowledge or the right lead the work. The problem numbers of people.” can come from many differ- very, very hard’ “So,” continues Crabb, Brian Taylor, Ricardo lead ent sources.” Common Derek Crabb, Volvo Car “we had to find a way of designer for the D5 sense prevailed along the Corporation lifting the project off very way, says Crabb, though quickly and moving the experience in-house, clearly there were some tricky moments. so we could support the engine fully internal- ly at the start of production.” A tough timetable The answer, not unnaturally, was to tap the One of the factors prompting Volvo Cars to broader engineering community for support. place the diesel engine development contract Volvo Car had already worked with both with Ricardo was undoubtedly the Ricardo and AVL of Austria. Each of these Shoreham-based firm’s pre-existing expert- organisations was considered competent to ise with the Volvo engine family. Back in deliver the programme in its own right but, January 1996, recalls Brian Taylor, Ricardo given the work Volvo had already undertaken lead designer for the D5, Ricardo had been with each of them, the company took the approached with a view to assessing the via- highly unusual step of bringing both suppli- bility of diesel derivatives. ers into the D5 programme. “Volvo needed support in the area of The agreement broke new ground in many diesel,” remembers Taylor. “They came with ways, not least because it brought together an outline specification for a 2.5-litre diesel Ricardo and a direct competitor to work on and wanted a concept study from us. Our the same engines at the same time. Pretty early study had an 84mm cylinder bore and soon the partners had established who a 91mm stroke.” would be responsible for which systems, the The programme was frozen in mid-96, but engine being metaphorically divided halfway in January the following year Volvo came up, with AVL taking everything above the back wanting a study of the aluminium cylin- cylinder head gasket and Ricardo handling der block. This was a crucial factor in the the lower half. Nevertheless, remembers programme’s viability and also in the per- Crabb, several grey areas remained – formance of the final vehicle, for no other notably the belt drive systems, which manufacturer had ever succeeded in building The Volvo D5 engine in figures spanned the dividing line, and components an all-aluminium inline diesel with more than such as the pistons, piston four cylinders. Maximum power 163bhp at rings and the head gasket The work with the existing 4000 rpm itself. gasoline and prototype Specific power 67.9bhp per litre “We judged from our diesel engine blocks gave Peak torque of 340Nm from side,” says Crabb, “that Ricardo the chance to 1750rpm this was a wonderful com- exploit its sophisticated Weight of dressed engine (as bination. We tried to put a Hydrapulse machine to shipped) 186kg deal together that was fair analyse how the compo- EU combined cycle consumption to both of them, but with- nents performed under huge of 6.0 litres/100km in S60 out infringing on this com- stresses, way beyond those application petitiveness [between encountered in even the 0-100km/h acceleration in 9.5 Ricardo and AVL] which severest road conditions. seconds for S60 Steven Cox, Ricardo D5 does exist. It enabled all The results of these tests 80 – 120km/h acceleration in fifth programme manager three of us to come out of were encouraging, says Tim gear in under 10 seconds for S60 it with a decent amount of Yates, Ricardo chief engi- Maximum speed of 210km/h in all business and a good engine at the end. neer for the project: “The validation provided three applications For us it was very successful.” by this physical test gave additional confi- Operating range of 1170km for At Ricardo, any initial apprehension at dence to the predictive CAE methods that S60 working alongside the company’s closest were used extensively to analyse almost all Regulated toxic emissions outputs competitor was soon dispelled. “At the aspects of the design.” for Volvo S60 D5 (163bhp) with end of the day we are all professional The fact that each supplier used its own manual transmission: engineers with a job to do,” says Steve Cox, software tool set for the programme might on CO2 171g/km Ricardo programme manager for the D5 the face of it be considered a source of NOx 0.443g/km project. “When you’re all sitting round a potential discrepancies. Yates is reassuring HC+NOx 0.483g/km table with an engineering problem to solve, in his views in this respect: “However com- CO 0.348g/km you quickly forget you’re supposed to be plex they may be, the CAE software codes Particulate 0.032g/km competitors.” we use are essentially just mathematical

Spring 2002 Ricardo Quarterly Review VOLVO DIESEL ENGINE 9 ‘We are confident that our new diesel engines will give us a major upswing in European sales’ Hans-Olov Olsson, CEO, Volvo Car Corporation

models of physical engineering phenomena. gramme progressed. To start with, says product. In the event these fears proved If the phenomena represented are the same Crabb, “It was them doing 100 percent of the largely unfounded, and only the four-cylinder in two codes and an equal level of attention work for us”. However, by the start of produc- (which clashed directly with the PSA-Ford is paid to modelling, the results should be tion Volvo were 100 percent responsible for co-operative unit of similar capacity) was compatible – which is what we found.” the build process with Ricardo and AVL pro- dropped from the programme. With all the factors pointing in the desired viding support. Derek Crabb doubts whether the decision direction – that diesel versions of Volvo’s The partners faced a tough set of targets to go ahead with the diesel programme existing gasoline engines were the best way – and not only those imposed by the excep- would have been any different under Ford to go – the formal decision to go was finally tionally tight 24-month programme timetable. than in the pre-Ford era: “The business case taken in December 1998, though the split of Derek Crabb again: “We very much said to was sound, and Ford accepts sound busi- responsibilities had been agreed before this. Ricardo: ‘This is the block and crank we’ve ness cases.” “It had to be a very rapid programme,” got – we think it can go into a diesel of this What did change under Ford, however, recalls Derek Crabb. “Though we had built capacity and we think we can get this num- were the horizons and the ambitions encom- the concept engines, the final decision to go ber of horsepower and this much torque. passed by the programme. Derek Crabb with this concept was taken very late, and we Please can you validate this.’” takes up the story once more: were targeting early 2001 for completion.” Further targets were set in terms of fuel “By this time Dr Reitzle had entered the The partners agreed on a gradual transfer consumption, emissions, NVH, packaging scene. He basically said that we should aim of responsibility to Volvo Car as the pro- and of course durability. At this stage the upwards. He urged us to ‘go for the BMW programme was for a family of six-cylinder – use that as your benchmark … three engines based on the inline I accept that we’ve only got a five-cylinder, four, five and six-cylinder gasoline but the BMW is the car that we’re competing units: Volvo’s overriding priority of with, and that’s what we must use on all our crash safety had always meant that test drives.’” broader V-configuration designs, Dr Reitzle’s exhortation to take on the very which reduce the available impact best only added to the challenges faced by absorbing crumple zones, were out Ricardo. Yet there was an important trump of the question. card: Volvo had the promise of being the Of the three diesels it was the lead customer for Bosch’s very latest, sec- 2.5 litre five-cylinder, designed to ond-generation common rail injection system power the as-yet unrevealed new- with its attendant major potential benefits in shape V70 and S60 models, that emissions, consumption and NVH control. was singled out as the top priority. This, coupled with the pioneering use of an Yet even this suddenly appeared all-aluminium cylinder block and electronical- up in the air when Ford announced ly-controlled cooled exhaust gas recircula- its takeover of Volvo in February tion, promised to make the Volvo D5 the 1999: the concern was that Volvo most advanced passenger car diesel engine would be encouraged to utilise the in the world as well as a highly effective existing Ford diesel range rather motor for Volvo’s advance into the premium than continue developing its own executive segment.

10 VOLVO DIESEL ENGINE Ricardo Quarterly Review Spring 2002 Design solutions belongs to Belgium, where 87 out of every With Volvo’s forthcoming range of cars 100 premium buyers opt for diesel. Both already at an advanced stage of develop- Austria and Italy run at 70 per cent or more, ment, it was clear from the outset that any and new CO2 -related business-car taxation diesel solutions would involve the engines in the UK has swung the whole company car being made to fit the vehicle, rather than vice market dramatically round towards diesels. versa. “We were limited in what we could The pan-European figure for diesels in the do,” says Crabb, “so we had to optimise the premium sector stood at 44 per cent in the small degrees of freedom we did have.” summer of 2001 when the D5 engine first It went without saying that, as an engine appeared on the market – and since then from one of the world’s most environmentally Volvo’s sales forecasts of 33,000 diesel-pow- conscious car makers, the new Volvo diesel ered S60s and S80s in 2001 have proved if had to be one of the cleanest as well as anything rather conservative. In Germany lightest and best performing. Early on it was alone, 14,000 units were allocated for 2001. decided to use sophisticated injection and In 2002, with the V70 station wagon also combustion systems to minimise raw engine- brought into the diesel portfolio, the overall out emissions, rather than employ complex target is in excess of 50,000 units. after-treatment mechanisms to clean up the “We are confident that our new diesel exhaust afterwards. In particular, says Crabb, Power and torque of the 2.5 litre Volvo D5 engines will give us a major upswing in Volvo did not want to go into technologies are among the the best in the class European sales,” says Volvo Car CEO Hans- such as particulate filters or traps. Olov Olsson, while Lars-Gustaf Hauptmann, So the approach chosen was one of sim- Evidence of the success of the pro- project manager of the D5 pro-ject, points ple, clean combustion driven by electronic gramme comes in many forms. The engine’s out that the D5 will put Volvo on the shop- control not only of the injection timing but light weight, for instance, is crucial to per- ping list of an entirely new customer catego- also of injection volume and pressure, as formance, emissions, economy and vehicle ry in several key European markets. well as VNT turbo configuration and addition- handling. At 186kg the finished unit is just “The new D5 is poised to play a central al pre-injection pulses to manage NVH and 18kg heavier than its gasoline counterpart. role in reaching the Volvo Car sales targets emissions. The provision of electronically The final power and torque values of 163 for Europe,” he says. “It has a very efficient regulated and cooled EGR would help limit horsepower and 340 Newton metres from combination of power and torque, meaning combustion temperatures and therefore NOX just 1750 rpm speak for themselves. The high performance with low weight and very emissions, while a tandem catalyst arrange- torque figure is greater even than that of the low emissions. The starting point was that ment would look after the remaining emis- prodigiously powerful, gasoline-fuelled T5 the new Volvo diesel should be both sporty sions under both cold-start and operating turbo from Volvo’s fastest sports sedans; it and cultivated, and offer absolutely world- temperature conditions. The cooled EGR more than amply fulfils CEO Hans-Olov leading qualities in a number of key areas: alone helps cut NOX emissions by seven per Olsson’s stipulation that driving enjoyment performance, fuel economy, noise level, cent compared with non- should be “top of the list of weight and emissions. It is these criteria that cooled systems. priorities in the develop- customers in the premium segment prioritise The ability to manipulate ment of the D5” and that when they specify a diesel engine.” these many degrees of the driver should feel that Derek Crabb, for his part, can see the day freedom – especially the the engine has more power when the Skövde plant produces more diesel injection pressures up to than it actually has. than gasoline engines. “The way it is evolv- 1600 bar available with the At 67.9 bhp per litre the ing, it is not that hard to see diesel being the Bosch common rail system D5 also has one of the ideal engine for a Volvo – not an R-line high – proved to be the key to highest specific power rat- performance Volvo with 300 bhp, but the the achieving of the tough ings of any diesel on the average type of luxury saloon [and wagon] targets imposed on the D5 market – yet its emissions Volvo. The diesel engine is an ideal match – programme. For obvious values, way below the cur- for me it is natural to expect diesel engine reasons the three partners Tim Yates, D5 chief rent Euro 3 norms, are sales to keep on going up.” engineer at Ricardo are still coy about the actu- also among the very best. al numerical values put for- As an instance, the D5 per- ward in the original specification, though forms well on NOX, with certified values of ‘Dr Reitzle’s Crabb is willing to confirm that the 6.0 litres 0.443g/km. Even in the sensitive area of par- per 100km consumption so spectacularly ticulate emissions the D5 scores highly, with exhortation to take attained by the middleweight S60 sedan was a grams per kilometre rating of 0.032. indeed one of those original targets. on the very best in What is also evident is that, even setting The market aside the whole issue of the compressed Anyone in any doubt about the potential of the diesel market two-year timeframe, this was a very demand- diesel engines for large cars need look no ing programme that demanded maximum further than the registration statistics in the only added to the effort and co-operation from all concerned in premium segment. It is hard to be a serious order to meet its tough objectives. player in the executive car business without a challenges faced “Clearly,” says Crabb, “the final delivery of top-notch diesel engine, particularly in south- the economy target versus the NOX require- ern and western Europe. by Ricardo’ ments was very, very hard. The final calibra- Yet even France, with a diesel share of 82 Derek Crabb, Volvo Car tion work was done by a combination of peo- per cent in the premium sector, cannot boast Corporation ple from all three partners.” quite the highest penetration: that honour

Spring 2002 Ricardo Quarterly Review VOLVO DIESEL ENGINE 11 That final two per cent

How do you squeeze yet more from a transmission that is already the best? That was the challenge faced by Ricardo Motorsport, whose high-performance transmissions have been central to Audi’s dominance of long-distance sportscar racing. William Kimberley reports William Kimberley (left), editor of Automotive Engineer, presents the magazine’s award for Best Engineered Product of the Year to Mark Barge of Ricardo Motorsport

or the last two seasons the Audi R8 although the relationship between the two considerably greater than just the supply of has been the class of the field, companies went back long before then. differentials. F whether it be at the classic Le Mans “Ricardo had been working with Audi on the “From supplying individual components,” 24 Hour race or the gruelling American Le German Touring Car and rally programmes says Barge, “it was an order of magnitude Mans Series (ALMS). Its victories at the for around 10 years, and I think they recog- switching to delivering a gearbox.” However, Sarthe circuit proved its domination with a 1- nised our capability and were happy with the this programme being Audi’s first foray into 2-3 result in 2000 followed by a first and sec- work we had done,” says Mark Barge, motor- sportscar racing, the Ingolstadt manufacturer ond last year, and in ALMS it has been beat- sport director at the Ricardo Midlands still needed a high level of control and so en only three times in the last two years. So Technical Centre at Leamington Spa. For the decided on a division of labour. While Audi now Audi comes into its third season as the sportscar programme, though, the level of took responsibility for the casing and its team to beat – a track record which brings its responsibility placed on Ricardo was to be transmission department acted as the inter- own pressures. face with all the other vehicle architecture Ricardo first became involved in Audi’s within the company, Ricardo concentrated on racing sportscar project in 1998 when work all the internal components of the transmis- began on the R8, sion system. “We already had a good way of working,” Barge continues, “so off we went. What we really benefited from is the fact that Ricardo puts a great deal of effort into both its research pro- grammes and the development of its tools and technologies, and the two lines converged. We were therefore able to demonstrate our ability to use these techniques on a new gearbox.” Three years and many victories later, the scenario has changed greatly. The success of the R8 has been truly outstanding. In fact it can claim to be one of the most successful racing cars ever produced. Of course, the transmission has played a vital role – a role which has led to mutual trust and respect Flagship programme: between the two companies. So after the first Ricardo transmission for season’s racing in 1999, Ricardo took Audi R8 has been out- responsibility for the entire transmission sys- standingly successful tem. In effect, this meant a new gearbox for

12 TRANSMISSIONS Ricardo Quarterly Review Spring 2002 the 2000 season. “Over the last six months or “In designing the ultimate so Ricardo has put more race car,” says Barge, “Audi emphasis on its motorsport wanted to capitalise on what it business in its entirety, and we had learnt for itself – things like have now created Ricardo the aerodynamics, suspension Motorsport as a group-wide system, general packaging and business stream,” says Barge, so on – while it felt confident in with his eye on the lookout for asking Ricardo to design and more projects. Given his organi- develop the new transmission. ‘Improving the race- sation’s background of working This was necessary as the transmission was on highly confidential programmes, undertak- subject to the same aggressive design tar- car transmission is ing projects in the motorsport world – where gets as the rest of the car, particularly for nothing is given away except on a need-to- weight, overall stiffness and shift time.” the classic case of know basis – is not a problem at all, he con- For 2001, the gearbox was further refined. tends. “We have all the tools and experience “The package was set in terms of vehicle the 80:20 scenario to succeed, but from a commercial sense it’s dynamics, the aerodynamics package and vital that we win new projects, break into new suspension points,” explains Barge, “so we where 80 per cent markets and expand our customer base.” centred all our attention on the critical details That customer base already includes such as further increasing stiffness, reducing is put into achieving PK Sport, which will be fielding a private the shift times and improving data integrity. Porsche entry at Le Mans this year the team The transmission carries a number of sen- 20 per cent of gain, having benefited from Ricardo expertise in sors for shift performance, and an amount of improving the torsional stiffness of the 911’s work was involved in the continuing develop- except that in this body shell. ment and optimisation of the shift system “The Dallara project is a good contract,” itself in terms of strategy and hardware.” case it’s more like a Barge says, “as it provides a good volume of That the transmission was one of the corner- transmissions that is unusual in this busi- stones of the car’s reliability, enabling it to 98:2’ ness. Another good thing is that it is a manu- notch up so many victories, has been well al gearbox rather than semi-automatic, so we documented – so how do you improve upon Mark Barge, Ricardo can prove that our technology and expertise the best if you are not to let the competition Motorsport work in all areas of the market. It’s also a catch up? chance for Ricardo to take another project “It’s the classic case of the 80:20 scenario into the public domain and make sure that where 80 per cent of effort is put into achiev- we’re not remembered only for the Audi one ing 20 per cent of gain, except that in this – because if you’re not careful, success can case it’s more like a 98:2,” says Barge. Series, then the Le Mans 24 Hour race – be counter-productive. The very next ques- “Because both Audi and Ricardo believe the everything is now much more of a routine. tion is ‘And then what did you do?’ ” R8 is already truly optimised within the regu- The risk is that you lose focus and you turn However, all eyes are still fixed on Audi. lations, it was not worth our while starting your attention to other things, assuming that This is the flagship, the one that is the centre with a clean sheet of paper. The most impor- it’s going to be all right on its own. of attention on both sides of the Atlantic. tant thing is that the gearbox is already “It means that we’re just working in a small The first ALMS race – the Sebring 12 Hours extraordinarily compact, it is very stiff and band – is it possible to reduce shift time or is – has already taken place, with Audi finishing hopefully it is extremely reliable. So all our it possible to continue to increase stiffness? first and second. This has got the team off to efforts are about minute performance gains. We have been focusing all our efforts on a flying start, even though the second place “This means that we are now focusing making sure that every technical decision we car was the privateer Champion R8 driven by more on traditional risk aversion,“ he contin- make is a gain, rather than any form of risk Jan Lammers, Andy Wallace and Stefan ues. “We feel the pressure, as there is such or loss.” Johansson, behind the works car driven by a high expectation on the car to win. This And just to concentrate the works Audi Johnny Herbert, Rinaldo Capello and means that we must now be more vigilant team’s efforts all the more, it has last year’s Christian Pescatori. than we’ve ever been on schedules, compo- cars – now entered by the privateer The works team will probably opt to miss nents, sub-assembly performance, sign-off Champion team – to compete with, as well the second round of the 10-race series at checks, the re-testing work, and our overall as potent rivals from Cadillac and Panoz. Sears Point in California, as it is held performance.“ While the Audi programme has given between the Le Mans test days and the race Barge is hyper-aware of the dangers of Ricardo a great deal of exposure, it is not its itself. That means the countdown has complacency. “There is almost a risk in the only one in the motorsport arena. Less well already begun to the main event in June, in familiarity of this programme. We know what known but nevertheless very significant, which Audi expects… we’re doing, we’ve been doing it for a few Ricardo is working with Italian constructor years, everyone knows everybody, we’re off Dallara, which is providing cars for one-make William Kimberley is editor of to Sebring, then the American Le Mans series both in Spain and in the US. Automotive Engineer magazine

Spring 2002 Ricardo Quarterly Review TRANSMISSIONS 13 Adept adaptor With peace-keeping operations an increasingly significant role for the British Army, a practical means of deploying its vehicle assets is needed. The Rapid Deployment Vehicle (RDV), based on a Land Rover conversion, is a Ricardo development whose mettle has now been tested in some very demanding environments. Anthony Smith reports

he ability to move rapidly, and across specifications. In addition to this, it needed to difficult and potentially hostile terrain, be single-hoop in configuration to free the T is increasingly important to the British upper structure for more high-calibre Army. In addition to their more long-standing weapons mountings than the previous design commitments, British forces have in the past could handle. A series of finite element year alone been deployed on peace-keeping analyses were carried out to develop and missions in Europe, Africa and Asia. optimise the new design, which was subject- Traditionally the Land Rover has been the ed to physical roll-over crash testing in a pro- backbone of general military transportation, totype vehicle.” but in its adapted form – the Rapid But rapid deployment of forces in most sit- Deployment Vehicle, or RDV – it occupies a uations requires the use of aircraft to trans- leading role in peace-keeping situations port equipment to the theatre of operations. requiring rapid deployment. For this reason the design of the RDV also The success of the RDV is based on work had to be made sufficiently robust for carried out at the Shoreham facility of air-portability. As such it can be car- Ricardo Vehicle Engineering over the last ten ried internally in a C130 years. John Lake, general manager for Lockheed Hercules, and either Special Vehicles, takes up the story: “The internally or under-slung in original concept on which the RDV is based standard helicopter transports was developed in 1993. We developed a such as the Chinook. conversion kit which could turn a standard While the roll cage is the Land Rover Defender into a multi-role com- most immediately striking bat vehicle incorporating a robust roll cage feature of the RDV and weapons mounting. Land Rover, it is “A small number of these initial kits were the flexibility of sold, predominantly to overseas forces. this concept However, the idea attracted the attention of the British Army for use in a potentially much larger programme, and in 1997 Ricardo was asked to develop the concept on a more robust scale. “The most immediate area for further development was the roll cage, which had to meet the extremely stringent military roll-over

14 RAPID DEPLOYMENT VEHICLE Ricardo Quarterly Review Spring 2002 which is truly remarkable. In peace-time, an quickly and for deployment in almost any when the job is done. army requires basic utility vehicle transport environment. The RDV concept is based on The RDV-converted Land Rover is a truly more than it requires peace-keeping vehi- a “weapons mounting installation kit” or versatile vehicle, with a range of around 500 cles, and this is reflected in the large number WMIK, comprising the roll-cage and associ- miles and a payload of up to 1400kg. Its of standard Land Rover Defenders in military ated components, which can be fitted to an standard crew is three – a commander, a service. But when peace-keeping vehicles army Land Rover to convert it from a stan- driver and a rear gunner – although numer- are needed, they are generally needed dard transport into an implementation-ready ous alternative configurations are possible. peace-keeping vehicle in under four hours. The Land Rover RDV entered service with “The base vehicle fleet which is used for the British Army in 1999. Many vehicles have RDV conversion naturally requires a minor been converted, and similar numbers of one-off modification to enable it to accept WMIK systems have been supplied. While it the WMIK system,” says Lake. “This involves may not have received the media profile that the provision of fixings for the roll-cage was given to the similar-looking vehicle used structure and the addition of chassis out- by the fictional character Lara Croft in the riggers”. The concept enables the army movie Tomb Raider, the real-world and high- to optimise its vehicle assets – it can ly practical Ricardo-developed RDV has now turn standard transports into peace- seen active service in many parts of the keeping vehicles extremely quick- world. It has become standard equipment for ly when the need arises, and British forces, and its success has not gone then covert them back unnoticed elsewhere. As well as further orders for the British Army, a number of vehi- cles have been supplied to the forces of sev- eral NATO member states.

‘The design of the RDV had to be made sufficiently robust for air portability – either in a C130 or underslung below a helicopter’

Main pictures: PA

Finite element analysis (far left) was employed to develop a roll-cage to meet the extremely stringent military roll-over and air-drop specifications

Spring 2002 Ricardo Quarterly Review RAPID DEPLOYMENT VEHICLE 15 Lean Boost Direct Injection Gasoline – a big idea about downsizing Manufacturers are developing direct injection gasoline engines in the search for improved fuel efficiency. Lean boosted direct injection gasoline combustion may bring even greater benefits, as Anthony Smith explains

hatever the ultimate fate of the energy loss in a gasoline engine, it becomes ment, which in turn enables a higher com- Kyoto protocol, the pressure on immediately apparent that there are four pression ratio with its associated improved W manufacturers to reduce vehicle areas in which you can address efficiency thermal efficiency (see figure 2). CO2 emissions is likely to continue to improvements” says Lake (see figure 1). The theoretical basis of the LBDI concept increase in the coming years. “First of all you can attempt to reduce the can be explained in terms of the effect of In Europe, through an agreement by the thermal energy being lost through the boost pressure on the operating band of air- representative body ACEA, manufacturers exhaust gases. Secondly there is the heat fuel ratio of the engine. As the intake air are committed to a new vehicle fleet average lost from the engine to its coolant and oil. pressure is increased, so the achievable indi-

CO2 emissions level of 140g/km by 2008 Thirdly there is the energy consumed in cated mean effective pressure (IMEP) also (against an average of 185g/km in 1995 and mechanical friction, and finally there are the increases. At the rich limit of air-fuel mixture 174g/km in 1999). Similarly in the US the losses associated with the processes of gas for a given boost pressure (the minimum prospect of bringing SUVs into the passen- exchange. In developing the LBDI concept practical excess air factor), combustion sta- ger car CAFE standard is refocusing atten- we are seeking to address improvements in bility is hindered by ignition retardation due tion on fuel economy. But while gasoline all of these areas simultaneously.” to knock. So with increasing boost pressure, engine fuel efficiency improvements over the One of the most promising avenues for the rich limit becomes more lean. Similarly, last three decades have been impressive, to these improvements in both gasoline and at the lean limit of air-fuel mixture for a given say the least, much of the benefit derived diesel engines is ‘downsizing’: the develop- level of boost, combustion stability is limited from this has been swallowed up in the ment of engines of increased specific output by spark initiation and flame propagation. increasing kerb weight of today’s typical pas- and reduced swept volume. The LBDI gaso- As this limit improves with boost, the over- senger cars. line engine is an example of this, combining all operating band becomes leaner with The impending fuel efficiency challenge is direct injection, lean operation and pressure increasing boost. At any given boost pres- all the greater therefore. Greater, that is, charging to enable a smaller engine – with sure, as the air-fuel ratio moves from the rich unless customers are to be weaned off their consequently fewer losses and hence to the lean limit, engine output will decrease. taste for increasingly higher specification greater fuel efficiency – to take the place of The objective in developing an LBDI engine (and hence higher weight) vehicles – a larger and less efficient current production is therefore to boost to the desired level of prospect which few manufacturers regard as engines. IMEP for the downsized engine – typically a likely one. A fundamental concern with the operation significantly higher than that achieved at stoi- For Tim Lake and his gasoline research of a pressure charged gasoline engine is the chiometric operation of the equivalent natu- team at Ricardo Consulting Engineers, this minimum octane requirement of the fuel. rally aspirated engine – while maintaining a challenge of pushing the boundaries of fuel Typically, manufacturers seek to reduce the homogenous lean mixture of between 1.4 efficiency is extremely familiar. They are compression ratio in a boosted engine to and 1.6 excess air factor. To minimise the air- responsible for the company’s gasoline avoid combustion knock. Unfortunately, while flow demand on the engine (and hence gas research programmes and are pursuing a knock may be avoided, this reduction of exchange losses) the richest mixture that range of new technologies for improved fuel compression ratio has the unwanted side allows stable operation at the desired IMEP economy. One such initiative is the develop- effect of reducing thermal efficiency. is selected (see figure 3). ment of a new Lean Boost Direct Injection However, the LBDI concept’s combination of So much for the theory. What about the (LBDI) gasoline combustion concept. direct injection and homogenous lean opera- practical validation? “If you examine the typical sources of tion both act to reduce the octane require- “There is a range of tools available to us in assessing a concept such as this,” explains Lake. “Most of the development work is typically carried out on a single-cylin- der research engine, and the Ricardo Hydra is an obvious choice for this. For the initial development work a 74mm bore, 75.5mm stroke configuration was used, giving a swept volume of 324.7cc. In parallel with the single-cylinder test programme we also con- duct a significant amount of CAE work using software tools such as WAVE and VECTIS”. One application of CAE is to assess the likely multi-cylinder performance based on Figure 1: Typical brake output and energy losses the test results from the Hydra. It is well at part load (left) and full load (right)

16 LBDI Ricardo Quarterly Review Spring 2002 Figure 2: Octane requirement versus air-fuel ratio Figure 3: Theoretical basis of LBDI concept established that the volumetric efficiency of limiting factor rather than maximum power. a 4000 lb (1800kg) sports utility vehicle single-cylinder research engines is often To move beyond this level of downsizing and intended for the US market, incorporating a lower than their production multi-cylinder achieve even greater fuel efficiency benefits 4.0-litre PFI naturally-aspirated engine as a counterparts. For this reason a higher boost would be possible, but it would require the comparator for a 3.0-litre LBDI unit with the pressure is applied in single-cylinder test addition of more advanced boosting con- same alternative calibrations as the work in order to match and correlate the cepts such as an electrically-assisted tur- European example. In this case the vehicle likely performance of the multi-cylinder bocharger or, alternatively, mild hybridisation. was evaluated against the FTP drive cycle. application. In order to evaluate the LBDI concept in a Fuel economy improvement for the LBDI Combustion stability is widely accepted as European vehicle application, a simulation compared with the PFI engine was greatest presenting perhaps the most significant chal- model was created to represent a generic (up to 13 per cent) for the city cycle where lenge to the development of LBDI gasoline lower-medium C-segment car typical of cur- operation at part load gives maximum advan- engines. “We knew in advance that cycle-to- rent production and powered by 1.6-litre PFI tage. The overall combined EPA fuel econo- cycle variations in IMEP were likely to arise naturally-aspirated engine. This was com- my benefit was 10 per cent for the optimal from a number of contributory factors such pared with two further models powered by a fuel economy calibration and seven per cent as air-fuel ratio, ignition timing, injection tim- 1.2-litre LBDI gasoline engine with VNT tur- for the low NOx calibration. ing and boost pressure,” commented Lake. bocharger and intercooler, respectively cali- The results so far look very promising, but “However, we found that by far the greatest brated for optimal fuel economy and for low where next for LBDI research and develop- impact on stability came from the ignition NOx. Over the NEDC drive cycle the LBDI ment? “The LBDI concept shows consider- system used.” vehicle with maximum fuel economy calibra- able potential and has attracted a lot of inter- The team found that through incrementally tion was predicted as delivering a 17.5 per est from the OEMs,” says Lake. “We have optimising the ignition system during the cent improvement in fuel consumption with a already started on the next stage of the development programme, they were able to similar improvement in CO2 emissions. research in collaboration with a number of increase significantly the maximum combus- Against this, the low NOx calibration of the engineering partners including Ford and tion-stable level of IMEP. The final ignition lean-boost engine showed a 17-20 per cent Johnson Matthey.” system comprising a coil-in-plug unit with reduction of engine-out NOx for a 2-3 per- This project will involve development of high-ignitability platinum electrodes achieved cent fuel economy penalty over the econo- the concept in a C-segment demonstrator an increase of over 15 per cent in combus- my-optimised version – clearly a price worth vehicle, and will include a much more rigor- tion-stable IMEP compared with the standard paying given that aftertreatment for NOx is a ous evaluation of in-vehicle performance and baseline system. But if the ignition system crucial aspect of this concept. feel. The eagerly-anticipated results of this offered a clear means of improving combus- The concept was also evaluated based on work should be revealed in mid-2002. tion stability, so too did the opportunity to develop a dual-injection strategy. A second injection pulse is used late in the cycle: this, together with the associated partial stratifica- tion of the charge, was found to reduce cycle-to-cycle variations significantly. The full impact of the LBDI concept can be appreciated when comparing torque curves. The similarity of the curves for a 1.2- litre LBDI engine with variable nozzle tur- bocharger (VNT) against a typical current- production 1.6-litre port-fuel-injected (PFI) gasoline engine demonstrates that downsiz- ing of 25 per cent on swept volume is clearly a very practical proposition. However, in common with all downsized turbocharged engines, torque at low speed remains the

The Ricardo gasoline research team: the next stage for LBDI will also involve Ford and Johnson Matthey

Spring 2002 Ricardo Quarterly Review LBDI 17 Renault’s bold vision Maxime Boniteau has been director of product planning for upper range models at Renault since August 2001. Before that he spent five years in China with Magneti Marelli. He spoke to Tony Lewin in Renault’s plush Atelier on the Champs Elysées in Paris as the company prepared to launch the Vel Satis, its radical bid for a share of the high-image luxury car market dominated by Mercedes-Benz, BMW, Audi and Jaguar

Why is it necessary for Renault to other cars. We offer our customers space compete in the E-segment? and roominess, for instance, and small We believe we need to be present in the details well thought through. We started by segment because it is also a very good way designing the interior, and after that we made to be sure that all our vehicles have the a car around it: we started with the cus- same quality. We want to exist as a global tomer’s needs. player in the car industry: for us, the E1 seg- ment is a big part of the car world. How will you know when you have succeeded? Is it a question of the prestige of the When customers buy the car. We have a rea- whole brand, or the technical filter-down sonable target in terms of volumes, and we to lower priced models? hope that we will convince even more people Probably both. We want to be sure we are than we have targeted. Right now, we hope recognised as a carmaker who is able to Would you rebrand the Vel Satis as an that the vision we have shared and the make the right car with all the right funda- Infiniti for the US? choices we have made will be accepted by mentals. To be recognised as an E1 or E2 It is not in the plan, but we have considered the customer. segment player shows that we are in com- this possibility. plete control of all the fundamentals of the Will there be an external sign of success, car. The second point concerns the smaller On a design and manufacturing level, maybe the French president riding in the models in the Renault range: if we are not in what are the changes that entry into this back? the E segment we may lose out in terms of class has forced on Renault? Our best success will be when we have an image and appeal. We see that our German All our upper segment cars are built in one individual saying “I’ve bought this car and I competitors are moving down towards small- plant – the Laguna, this Vel Satis, and soon am very happy with it”. Or when a normal er car segments, and we don’t want to leave the new Espace. Building this car forced us customer [for a German car] says “I’ve them an open space. to be very careful on all the details because changed my mind and I have decided to in this sector all the fundamentals have move to you because of the way you take You say you are a global player, yet you absolutely to be there. We already have the care of me and my family.” are not in the USA. Why not? fundamentals: the Laguna is the only car to We are there in some ways, because score five EuroNCAP stars. In terms of safe- So is the Vel Satis a different way of Renault is not a single company. We are part ty we have done a good job; in terms of doing a normal job, like a B&O hi-fi or an of the Alliance, and the Alliance is a place engines, the Alliance gives us access to a iMac computer? where Nissan and Renault have their own range of power units which we have not had Yes, we admire those products. Some of our territory – and I don’t mean this strictly geo- in the past. customers want to have the technology, and graphically. Nissan is recognised as a real we have to have technology in this car. But player with its Infiniti brand. Today it is not on Is that enough to allow Renault to the technology has to be discreet and pre- the agenda to restart the Renault brand in compete at this level? sented in a way that’s friendly . We don’t the US, so we are leaving North America for We have worked hard to offer these upper want lots of plastic buttons – we want a the Nissan group. range customers something they don’t get in more French touch.

18 MAXIME BONITEAU Ricardo Quarterly Review Spring 2002 What is the benchmark for quality Electronics is rising fast as a proportion line at the Sandouville plant. They share you use? of the cost of the car. What are your plenty of sub-assemblies and the plant is We use all our best competitors: the German thoughts on how this will evolve in the designed around a platform vision. However, products and also North Europeans such as next four or five years? some of the actions for the Vel Satis and Volvo and Saab. That’s a tough question. In fact, in terms of Espace which are not on the Laguna are the value content [of the vehicle] the next big done away from the main line. An example of How do you see the evolution of the E- frontier to cross is the implementation of this is the chrome strip which runs above the segment in terms of body shape? drive-by-wire. This is where electronics will doors on the Vel Satis. We have established that the normal three- be present in significantly greater propor- box sedan car is continuing to decline as a tions. Today we are close to that frontier and Has Renault’s relationship with Nissan percentage of the market – it’s now below 50 we still keep both mechanical and electronic changed through this programme? per cent in Europe. North America is some- control, but drive-by-wire will definitely be We have a close relationship with Nissan, thing different because all the SUVs and implemented as soon as we can guarantee which also involves cross-company teams. trucks are part of the picture, something that completely that it is safe enough. It gives us Plenty of our components used in the is not the case so much in Europe. We extra flexibility in design of the engine and Laguna are also used in Nissan cars, and we believe that not being three-box, traditional, other components inside the vehicle. We’re are sharing the 3.5-litre [gasoline V6] engine German or North European gives us plenty working on it just like everyone else is – and for use in the Vel Satis. But we will always of space to grow. This car is different, and we’ve already made a move with the auto- respect the brand identity of Nissan and the we see that more and more people want matic [parking] brake, which is both electron- brand identity of Renault – we are complete- something different. ic and mechanical. We have to move step by ly open in terms of using components as step so as to avoid any trouble for the cus- long as it does not mix the brand identities of At the Detroit show, crossover vehicles tomer. the companies. This is the right way to save were strongly in evidence. You recently investment and reduce costs. showed the Koleos concept: does this Are you working with any particular sup- mean crossovers will join the Renault pliers on drive-by-wire? The European End of Life Vehicles (ELV) range? Different Tier 1 suppliers have different solu- directive will soon come into effect. Have Yes, the Koleos was a nice concept car. I tions: we are working closely with all our you built into the Vel Satis a provision for cannot say too much about it, but we are suppliers in partnership. This kind of new the cost of scrapping and recycling? definitely considering it as an E-segment technology really does need to be tackled It is certainly a strong concern, and all the contender. There are plenty of approaches to with the vision of a partnership. This is what parts [in the car] are designed to be disman- this segment, and we can see some very we have done with the keyless [entry] sys- tled in an easy way. We can recycle a very interesting things. tem; it’s what we have done with the auto- very high percentage: to have the right mate- matic [parking] brake. Partnership is the rials is one thing, but to ensure easy disman- Is diesel power essential in this segment? main theme of our purchasing vision. tling is quite another. When it comes to the Definitely yes. With the Vel Satis the propor- responsibility for the cost of the final scrap- tion of diesels will be 60 to 70 per cent, and You have got a lot more content in this ping, we don’t know yet exactly what the law for this we have two diesel engines – a vehicle than in, say, the Laguna. How do will be. We have designed this vehicle for three-litre V6 which comes from Isuzu and is you manage it on the same production minimum dismantling cost, either by our- linked to an automatic gearbox, and either line? Does it not slow down the other selves or a third party, but I cannot say automatic or manual gearboxes with the 2.2 cars? whether we have made any financial provi- DCi common rail four-cylinder engine. These two vehicles – and, soon, the new sion. This is the first stage: it is for the law to Espace – are produced on the same flexible decide who’s going to pay and how. You offer five-speed automatics and six- speed manual gearboxes, but competitors such as BMW and Jaguar have moved to six-speed automatics. Will Renault follow? It’s a possibility. Today, we have a five- speed; yesterday we had four-speed. These days, the way you handle and manage the speeds is more important than the number of speeds you have. Electronic management is the key: our gearbox is auto-adaptive – it learns the way you like to drive so that it can move the car in the most appropriate way. We know the six-speed has better consumption, but we have a good five-speed right now.

Spring 2002 Ricardo Quarterly Review MAXIME BONITEAU 19 2002 Diesel Report links new technology to rising sales

tion) after six years 24 per cent of total diesel car sales in 2001. of steady decline. Its 21 per cent sales rise gave a diesel sales Sales of diesel cars total of 1.27 million units – representing over in France, Spain, 56 per cent domestic market penetration. Austria, Belgium and Germany, the second largest market for Luxembourg already diesel cars, had a 12.6 per cent sales exceed those for increase to reach almost 25 per cent market gasoline cars. All penetration, and Germany remains Europe’s leading manufactur- largest exporter and producer of diesel cars. ers reported rises in Austria once again enjoyed the largest over- diesel sales, with the all diesel penetration at 65.7 per cent, a new VW Group retaining record for the major European markets. overall leadership of In the UK, business car drivers trying to

the market. reduce CO2 levels in the run-up to the new Improvements in emissions-based company car tax, which diesel engine per- started in April 2002, helped fuel last year’s formance, driving rapid rise of diesel sales. characteristics and Throughout Europe, increased develop- refinement are help- ment effort has brought rapid advances in ing to drive this refinement and performance. Common rail sales growth across fuel injection systems are used on most new

uel economy demands and lower CO2 Europe. “In order to meet consumer diesel engine designs. Better cooling strate- Femissions are driving manufacturers demands for better fuel economy and EU gies, improved fuel injection and more towards more advanced diesel engine tech- CO2 emission targets of 140g/km by 2008, advanced turbocharger technology have led nology, helping to fuel the continued rise in carmakers are directing a lot of effort to production diesel engines of up to 180kW diesel passenger car sales across Europe, towards diesel engine technology,” says Ian (240bhp). The report also highlights the according to the latest Ricardo Diesel Penny, Director of Diesel Engineering. trend towards smaller-capacity diesels of Report. Record sales, up by 12 per cent to “We have now reached a stage where the around 1.4 litres. over five million vehicles, gave a market pen- technological development of the diesel A major future technology is ‘mild hybrid’ etration of almost 36 per cent. At this rate, engine has caught up with gasoline and diesel engines. Ricardo is collaborating with Ricardo estimates that diesel sales will helped eradicate traditional disadvantages Valeo on the i-MoGen (Intelligent Motor reach 40 per cent within a few years and 50 associated with diesel engines. Many poten- Generator) research project, based on an per cent by the end of the decade. tial car buyers today actually prefer the Opel/Vauxhall Astra, which can return a fuel France and Germany saw the most rapid performance and refinement of modern consumption under four litres/100km. The sales growth, and the UK saw a massive diesel engines.” electric motor accounts for no more than 10 turnaround with a 39 per cent rise in diesel France has the largest share of the West per cent of the engine’s power output, and sales (to give 18 per cent market penetra- European diesel market, achieving almost the 1.2-litre high-output four-cylinder diesel

Interim results show growth and profits

Ricardo has published its results for the six months ended January order book and a record January order intake across all December 2001. Its highlights include: of the business,” said chief executive Rodney Westhead. “Despite some pressure on margins, we expect performance for Profit before tax up 12 per cent to £7.6m (2000: £6.8m) the full year 2002 to be on track. Looking forward, there is Order book up 15 per cent to over £57m greater uncertainty given the current difficult market conditions in Earnings per share up 13 per cent to 11.1p (2000: 9.8p) the automotive industry but the group is well placed to exploit Interim dividend 2.6p (2000: 2.5p) long-term trends in our key markets.” Trend to outsourcing by OEMs and emissions legislation Mr Westhead described the pricing pressures applied by major continue to support growth customers in a competitive marketplace, but cited the growing Exciting opportunities in newly created Motorsport division importance of electronics as a rapidly developing area of expert- ise for Ricardo. The company sees further significant growth “The new calendar year has started with a record opening here in the future.

20 RICARDO NEWS Ricardo Quarterly Review Spring 2002 Ricardo diesel seminar A Ricardo Technical Seminar in May can help you find out why more and more Europeans are opting for diesel cars. Entitled Passenger Car Diesel Engines in Europe, it takes place on 23 May 2002 at the Ricardo head office in Shoreham, UK. The traditional belief is that Europeans buy diesel cars because they are cheap to run. The presentation challenges this assumption and explores the technical achievements that have fuelled the diesel market. Ricardo will give a high-level forecast of how the market will change between now and 2010. In recent years Ricardo has put much effort into technology roadmaps. The seminar will present the technology roadmap for passenger car diesel engines, taking a considered look into the future, and predicting not only the new technologies that will appear but also the time- scales of their appearance in the market place, their rise to pre-eminence, and their replace- ment with new technologies. Downsizing will be considered, along with boosting techniques and emission control systems. Also covered will be system integration and mild hybrids. Ricardo suggests arrival in Brighton on the evening of 22 May, and can obtain hotel rooms at a special rate. The company will host a din- ner in the evening at a restaurant in Brighton. engine produces 83bhp per litre. trends and includes detailed engine The charge for this seminar, per delegate, The report reviews sales and pro- performance tables. will be £500 (plus VAT for UK companies)/825 duction data, analysing trends by vehi- The electronic report, which costs Euro/96,000 Yen, including the dinner, and the cle type, by manufacturer and by indi- £400 for a single user licence, can be closing date for registrations is 8 May. Further vidual major markets as well as cover- obtained from Ricardo Information details from Rob Thring at Ricardo, email ing Western Europe as a whole. It fore- Services at Shoreham in the UK on address [email protected]. casts future marketing and technical +44 (0) 1273 794230.

Ricardo calibrates Focus rally kit

It looks like a Focus World Rally car, but at a revised air intake system. The exhaust starting price of £15,000 Ford Rallye Sport’s system incorporates a racing catalyst. The Group A Focus kit is considerably cheaper. flywheel is lightened to 5.5kg, carries a Designed as a low-cost route towards a modified clutch cover and a six-paddle competitive car, the kit includes a fully-pre- cerrametallic disc, and transmits the pared bodyshell, suspension, brakes and a engine’s output to a modified MTX 75 165bhp engine, all in either asphalt or gravel transaxle with a lower final drive ratio and specification. An extensive testing programme a limited-slip differential. has been carried out at Ford’s Boreham test The three-door bodyshell is fitted with a track, and a prototype competed on the Ypres welded safety cage in T45 high strength rally in Belgium driven by Patrick Magaud. steel, incorporating full side impact protec- A very compressed development time scale tion and suspension turret extensions. led Ford to Ricardo for engine calibration Seat mounting rails are welded to the floor development, including optimising power and torque figures while pan. A full body kit includes front and rear wheel arch extensions in ensuring the Focus meets emission standards. “Rally cars are not plastic, an RS front bumper and a unique rear tailgate spoiler. exempt from these,” says Terry Bradley, the project leader at Ford The suspension uses Bilstein dampers with adjustable spring plat- Rallye Sport, “as they are driven on public roads between stages.” forms, and braking modifications include larger-diameter discs, four- The output of the 2.0 Zetec engine is raised from 130 PS to 165 piston front calipers, twin-piston rear ones and a hydraulic hand- PS, with new camshafts, a four-branch exhaust manifold and a brake. Two championships will be contested in Europe this year.

Spring 2002 Ricardo Quarterly Review RICARDO NEWS 21 Engineering support for the Maserati Spyder

aserati is committed to a strategy of M producing high class and top perform- ance vehicles with high technical content, but well refined and suitable for daily use. The new Maserati Spyder is a fine example of this strategy. It has been conceived as a car representing a synthesis of state-of-the- art technology, satisfying stringent crash and emission requirements and, meanwhile, fea- turing excellent performance and driveability. A completely new V8 engine has been developed, and a driveline architecture with gearbox at the back was adopted for opti- mum weight distribution. The gearbox/differ- ential unit is rigidly connected to the engine with a torque tube externally wrapping the propshaft. Transmission is available in both manual (GT version) and Cambiocorsa ver- sions, the latter featuring four different shift strategies. Refinement is a significant engineering challenge for this class of vehicle, as techni- cal solutions aimed at optimising perform- ance and dynamics often run counter to the interests of excellent refinement. Because of its enviable reputation in this field of work, Ricardo was chosen as engineering partner for this aspect of the vehicle. rapidly and effectively. Close and effective product and it is a great credit to both Ricardo activities included NVH target set- communications were critical to the success Ferrari/Maserati and Ricardo as engineer- ting, risk analysis and tracking. Where NVH of the programme, and for this reason ing partner. As a consequence of the suc- concerns were identified, analysis and Ricardo placed one of its Italian-speaking cess of this programme, the partnership appropriate testing were carried out to iden- engineers as resident at Maserati. will be continued on existing and future tify countermeasures to be implemented The Spyder is an exceptional vehicle programmes.

Dallara opts for Ricardo transmissions

single-seat race series. Barge, director of Ricardo are being engineered, Ricardo will design and motorsport transmissions. “Both manufactured and hand-assem- manufacture 40 transmis- race series are important step- bled at the Ricardo Midlands sions for Spain’s Open ping-stones for many talented Technical Centre. Telefonica Formula up-and-coming drivers and engi- Nissan series, similar in neers. Our transmission has concept to Formula 3000, been designed not only to be and the American-based cost competitive, but IRL Infiniti Pro Series, the also to provide individu- support series for the als racing in both series Indy Racing League. Both with an opportunity to icardo Motorsport has series will use fundamentally the experience a cutting- R announced a three-year same longitudinal transaxle, a edge gearbox similar to contract to supply Dallara, one six-speed sequential-shift unit those used at the very of the world’s leading motor- with a 500Nm torque capacity. highest levels of motor- sport chassis manufacturers, “We’re delighted to be supply- sport.” with transmissions for two new ing and supporting Dallara in The Dallara chassis for use in international Spain and America,” said Mark transmissions

22 RICARDO NEWS Ricardo Quarterly Review Spring 2002 Corus enabling product design

Corus Automotive T: +31 2514 96252 E: [email protected] W: www.corus-automotive.com