THIS year’s winners showed new technologies coming to the fore.
The International Engine of the Year Awards ceremony held on June 2 in Stuttgart, Germany, is more than ever an indication of engineering direction, and basically the way our world is going.
The award program has been ongoing since 1999, and this year showed a marked increase in interest both within the engineering community as well as with the more mainstream.
This is particularly gratifying as these awards were very seriously considered as “the only time the engineering guys actually got out into the light.”
This year’s crop of winners shows several interesting points. New technologies are coming to the fore but within the framework of old technologies.
Several years ago, we had the first real wave of new technology engines, beginning with engines such as Toyota’s 1.5-liter hybrid winning the first Eco-Friendly Award in 1999.
The current equivalent of that award, the Green Engine Award, was won this year by the fully-electric Tesla powertrain.
The relatively new company has won the Green Engine Award three years in a row, the first one to do so.
The sub-1-liter engine class is an example of new technology that is now a little long in the tooth. The Ford 998cc three-cylinder turbocharged EcoBoost engine has won for the fifth straight year, and has previously won outright Engine of the Year Award for three of those years.
It was edged out last year by the BMW three-cylinder hybrid as used in the i8.
The fact that the sub-1 class has been dominated for five years is both interesting and troublesome, because there should have been more serious competition by now.
ENGINE of the Year Award in the sub-1-liter engine class went to BMW’s three-cylinder hybrid as used in the i8.
Note though that ideas such as using a normally-problematic three-cylinder have now become much more accepted, and several companies use the configuration.
The BMW i8 uses it in connection with an electric motor to power what is just about furthest from the little Ford’s use, a pretty extreme sports car.
The i8 engine took its class win again this year, in the 1.4 to 1.8-liter category. It went against mostly commuters and small cars.
FORD’S EcoBoost engine
It is really rewriting the rulebook by which we need to assess engines.
What’s really interesting this year is how, just like with the i8, old and new technologies are combining to shift the playing field.
The New Engine of the year is arguably the key category for the year, as it shows what is coming up next in our world.
For the last ten years, it has not been won by anything with a V configuration or by anything with more than six cylinders. Yet this year it went to a big bad Ferrari.
The 3.9-liter twin-turbo V8 as used in the 488 GTB took the prize for both New Engine and Performance Engine of the Year, very surprising when you consider that the last few winners have been the i8 Hybrid, the 998cc Ford, the 2-liter AMG turbo, a 1.4-liter Fiat, and an even smaller Fiat (875cc).
This engine was the shot across the bow for many battles, by showing you could combine old-school love, passion and internal combustion with modern technologies, all the while making everything from efficiency to environmentals to drivability better.
This powerplant also took its class, the 3 to 4-liter engine category.
Some categories were won by the same car company and the same (somewhat) but pretty reworked engines.
The 1.8 to 2-liter class was won by the Mercedes-AMG 2-liter turbo, which has won before but was reworked recently for significant increases in horsepower and torque.
The 2 to 2.5-liter class was won by the all-conquering Audi 2.5-liter Turbo, which has won since 2010.
Strongest competition
Interestingly, the strongest competition has come from diesels this year. This engine has also been reworked, and will soon see duty in even more and more sporty vehicles like the TT RS.
The very big news is the 2.5 to 3-liter class, which has been owned by BMW most of the last decade.
FERRARI’s California T engine
Top honors went to Porsche for its very controversial and very well sorted-out use of turbocharging for its mainstream 911s (if there really is such a thing as a mainstream 911).
This all-new motor has put happy faces on purists, not an easy thing to do, and was a finalist for New Engine as well.
More changes to come
Another example of the changes that are to come. The 1 to 1.4-liter class was won by the PSA Peugeot Citroën 1.2-liter three-cylinder turbo, which last year broke VW’s dominance in this class.
The biggest (in size) class win went to Ferrari’s 6.3-liter V12. In a world of increasingly downsized internal combustion engines, the Italians still demand domination.
That’s not to say that Ferrari isn’t looking at more efficient and smaller engines, as evidenced by the domination of the 3.9-liter twin-turbo V8 that has already won three awards this year.
Make that four, as the V8 also won Overall Engine of the Year: mastery at the top of the class whether normally aspirated or turbocharged.
After quite a few years of beating efficiency out of all the engines available, it is great to see all the truly passionate powerplants now being offered up to the gearheads of the world.
Whether electric, combustion or a combination of both and all the different forms within, we are seeing a resurgence of the fun and challenge that brought a lot of us into all this in the first place.
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