Yamaha does not give up V8 engines and develops a hydrogen one with 442 hp that only emits water.
The advancement of anti-pollution regulations has brought with it the general end of large engines , to the dismay of many fans. But Yamaha wants to find a chance for its survival. On the occasion of the last round of the Super Taikyu championship in Okayama, the tuning fork brand exhibited a V8 prototype powered directly by hydrogen instead of gasoline.
A video from the YouTube channel LoveCars TV! reveals the look and some of the specifications of this block. It is based on the Toyota 2UR that Lexus uses in the RC-F coupe, has five liters of displacement and can deliver up to 442 horsepower at 6,800 RPM . Thanks for staying up to date at Hydrogen Central.
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At first glance, the images of the Japanese reporter show a meticulously careful construction , as the work on the exhaust manifolds demonstrates. These have the same length for all the ducts that come out of both cylinder heads, making the expelled water travel the same distance from each of the cylinders and with the same speed. In this way, it manages to extract the maximum possible power.
The video also includes a look at the torque and power curves released by Yamaha. In them you can see how the use of hydrogen in a lean mixture maintains the delivery of its 500 Nm of maximum torque in a wide range of revolutions, which ranges from 2,000 to 6,500 RPM.
This engine is a continuation of the agreement that Yamaha has signed with Toyota, Mazda, Subaru and Kawasaki to promote competition using alternative energies. Therefore, it would not be strange to find it in the future in a prototype of the Japanese Super GT championship or even under the hood of a street hypercar.
But for this they must first find a way to overcome the current drawbacks of this type of engine, such as the bulky storage of hydrogen or the lower efficiency of this combustion compared to the fuel cell . Problems that already affect the Corolla that Akio Toyoda himself drives in official races.
The development of this V8 is not, by far, the first foray into cars from this manufacturer. In addition to their successes on two wheels, many teams and manufacturers have turned to Yamaha over the years.
Toyota itself trusted them for the engine of the 1967 2000 GT, as well as the V10 that would give the Lexus LFA its characteristic sound close to Formula 1. It also designed and built for Volvo one of the smallest V8s in the world, the which was used in the first generation of the XC90.
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Yamaha does not give up V8 engines and develops a hydrogen one with 442 hp that only emits water, January 20, 2022
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