Lake Park, FL - 15JAN2008 - RENNTECH's New Year Resolution: Greener Engines.
After closing out 2007 with exciting news about the SLR McLaren 722GT and Jamie Ferrell's big Open-class victory at December's Tulsa Shootout, the Mercedes-Benz super-tuning firm RENNTECH is kicking-off 2008 with some environmentally responsible resolutions, starting with the XR50 rotary kart engine.
"When the XR50 was at the Tulsa Shootout, which was the engine's first national-level race, many people were asking why we were building a rotary to begin with," explains Hartmut Feyhl, RENNTECH's president and former AMG technical director. "Development on the motor first began in 1996, with Paul Woelfle in Germany, who built the motor as a response to tightening emissions regulations in Europe. The goal was to have an engine that was competitive, but with much cleaner exhaust than the 2-strokers. We accomplished that, and the engine is now as clean as the very best 4-stroker kart engines - but we felt we could still do better, and that led to the E85 version."
Shown here in an "Eco Green" paint scheme (production models remain "RENNTECH Red") the modified RENNTECH /Aixro XR50 offers environmentally conscious racers something really unique: a cleaner, flex-fuel karting engine that can run away from the "dirty 2-strokers" that have, until now, dominated the sport. "On most track configurations the Aixro is superior, which is what you would expect from a motor with almost 50 hp," offers Feyhl.
You read that right: almost 50hp. In a 285 lb. sprint kart (weight with driver) the RENNTECH /Aixro XR50 delivers a power-to-weight ratio better than a Corvette, Porsche 911 or Ferrari F430, so buyers can expect to experience 100 mph at 2" from the ground (!).
"2008 is really going to be a big year for RENNTECH," says Feyhl. "We will be announcing a few other projects soon, and a good number of them will have a 'green' angle. This is something that all tuners will eventually be doing, even though many are still fighting it. We think it's a very exciting time to be developing new products, and have been very excited by the potential of some of the new technologies."
E85 Aixro rotaries will be available in Feb., MSRP for the XR50 is $5250. Contact RENNTECH KARTING for more information.
