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The Aprilia RSV4 engine wins... a car race

The Griiip G1 single-seater that mounts the powerplant from the Noale SBK triumphed at Varano in the Formula X Italian Series

Moto - News: The Aprilia RSV4 engine wins... a car race

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The Aprilia thousand cubic centimetre, narrow V four cylinder engine from the RSV4 has a long racing tradition (7 world titles in SBK and one in Superstock), but this time it has achieved a very curious success. In fact, it has won a car race.

Powered by the Aprilia V4, the Griiip G1 single-seater began its adventure in the Formula X Italian Series on 4 June on the Varano de’ Melegari circuit. It was an exceptional début where the twenty-one year old Israeli driver Yarin Stern earned pole position straight away, even setting a new G1 track record (1’04”2). In the race, the exciting victory arrived: after a start that relegated him to tenth place at the beginning, Stern was protagonist of an exceptional comeback until taking the win with a pass on the final lap.

The application for the first time ever of a powerplant that is the only one of its kind in the world for configuration, with a 65° angle between the banks, a solution devised by the Aprilia Research and Development department as ideal for obtaining benchmark chassis architecture which can therefore boast exceptional performance, stems from the choice of the Israeli company Griiip to use it in their G1 single-seater and it confirms Aprilia Racing in the role of the most technological platform of the Piaggio Group, capable of transferring skills and innovation into the automotive field as well.

Made in Italy, the Griiip G1 is a single-seater with a tubular frame developed specifically to be fitted with a motorcycle engine and designed to provide a wider opportunity to fans who want to approach car racing, maintaining an extremely favourable cost/performance ratio. The unique nature of the project stems first and foremost from the longitudinal mounting of the V4 - with cardan final drive with differential - typical of open wheel racing vehicles, whereas these small single-seaters generally mount in-line engines transversally and with a chain final drive.

Engine lubrication and cooling are guaranteed even in the most critical conditions of high lateral acceleration in corners thanks to a dedicated system that implements an oil lubrication and recovery unit.

The dynamic air intake with oversized airbox and the 4 in 2 in 1 exhaust system complete the application of the RSV4 engine in a racing car.

Together with Griiip, Aprilia Racing intends to continue developing this particular application, introducing engine upgrades until reaching the SBK configuration in order to increase the car's overall performance. Upgrades are also planned on the electronics front, in terms of both hardware and software, to adapt it to a strictly car racing use.

Griiip, who recently presented the G1 at LiveWorx in Boston, the global conference dedicated to technology and a marketplace of solutions designed for an intelligent and interconnected world, has plans to build another twelve single-seaters equipped with the V4 from Noale and they will continue to take part in the Formula X Italian Series, a championship open to single-seaters and Sport prototypes which intends to introduce a new concept of automotive motorsport, exciting and low cost.

Translated by Jonathan Blosser
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