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MINISTER POWER’S K-SERIES R500 ENGINE
Ben Corley | April 27, 2007
Minister-Power was established in 1974 by former racing driver David Minister, and was joined by Graham Fuller in 1976. Having competed successfully in the UK and Europe, using his self-tuned engines, David decided to stop driving and build engines for others. In the following years driving legends including Ayrton Senna, Nigel Mansell, Mika Hakkinen and Pedro de la Rosa won countless races and championships were won using Minister-Power engines. With increasing success the company moved from a humble, pre-fab in Dartford, Kent to a new factory unit in Lordswood, Kent. This enabled the company to incorporate total race car preparation as a result of customer requests for a complete quality, preparation service.
To power the R500 Caterham introduced a special Rover-Caterham K-Series derivative with Minister Race Engines, a development of Caterham’s VHPD (Very High Performance Derivative) 1.8-litre, 16-Valve 4-cylinder alloy Rover K-series unit. With the VHPD engine in plentiful supply and already snugly fitted into the front of the Seven, there was no reason to look for an alternative power source.
The answer had to be to squeeze more power out of the existing engine, and race engine specialists Minister stepped up to the challenge, equipping the K-Series with high-lift camshafts, forged steel cross-drilled crankshaft, Cosworth forged pistons and an ultra-lightweight flywheel. Caterham contributed by developing a roller barrel inlet manifold, which provides uninterrupted intake airflow when fully opened.
The more powerful engine also became lighter as the new innards together with the inlet manifold and a specially developed exhaust system – complete with carbon silencer – all saved weight. The power (230hp) and weight (460kg) allowed the R500 to achieve a 0-60MPH time of just 3.4 seconds!
Information from various sources & www.minister-power.com
Topics: Powertrain |
