M O D I F I C A T I O N S : ENGINE, the K2000

Not really a tuning option right now, but it could give you some stuff to think/dream about.

1. As reported by PistonHeads.com on September 30st 2003

MG's latest debut went largely unnoticed last weekend when MG XPower debuted their new engine on track. The K2000 engine was fitted to an MG racing in the EERC endurance race at Thruxton.

The engine was fitted in a factory entered MG ZR driven by Mark Roberts and Don Kettleborough, and came home 3 laps in front of the class opposition. The opposition was mainly Honda powered and the ZR was showing them a clean pair of heels even before they started running into problems. A precautionary refueling stop fifteen minutes before the end of the race prevented a higher placing but the reliability of the new unit proved a great success for all involved nevertheless.

The K2000 engine, in 220bhp form for this event, ran faultlessly throughout. Both drivers expressed their delight with the performance, in particular the spread of torque and resultant driveability compared to the 1.8 engines that they normally use. With a rev limit of 7000rpm, the team had to find the longest gearing they could to cope with the extra power of K2000 and the long straights at Thruxton, and a top speed of over 140mph was the result.

The first batch of engines is now being manufacturered and will no doubt be of interest to any cars running K series units currently...

 

2. As reported by Engine Development Ltd on their site: "K2000 Wins at Thruxton!'

Engine Developments’ K2000 engine made a fantastic competition debut at the weekend when it finished 9th overall and 1st in class in its first race, the 2 hour Thruxton round of the European Endurance Racing Club series.

The engine was fitted in a factory entered MG ZR driven by Mark Roberts and Don Kettleborough, and came home 3 laps in front of the class opposition. Even before the mainly Honda powered opposition ran into problems the ZR was showing them a clean pair of heels, and a higher overall position was easily on the cards had a precautionary ‘splash and dash’ fuel stop not been made 15 minutes before the end of the race.

The K2000 engine, in 220bhp form for this event, ran faultlessly throughout and impressed both drivers with its performance, in particular the amazing spread of torque and resultant excellent driveability compared to the 1,8 engines that they normally use. With a rev limit of 7000rpm, the team had to find the longest gearing they could to cope with the extra power of K2000 and the long straights at Thruxton, and a top speed of over 140mph was the result!

This is obviously a fantastic debut result for the engine, which proves that the K2000 engine is a winner. We are now manufacturing the first batch of engines for sale to customers, and we will be contacting those who have expressed an interest in the engine shortly. Please contact Stan Hall or Barry Smith for more details.

And there's more on the site:

Announced at the Autosport International Show at the NEC in January 2003, the K2000 engine is currently under development and is initially aimed at existing K series customers looking for a performance upgrade. Being the first company to successfully develop a 2 litre version of the well known K series engine, we are hopeful that the engine will be popular amongst Caterham and Lotus Elise owners both for competition and for high performance road use.

The engine is currently undergoing extensive durability and performance development trials, and will be available to customers later this year. With over 260bhp and torque to match, the engine will give a massive performance boost to existing K series runners. Obviously the increase to 2 litres opens doors for competition use such as F3 and BTCC, and this is being kept in mind during our development of the engine.

It is expected that 3 different variants of the engine ranging from 170bhp to 260+bhp will be available to customers, giving a wide choice of performance and cost options. More information will be available shortly, but if you wish to automatically receive updates on the engine as the program progresses contact us at sales@engdev.com and we will keep you updated.