Renault’s racy sidekick Alpine has shown the potential for hydrogen power in motorsports with an even more potent version of its Alpenglow concept.
First revealed two years ago the Alpenglow has evolved significantly from both a design and engineering perspective. Alpine says the styling has been given a “more extreme edge”, with among other features, a larger shark fin, more prominent spoiler and an open tail that puts the powertrain on display.
Now known as the Hy6 the wild-looking future race car has more than twice the amount of power than before, having swapped a two-litre turbocharged four-cylinder for a new 3.5-litre twin-turbo six.
The dry-sumped engine is ‘open’ with a wide 100-degree V, with both block and cylinder heads in aluminum. There are four chain-driven overhead camshafts and four valves per cylinder controlled by finger cogs. With each cylinder at 95mm bore and 82.3mm stroke, it’s described as ‘super square’ and has been designed for high rpm. The Inconel exhaust has been “tuned to sing all the way up to maximum revs of 9,000 rpm,” says Alpine, while it also emits a stream of water vapor over the rear wing for “a beautiful frosted effect.” More importantly, peak power is 740bhp at 7,600rpm and there’s 568lbft of torque at 5,000 revs.
Getting the hydrogen – or, more accurately, dihydrogen H2– to burn efficiently can be tricky, so to avoid pre-ignition and knocking the fuel is injected in a turbulent way for a homogeneous mix, while there’s also an indirect water injection system which cuts nitrous oxide emissions. Simply storing the hydrogen also has its own challenges which Alpine has solved by using three different tanks containing a total of 6.3kg of hydrogen in gaseous form at a pressure of of 700 bar.
Mid-mounted in the chassis the hydrogen V6 engine drives the rear wheels via an XTrac sequential transmission and centrifugal clutch. Alpine says that its top speed is over 205mph. That could potentially be tested at Le Mans in 2028 if the ACO and FIA authorise the use of hydrogen cars in the grueling 24 hour race.
“With the development of this brand new Hy6 V6 engine, we are demonstrating our commitment to hydrogen research, which could herald motorsport applications with high-performance levels,” says Bruno Famin, VP Alpine Motorsports. “A solution for continuing to cultivate the passion for motor racing using a very noble V6 with remarkable specific power and a sound to thrill drivers and spectators with its maximum revs at 9,000 rpm. The Alpenglow Hy6 concept is the perfect example of what is possible to achieve the essential step of reducing carbon emissions in motorsport.”
