Introduction :

In February or March 2006, I was contacted by Olivier Clément, owner and driver of French race team SportDrive as he wanted to race a Renesis-powered Sport Prototype. Olivier Clément is no beginner (see his CV here), but the timing was, well, challenging : first race was beginning of June.
My initial involvement was limited to the study, supply and calibration of the engine management system, as the original PCM had to go in order to get rid of all the vehicle and emission related functions, and to be able to have complete freedom for calibration. I actually had a project in the back of my head, for more than a year then, of a low-cost engine management solution for a rotary engine. I did not know I would have to validate it on the most complex production RE to date : a High Power Renesis.
We sourced a low-mileage High Power Renesis engine from a write-off RX8 and spent quite a lot of time just fitting all the ancillaries and understanding how they work to control the S-DAIS (variable intake system). A week before the 1st race, we completed the calibration.

Engine management of the Renesis :

One of the requirements was to find a cost-effective solution. As I said above, I already had started to study the possibility of managing a twin-rotor RE with EFI Technolgy engine management ECUs, for obvious reasons : I distribute this brand.
The system consists of a pair of EFI Technology Euro-1 ECUs working in parallel. ECU N°1 controls the Leading spark plugs and lower level injectors, and ECU N°2 controls the Trailing plugs and upper level injectors. Euro-1 also feature numerous output drivers capable of controlling most of the S-DAIS actuators.
The original engine loom was modified to accomodate some different temperature and throttle position sensors (we got rid of the original ETB), and a circular muti-pole firewall connector. Also, an adaptor loom was made from the firewall connector to the ECUs. This will allow to upgrade to any other engine management without modifying the engine harness.
The system also include a linear lambda sensor and its external controller. It is connected to a compact AIM dashboard communicating by CAN with ECU N°1 (for datalogging and display of engine related parameters).
The system works fine. And there still is a lot of scope for improvement in order to increase the system's performance, reliability and robustness.

More technical info about
our engine management approach here.

Technical specifications :
Chassis : SportDrive SD01 (designed by Olivier Clément) - tubular frame, alloy tub, composite body
Engine : High-Power Renesis (RX8 engine) - EFI Technology Euro-1 x 2 engine management system

SportDrive Team :
Driver, team owner, technical director : Olivier Clément
Crew : Louis, Christian, Jean-Claude (and essential punctual help from members of the Revolution Rotor Club)
Engine management : Fabrice Humblet
Organisation : Judith Clément

Sponsors and support :
6-24 , Revolution Rotor Club (RRC), Performance Systems Development (PSD), Hymee Europe, Duncan.

Races and results:

Magny-Cours, June 2006 : the engine performance was very impressive but overheating problems prevented us to finish the 2 races.

Dijon-Prenois, August 06 : despite some transmission issues, qualified 11th overall and 1st in its group (C3). Finished 1st race 2nd in its class (10th overall). The gear box failed in the 2nd race when the car was 1st in its class.

Poitiers-Val de Vienne, Oct 2006 : No major issues. Some transmission issues still to be sorted. Finished in the mid-field. Engine still pulling strongly and reliably.