Osamu Kadota talks about the WRC challengeWith his current position in Suzuki's Engine Design Department, Osamu Kadota is in charge of testing for heightening the power output of the J20A engine that will be used on the SX4 World Rally Championship car.
The J-type
engine also powers a variety of models, including the production
SX4, and Kadota was involved in engine testing for those also.
"I was strongly fascinated with engines from my junior high school days," says Kadota. "I majored in engine technology at college, and stayed in the Engine Design Department ever since joining Suzuki - I've been an engine guy all along!"
He was assigned to the WRC engine development team because of his involvement in the J20A engine's designing and testing. With such a good understanding of the powerplant, he became a natural choice for the job.
"These days my workweek is divided between two days building and assembling parts on the WRC engine, and three days at the Head Office testing to get more performance from the production engine," Kadota detailed.
Several factors come into account when developing a production engine into its motorsports version, and it's not always about power: "With production engines, the big challenge always is finding performance improvements while addressing environmental concerns and maintaining low fuel consumption."
While working on the rally engine, Kadota sometimes talks with the development team on ways to improve the production engine. Since rally regulations require retaining much of the production-engine parts, the departement often hears opinions and demands for further increasing the strength of the production parts.
"The WRC engine is made to put out nearly three times the power of the production version," he explains. "Without improvements to the base engine, the rally engine won't survive any competition. The J20A engine is built very strong and reliable and could quite easily withstand a lot of power increases. However, tripling the horsepower is a whole different story."
Even though the base engine is designed with quite a safety margin in terms of reliability, that does not necessarily translate into an advantage in the rallying world. However, the design department team believes the added strength will at least serve as a basis for obtaining the reliability needed for competition.
"We do a lot of tough tests on our production vehicles, simulating extreme driving conditions like high altitudes and cold climate, but WRC events are staged in even more severe environments, so I'm certain working with the WRC team will greatly add to my experience," relates Kadota.
As an engineer in charge of the SX4 engine, things aren't always limited to a technical challenge: "I'm excited and anxious that it's going to be powering our rally car in the WRC."
"This year we'll be test-entering in two rounds. It's only the beginning for us and it will be very difficult to get on the podium right away, but still, I can't wait to find out how well we do. I look forward to contributing in my own way to Suzuki's WRC challenge," Osamu Kadota concludes.
Source Suzuki WRC Challenge
