The MT-09 is an 890cc inline three cylinder, injected, double overhead cam with four valves per cylinder engine. It is the same engine currently used in the Legend Cars.
Thomas who is on double duties along with brother Diesel in Trico Trans Am, will start rear of grid in each race and will not be competing for points.
The engine is seen as a viable option to the current unit which is based on the Yamaha XJR1300.
The four cylinder 16-valve twin cam dates back 30 years, is out of production, has become harder to source parts for and is expensive to repair.
“We can retail the brand new engine at a cost that is less than the current engine rebuild,” said category owner Brett Thomas.
“It is ECU controlled, its plug and play, and very easy to check the parity with everybody. In Italy these engines are doing three-to-four races, so the reliability is definitely there.”
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One has already been tested and ran faultlessly. “We tried to kill the thing. Oil temperature and pressures were good, lots of positives.”
The current carburetted engine will remain in the category with no time limit to expiry and Thomas assures that nobody will be out of pocket.
A balance of performance will be applied to one engine or the other.
Because of the amount of Legend Cars around the world, the MT-09 is a more refined version of the motorcycle engine, purpose built for racing.
“Guys [in Legends] are getting four seasons out of an engine and are a doing a head gasket change once a year for maintenance,” he said.
“When the XJRs are being rebuilt, you don’t know how old the parts you are getting like camshafts etc are as well.”
The MT-09 is also a six speed as opposed to the current five speed.
“It has more top end power, less torque and weighs less,” said category manager Brad Ward who suggested ballast will be added if necessary to bring them up to minimum weight.
On the recent test day, they ran cars with the two engines back to back with no performance difference reported.
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