In automotive design , an RMR , or rear mid-engine , rear-wheel-drive layout is one in which the rear wheels are driven by an engine placed with its center of gravity in front of the rear axle, and thus right behind the passenger compartment. Nowadays more frequently called 'RMR', to acknowledge that certain sporty or performance focused front-engined cars are also "mid-engined", by having the main engine mass behind the front axle, RMR layout cars were previously (until ca. the 1990) just called MR , or mid-engine, rear-wheel-drive layout ), because the nuance between distinctly front-engined vs. front mid-engined cars often remained undiscussed.
38-621: The Cadillac Cien is a 2-door rear mid-engined, rear-wheel-drive high performance concept car created by Cadillac , designed by Simon Cox , and unveiled at the 2002 Detroit Auto Show to celebrate Cadillac's 100th anniversary ("cien" is Spanish for one hundred, which compares the Buick Centieme ). The Cadillac Cien has a longitudinally mounted 60-degree, 7.5-liter V12 that produced 750 hp (559 kW) and 650 lb⋅ft (881 N⋅m) of torque. The experimental engine featured direct injection and displacement on demand , which allowed
76-494: A few times at Indianapolis between 1939 and 1947. In 1953 Porsche premiered the tiny and altogether new RMR 550 Spyder and in a year it was notoriously winning in the smaller sports and endurance race car classes against much larger cars – a sign of greater things to come. The 718 followed similarly in 1958. But it was not until the late 1950s that RMR reappeared in Grand Prix (today's " Formula One ") races in
114-541: A heavy emphasis has been placed on deemphasizing the IRL name and replacing it with "IndyCar". This became official on January 1, 2011, as Indy Racing League LLC adopted as its trade name INDYCAR. On November 1, 2013, the company's legal name was changed to INDYCAR LLC. The dispute between CART and IRL centered on the Indianapolis 500, long considered the flagship race of the sport. From 1980 until 1995, USAC continued to sanction
152-443: A lower tendency to understeer . However, since there is less weight over the front wheels, under acceleration the front of the car can be prone to lift and still have understeer . Most rear-engine layouts have historically been used in smaller vehicles, because the weight of the engine at the rear has an adverse effect on a larger car's handling, making it 'tail-heavy', although this effect is more pronounced with engines mounted behind
190-451: A modern automobile produced after 1975 is a stub . You can help Misplaced Pages by expanding it . Rear mid-engine, rear-wheel-drive layout In contrast to the fully rear-engine, rear-wheel-drive layout , the center of mass of the engine is in front of the rear axle. This layout is typically chosen for its favorable weight distribution . Placing the car's heaviest component within the wheelbase minimizes its rotational inertia around
228-633: A new national championship racing series, the Indy Racing League . This resulted in a legal battle over the IndyCar trademark: In March 1996, CART filed a lawsuit against the Indianapolis Motor Speedway in an effort to protect their license to the IndyCar mark after the Indianapolis Motor Speedway had attempted to terminate it. In April, the Indianapolis Motor Speedway filed a separate lawsuit against CART to prevent them from further use of
266-494: A number of attempts at a compromise board failed, IMS formed the Indy Racing League in 1994 , with the series being slated to begin racing in 1996 . CART had primarily sanctioned Indy car racing since 1979 , when the organization broke away from USAC. George blueprinted the IRL as a lower-cost open-wheel alternative to CART, which in his view had become technology-driven and dominated by a few wealthy multi-car teams. The IRL
304-654: A proposal that included free cars and engine leases to Champ Car teams willing to run the entire 2008 IndyCar Series schedule in exchange for adding Champ Car's dates at Long Beach , Toronto , Edmonton , and Australia to the IndyCar Series schedule, effectively reuniting American open-wheel car racing . The offer was initially made in November 2007. On February 10, 2008, Tony George, along with IRL representatives Terry Angstadt and Brian Barnhart , plus former Honda executive Robert Clarke, traveled to Japan to discuss moving
342-518: Is desired, such as in some supercars and in the Group B rally cars. The 1900 NW Rennzweier was one of the first race cars with mid-engine, rear-wheel-drive layout. Other known historical examples include the 1923 Benz Tropfenwagen . It was based on an earlier design named the Rumpler Tropfenwagen in 1921 made by Edmund von Rumpler , an Austrian engineer working at Daimler. The Benz Tropfenwagen
380-516: The Champ Car World Series before acquiring the latter. Today, IndyCar is owned by Roger Penske via Penske Entertainment Corp., a subsidiary of Penske Corporation . Penske purchased IndyCar and the Indianapolis Motor Speedway from Hulman & Co. in November 2019. The term "Indy Car" began as a nickname for the cars that competed in the USAC's Championship Division of open-wheel racing in
418-739: The Indianapolis 500 as its centerpiece, and the developmental series Indy NXT . IndyCar is recognized as a member organization of the FIA through the Automobile Competition Committee for the United States . The sanctioning body was formed in 1994 under the name Indy Racing League by Hulman & Company , which also owned the Indianapolis Motor Speedway complex, and began competition in 1996 . The trademark name INDYCAR
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#1732859016052456-642: The Indy Japan 300 at Twin Ring Motegi . Moving that race, or postponing it, would be required in order to accommodate the Long Beach Grand Prix , which was scheduled for the same weekend. Optimism following the meeting was high. In February 2008, Indy Racing League founder and CEO Tony George and owners of the Champ Car World Series completed an agreement to unify the sport for 2008. The result
494-704: The Isetta or the Zündapp Janus . The first rear mid-engined road car after WW II was the 1962 (Rene) Bonnet / Matra Djet , which used the 1108cc Renault Sierra engine, mated to the transaxle from the FWD Renault Estafette van. Nearly 1700 were built until 1967. This was followed by the first De Tomaso, the Vallelunga , which mated a tuned Ford Cortina 1500 Kent engine to a VW transaxle with Hewland gearsets. Introduced at Turin in 1963, 58 were built 1964–68. A similar car
532-459: The gearbox and differential . This represented an extremely innovative sportscar at a time when all of its competitors (aside from the rear-engined Porsches), from Ferraris to Aston Martins , were traditional front-engined, rear-wheel-drive grand tourers. The Pontiac Fiero was a mid-engined sports car that was built by the Pontiac division of General Motors from 1984 to 1988. The Fiero
570-464: The "CART PPG Indy Car World Series" despite the body not sanctioning the 500. In 1992, during an attempt by CART to broaden their board membership, the Indianapolis Motor Speedway registered the camel case trademark IndyCar with the United States Patent and Trademark Office and licensed it to CART as their new trade name. In 1996, Indianapolis Motor Speedway President Tony George launched
608-502: The Indy 500, although CART drivers predominantly competed in the race and points that drivers scored during the event counted towards the CART drivers' championship. George felt that his opinions regarding increasing costs and revenue sharing were being ignored, while CART team owners felt George used his influence over USAC to have a disproportionate impact on the general operation of the sport. After
646-420: The IndyCar Series for the 2003 racing season. CART, beset by team departures and other financial issues, filed for bankruptcy that year; a trio of former CART team owners were selected by the bankruptcy court to purchase CART's assets, which they used to reorganize the Champ Car World Series . The two series were unified for the 2008 season, with the unified series using the IndyCar Series name. Post-unification,
684-415: The United States, deriving from the sport's most popular competition, the Indianapolis 500 . The division's link with Indianapolis soon resulted in the term surpassing the official term "championship car" (or its short form "champ car") in common use and promotions. The term continued to be used by the USAC's replacement as the dominant governing body for open-wheel racing, CART, which called its main series
722-482: The cab right to the front of the vehicle, thus increasing the loading area at the expense of slightly reduced load depth. In modern racing cars, RMR is a common configuration and is usually synonymous with "mid-engine". Due to its weight distribution and the favorable vehicle dynamics it produces, this layout is heavily employed in open-wheel Formula racing cars (such as Formula One and IndyCar ) as well as most purpose-built sports racing cars . This configuration
760-525: The death of Tony Renna in testing at Indianapolis, the IRL made additional changes to reduce speeds and increase safety. IndyCar was the first racing series to adopt the SAFER soft wall safety system, which debuted at the Indianapolis 500 and has now been installed at almost all major oval racing circuits. The SAFER system research and design was supported and funded in large part by the Hulman-George family and
798-429: The degradation in quality especially apparent during the Indianapolis 500, which saw a dramatic decline in prestige. The IRL began to draw top teams from CART starting in 2002, contributing to the latter's bankruptcy , replacement by the Champ Car World Series in 2003, and ultimate demise and absorption by the IRL in 2008. After absorbing Champ Car, the IndyCar Series became what the CART series from which it separated
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#1732859016052836-635: The engine to run on only eight or fewer cylinders under light load. The Cien was designed at General Motors' Advanced Design Studio in England and built as a fully working road-going vehicle with the help of the UK-based engineering and motorsport company Prodrive. The Cien's monocoque chassis and body are made of aerogel composite and equipped with active aero. Its design was inspired by the F-22 Raptor . Initially, there were plans to put it into production, but due to
874-686: The form of the Cooper - Climax (1957), soon followed by cars from BRM and Lotus . Ferrari and Porsche soon made Grand Prix RMR attempts with less initial success. The mid-engined layout was brought back to Indianapolis in 1961 by the Cooper Car Company with Jack Brabham running as high as third and finishing ninth. Cooper did not return, but from 1963 on British built mid-engined cars from constructors like Brabham , Lotus and Lola competed regularly and in 1965 Lotus won Indy with their Type 38 . Rear mid-engines were widely used in microcars like
912-504: The lack of development funds and the high expected selling price of US$ 200,000, the existence of a customer base for the Cien was put into question. The production of the Cien was thus cancelled at a board meeting. The Cadillac Cien was featured in the 2005 film The Island . The Cadillac Cien is a playable vehicle in video games including Gran Turismo , Midnight Club 3: DUB Edition Remix , and Asphalt 9: Legends . This article about
950-467: The lack of run-offs on oval tracks, coupled with higher speeds due to the long straights and banked turns, means that there is far less margin for error. Car design was attributed as a leading cause of early injuries, and the series made improvements to chassis design to address those safety concerns. Following a series of spectacular high-profile accidents in 2003 , including American racing legend Mario Andretti and former champion Kenny Bräck , as well as
988-427: The mark. Eventually a settlement was reached in which CART agreed to give up the use of the IndyCar mark following the 1996 season and the IRL agreed not to use the name before the end of the 2002 season. CART returned to branding as simply CART for 1997, and resurrected the term "champ car" to describe their vehicles. Following a six-year hiatus, the Indy Racing League announced it would rename their premier series
1026-419: The rear axle. It is felt that the low polar inertia is crucial in selection of this layout. The mid-engined layout also uses up central space, making it generally only practical for single seating-row sports-cars, with exception to a handful of 2+2 designs . Additionally, some microtrucks use this layout, with a small, low engine beneath a flat load floor above the rear wheel-wells. This makes it possible to move
1064-401: The vertical axis, facilitating turn-in or yaw angle . Also, a near 50/50% weight distribution, with a slight rear weight bias, gives a very favorable balance, with plenty of weight on the driven rear axle under acceleration, while distributing the weight fairly evenly under braking, thereby making optimal use of all four wheels to decelerate the car rapidly as well. The RMR layout generally has
1102-451: Was also common in smaller-engined 1950s microcars , in which the engines did not take up much space. Because of successes in motorsport, the RMR platform has been commonly used in many road-going sports cars despite the inherent challenges of design, maintenance and lack of cargo space. The similar mid-engine, four-wheel-drive layout gives many of the same advantages and is used when extra traction
1140-415: Was and its related European open-wheel formula counterparts: former prominent CART teams such as Chip Ganassi Racing and Team Penske are frequent race winners, there is a strong contingent of foreign-born drivers, the cars are increasingly electronic and aero dependent and the schedule includes more road and street courses than oval tracks. On January 23, 2008, Tony George offered Champ Car management
1178-585: Was designed by Ferdinand Porsche along with Willy Walb and Hans Nibel . It raced in 1923 and 1924 and was most successful in the Italian Grand Prix in Monza where it stood fourth. Later, Ferdinand Porsche used mid-engine design concept towards the Auto Union Grand Prix cars of the 1930s which became the first winning RMR racers. They were decades before their time, although MR Miller Specials raced
Cadillac Cien - Misplaced Pages Continue
1216-561: Was designed only to run on oval tracks, in order to promote American drivers from the midget and sprint car ranks to graduate to IndyCar racing, the same way that IndyCar legends A.J. Foyt , Mario Andretti , Johnny Rutherford , and the Unsers ( Al Unser, Sr. and Bobby Unser ) had in the 1960s. Starting with the first IRL season, the league proclaimed that 25 of the 33 spots in the Indy 500 starting grid would be reserved for cars from full-time IRL teams. In 1996, CART retaliated by scheduling what
1254-484: Was introduced for the 2012 season. IndyCar collaborated with DreamWorks Animation to launch comedy film Turbo in 2013. Bernard was fired in October 2012, and replaced by Mark Miles . Driver safety has also been a major point of concern, with a number of drivers seriously injured, particularly in the early years of the series. There have been five fatal crashes in the history of the series. Compared to road racing venues,
1292-588: Was officially adopted on January 1, 2011. The sport of open-wheel car racing, also historically referred to as championship car racing or Indy car racing, traces its roots to as early as 1905. It is the fourth major sanctioning body to govern the sport of Indy car racing, following the American Automobile Association 's AAA Contest Board , the United States Auto Club (USAC), and Championship Auto Racing Teams (CART), and operated alongside
1330-453: Was supposed to become its new showcase event, the U.S. 500 , at Michigan International Speedway on Memorial Day , the traditional date for the Indy 500. The new 1997 technical rules featured less expensive chassis and "production-based" engines that were purchased rather than leased, but most importantly, were technically incompatible with CART specifications. The IRL's early seasons consisted of sparse schedules and inexperienced teams, with
1368-455: Was that the Champ Car World Series was suspended except for the Long Beach Grand Prix . Many of the former Champ Car teams moved to the IndyCar Series using equipment provided by the IRL. Randy Bernard was announced as the new IRL CEO in February 2010. In 2011, the sanctioning body dropped the Indy Racing League name, becoming IndyCar to reflect the merged series. The new Dallara DW12 racecar
1406-590: Was the Renault-engined Lotus Europa , built from 1966 to 1975. Finally, in 1966, the Lamborghini Miura was the first high performance mid-engine, rear-wheel-drive road car. The concept behind the Miura was that of putting on the road a grand tourer featuring state-of-the-art racing-car technology of the time; hence the Miura was powered by a V12 transversely mounted between the rear wheels, solidal to
1444-401: Was the first two-seater Pontiac since the 1926 to 1938 coupes, and also the first mass-produced mid-engine sports car by a U.S. manufacturer. IndyCar IndyCar, LLC (stylized as INDYCAR ), is an auto racing sanctioning body for American open-wheel car racing headquartered in Indianapolis, Indiana . The organization sanctions two racing series : the premier IndyCar Series with
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