Arens 0-500 Engine

[Corin_Huke]

It occurred to me that you guys probably have not seen an Arens 0-500 engine before, as Arens' engines in general have not made it across the pond yet

So, to rectify matters, here's a couple of pics!

I'm told (by those in the know) that parts of the engine design, eg the cylinders, are based upon the Rotax engine

I've got to admit that I've not a tremendous amount of first hand experience of the Arens engine - there is only one is the UK and the guy who runs it had a whole host of problems (to the extent that he wants to sell it!). But what I have seen, for the 0-250 and especially the 0-500, is that they demand a huge amount of air to run properly - so much more than the Rossi and VRP engines. When I asked Holger Arens why, he shrugged his shoulders and said "they just do!"

[jphii]

That's a neat lookin motor. Do you have any pics of the rest of the boat?

[pro350hydro]

There is a 250 Arens in the states. You are correct, it is all modeled off of and uses rotax kart parts. I have seen it run a few times, but never with any great success. I think it might be for sale as well.....

[Corin_Huke]

That's a neat lookin motor. Do you have any pics of the rest of the boat?

The Arens engine was run on the back of a Russian designed/built Fort trimaran hull similar to this (although this has a Rossi on the back)

The Fort hulls were originally designed for the König engine, but with a little modification, the new style Rossi / VRP engines could be run on them too. Nowdays, the hulls cannot be used in international racing as the safety capsule only has a 1000Nm rating, so a new breed of boats have been designed and built. Most of the newer boats have adopted a tunnel boat (catarmaran) hull design - see #53

I wasn't aware that any 0-250 engines were in the US. I know that Marian Jung from Slovakia raced a 0-125 in the Worlds a couple of years ago - did that engine stay in the States or come back to Europe? You are right about getting them to run well - it seems to be a real art that only a few know!

[machinedcomp]

Arens 250cc

Corin, I have the only one in the United States, I bought it used from the Brinkman's...... The only good part about this motor is that the parts are available from many Kart shops. Pistons, rod, Cylinders, Gaskets..... It appears to me the only part that Arens made is the Crankshaft and Crank case..........I've E-mailed them several times for some information on this motor but got no response.....Currently I'm using it to hold down the concrete floor in my shop........It seems to be doing a fine job.....
Seriously though, the first time I had the engine apart It was obvious that the transfer port timing and area were not sufficient to produce results that would keep up the newer motors. Keep in mind that the cylinders that Arens uses were designed and manufactured by Rotax for their Kart engine, its only rated at 32 HP.

Live & learn
Lee

[Corin_Huke]

Arens 0-250

Lee

if you still want to find out more info about the engine, let me know (PM me). I have a contact who works for Arens, speaks perfect English and will probably be able to help you. Holger Arens doesn't speak much English so may be that's where the problem lies

I'm surprised by your comments about the engine, as although there is only a couple of them running in 0-250, on their day they are very fast and certainly equal to the Rossi and VRP engines. If I tell you that the lad who runs them, a German, has qualified in pole position on a number of occasions. Okay, he's not won a race yet, but that's probably due to his driving and the boat he has. In 2006 he's a new boat, same design as a lot of the guys that are running in 0-250 and he looks to be (on paper) a serious contender

[les]

V4

I've wondered what one of these would do on an outboard. I've had no luck finding out much about this engine, but it looks like a beast, the HP numbers look impressive enough.
http://www.aaenperformance.com/V4_racing_engine.asp