Rotax
Encyclopedia
BRP-Powertrain GmbH & Co KG
Kommanditgesellschaft
A Kommanditgesellschaft is the German name for a limited partnership business entity and is used in German, Austrian and some other European legal systems....

 (until 2008 BRP-Rotax GmbH & Co. KG), commonly known simply as Rotax, is an Austrian engine manufacturer. It develops and produces four-stroke and advanced two-stroke engines for Bombardier Recreational Products
Bombardier Recreational Products
Bombardier Recreational Products or BRP is a Canadian company that traces its roots back to the year 1942 when Joseph-Armand Bombardier founded L'Auto-Neige Bombardier Limitée in Valcourt in the Eastern Townships, Quebec.In 2003, Bombardier Inc...

 (BRP) products (Ski-Doo and Lynx snowmobiles, Sea-Doo watercraft and sport boats, Can-Am quads and roadsters) as well as for motorcycles, karts, ultra light and light aircraft.

History

The company was founded in 1920 in Dresden
Dresden
Dresden is the capital city of the Free State of Saxony in Germany. It is situated in a valley on the River Elbe, near the Czech border. The Dresden conurbation is part of the Saxon Triangle metropolitan area....

, Germany as ROTAX-WERK AG. In 1930 it was taken over by Fichtel & Sachs
ZF Sachs
ZF Sachs AG is a German manufacturer of automotive parts, producing powertrain and suspension components. It was formerly known as Fichtel & Sachs, Mannesmann Sachs and Sachs...

 and transferred its operations to Schweinfurt
Schweinfurt
Schweinfurt is a city in the Lower Franconia region of Bavaria in Germany on the right bank of the canalized Main, which is here spanned by several bridges, 27 km northeast of Würzburg.- History :...

, Germany.
Operations were moved to Wels
Wels
Wels is the second largest city of the state of Upper Austria, located in the north of Austria, on the Traun River near Linz. It is not part of its surrounding Wels County , but a so-called Statutarstadt . However, Wels is the county seat of Wels-Land.- Geography :Wels is located in the...

, Austria in 1943 and finally to Gunskirchen
Gunskirchen
Gunskirchen is a town in Upper Austria, Austria. The village has 5,296 inhabitants . The mayor is Karl Grünauer of the Social Democratic Party of Austria....

, Austria in 1947. In 1959, Rotax merged with the Vienna-based Lohner-Werke, a manufacturer of car and railway wagon bodies. In 1970 Lohner-Rotax was bought by Bombardier Inc. The former Bombardier branch, Bombardier Recreational Products
Bombardier Recreational Products
Bombardier Recreational Products or BRP is a Canadian company that traces its roots back to the year 1942 when Joseph-Armand Bombardier founded L'Auto-Neige Bombardier Limitée in Valcourt in the Eastern Townships, Quebec.In 2003, Bombardier Inc...

, now an independent company, uses Rotax engines in its motorcycle
Motorcycle
A motorcycle is a single-track, two-wheeled motor vehicle. Motorcycles vary considerably depending on the task for which they are designed, such as long distance travel, navigating congested urban traffic, cruising, sport and racing, or off-road conditions.Motorcycles are one of the most...

s, personal water craft
Personal water craft
A personal water craft , also called water scooter, is a recreational watercraft that the rider rides or stands on, rather than inside of, as in a boat....

, and snowmobile
Snowmobile
A snowmobile, also known in some places as a snowmachine, or sled,is a land vehicle for winter travel on snow. Designed to be operated on snow and ice, they require no road or trail. Design variations enable some machines to operate in deep snow or forests; most are used on open terrain, including...

s.

The company constructed only two-stroke
Two-stroke cycle
A two-stroke engine is an internal combustion engine that completes the process cycle in one revolution of the crankshaft...

 engines until 1982, when it started building four-stroke
Four-stroke cycle
A four-stroke engine, also known as four-cycle, is an internal combustion engine in which the piston completes four separate strokes—intake, compression, power, and exhaust—during two separate revolutions of the engine's crankshaft, and one single thermodynamic cycle.There are two...

 engines and aircraft engine
Aircraft engine
An aircraft engine is the component of the propulsion system for an aircraft that generates mechanical power. Aircraft engines are almost always either lightweight piston engines or gas turbines...

s. Other important dates include 1962, when a Rotax engine was first installed in a snowmobile and 1989, when Rotax received FAA
Federal Aviation Administration
The Federal Aviation Administration is the national aviation authority of the United States. An agency of the United States Department of Transportation, it has authority to regulate and oversee all aspects of civil aviation in the U.S...

 Type Certification for its Model 912 A aircraft engine.

In 2008, Rotax started manufacturing the 1,125 cc Helicon liquid-cooled, four-stroke, fuel-injected 72° V-twin for the Buell Motorcycle Company
Buell Motorcycle Company
The Buell Motorcycle Company was an American motorcycle manufacturer based in East Troy, Wisconsin and founded in 1983 by ex-Harley-Davidson engineer Erik Buell.Harley-Davidson acquired 49% of Buell in 1993, and it became a wholly owned subsidiary by 2003....

.

Snowmobile engines

Today's applications include two- and four-stroke, one- to three-cylinder engines with displacements between 270 and 1,500 cc and a performance range of 27 hp in regular serial execution.
  • Engine Type 1304
  • Engine Type 995 SDI
  • Engine Type 797 R E-TEC
  • Engine Type 797 R
  • Engine Type 793 HO
  • Engine Type 779
  • Engine Type 593 HO E-TEC
  • Engine Type 593 HO SDI
  • Engine Type 593 HO
  • Engine Type 593 RS
  • Engine Type 593 SS
  • Engine Type 552
  • Engine Type 536
  • Engine Type 810
  • Engine Type 453
  • Engine Type 440
  • Engine Type 377
  • Engine Type 277
  • Engine Type 462

Marine engines

Rotax started the worldwide trend of personal water craft
Personal water craft
A personal water craft , also called water scooter, is a recreational watercraft that the rider rides or stands on, rather than inside of, as in a boat....

 to four-stroke engines with the unveiling of their 4-TEC watercraft engines. Today they exclusively manufacture four-stroke engines in a straight-three cylinder  configuration, covering a range from 130 hp.
  • Engine Type 1503 SC IC HO
  • Engine Type 1503 SC IC
  • Engine Type 1503 NA
  • Engine Type 1503 DT

ATV engines

Liquid-cooled, one- and two-cylinder, four-stroke engines are designed specifically for ATV applications. They cover a range between 400 and 800 cc and come either with gearboxes with foot-lever shifting, or with CVTs (continuous variable transmissions); the 810 is now used in snowmobile applications as well.
  • Engine Type 810
  • Engine Type 660
  • Engine Type 654 DS
  • Engine Type 490
  • Engine Type 449
  • Engine Type 400

Motorcycle engines

The 1,125 cc Helicon engine developed for Buell
Buell Motorcycle Company
The Buell Motorcycle Company was an American motorcycle manufacturer based in East Troy, Wisconsin and founded in 1983 by ex-Harley-Davidson engineer Erik Buell.Harley-Davidson acquired 49% of Buell in 1993, and it became a wholly owned subsidiary by 2003....

 is a lightweight, fast-revving, big-bore, short-stroke V-twin with a broad power curve peaking at 146 hp near the 10,500 rpm redline.

The twin-cylinder, V990, is light and compact, sporting magnesium cylinder head and clutch covers and comes in various horsepower configurations depending on vehicle specific and manufacturer specific demands.

The Type 122 & 123 engines were single cylinder 125 cc engines as used in Aprilia
Aprilia
Aprilia is an Italian motorcycle company, one of the seven marques owned by Piaggio, the world's fourth largest motorcycle manufacturer.Aprilia started as a scooter manufacturer, but has more recently come to be known for its race-winning sportbikes...

 AF1 / RS125
Aprilia RS125
The Aprilia RS125 is a GP derived replica sport production motorcycle. It is powered by a single cylinder 2-stroke, Nikasil coated aluminium cylinder block, liquid cooled 124.8 cc Rotax engine....

 models. These were high revving, high power units using an exhaust valve system called Rave to increase peak power while retaining low end torque.
  • Engine Type 1125 Helicon - Buell 1125R
    Buell 1125R
    The Buell 1125R is a sport bike that was manufactured by Buell Motorcycle Company in the United States. It was introduced in July 2007 for the 2008 model year. Production of road-going models ceased in October 2009, when Erik Buell announced the cessation of production for the entire Buell range...

     and 1125CR
  • Engine Type V990 - Can-Am Spyder, reverse trike 95 hp, Aprilia (RSV 1000, Tuono) 139 hp
  • Engine Type 804 - BMW Motorrad, F800 series
    BMW F800S
    The F800S was a sport bike made by BMW Motorrad from 2006 to 2010. Along with the F800S, other bikes in the F-bike range are the dual-sport F800GS, the sport touring F800ST, and the naked F800R....

     85 hp and New F650GS
    BMW GS parallel-twin
    The BMW F800GS and F650GS are members of the GS family of dual-sport motorcycles manufactured in Berlin, Germany by BMW Motorrad. Both bikes were launched in 2008, and use the same 798 cc parallel-twin engine with chain drive, but with different power outputs and equipment levels...

     71 hp.
  • Engine Type 654
  • Engine Type 504 - first four-stroke, used first in the Can-Am 500 Sonic
  • Engine Type 122 - 22 kW (Successor to the 123 engine)
  • Engine Type 122 - 11 kW (same as the Type 122 22 kW engine, though restricted by removal of RAVE Power valve).
  • Engine Type 123 - 25 kW

Kart engines

Rotax began designing kart
Kart racing
Kart racing or karting is a variant of open-wheel motorsport with small, open, four-wheeled vehicles called karts, go-karts, or gearbox/shifter karts depending on the design. They are usually raced on scaled-down circuits...

 engines 25 years ago. The two-stroke engines range from the 125 MAX to the 125 MAX direct drive
Rotax Max
The Rotax Max is a two-stroke engine designed by Rotax, part of Bombardier Recreational Products , to provide cost-effective but high speed kart racing. Built in Austria, the engine is liquid cooled, equipped with a balance shaft, integrated water pump, electric starter and centrifugal clutch...

.
  • KART RM1
  • Engine Type FR125 MAX DD2
  • Engine Type FR125 MAX
  • Engine Type FR125 JUNIOR MAX
  • Engine Type FR125 MINI MAX
  • Engine Type FR125 MICRO MAX
  • Engine Type 256 250 cc twin
  • Engine Type 257 250 cc single

Industrial engines

  • Engine Type Rotax 185 - fire fighting water pump engine also used as an aircraft engine

Aircraft engines

Rotax supplies aircraft engines for ultra-light, light aircraft
Light aircraft
A light aircraft is an aircraft that has a maximum gross take-off weight of or less.Many aircraft used commercially for freight, sightseeing, photography and scheduled flights are light aircraft.Examples of light aircraft include:...

 and unmanned aerial vehicle
Unmanned aerial vehicle
An unmanned aerial vehicle , also known as a unmanned aircraft system , remotely piloted aircraft or unmanned aircraft, is a machine which functions either by the remote control of a navigator or pilot or autonomously, that is, as a self-directing entity...

s.

Four stroke engines

Two stroke engines
  • Engine Type Rotax 618 UL - no longer in production
  • Engine Type Rotax 582
    Rotax 582
    |-Specifications :-External links:*...

     UL
  • Engine Type Rotax 532 UL - no longer in production
  • Engine Type Rotax 503
    Rotax 503
    |-Specifications :...

     UL
  • Engine Type Rotax 447
    Rotax 447
    |-Specifications :...

     UL
  • Engine Type Rotax 377
    Rotax 377
    |-See also:...

     - no longer in production
  • Engine Type Rotax 277
    Rotax 277
    |-Specifications :-See also:...

    - no longer in production

External links

The source of this article is wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.  The text of this article is licensed under the GFDL.
 
x
OK