swissauto

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Wenko AG, Burgdorf

logo
legal form Corporation
founding 1987
Seat Burgdorf BE , SwitzerlandSwitzerlandSwitzerland 
management Beat Kohler
( Managing Director and Chairman of the Board of Directors )
Number of employees approx. 30
Branch Engine construction
Website www.swissauto.com

The Wenko AG, Burgdorf (market presence also swissauto ) is a Swiss company that deals with the development and construction of combustion engines and various types turbocharging concerned.

The company was founded by Urs 1987 Wen ger and beat Ko founded counter and employed until the takeover by Polaris Industries of Medina, United States in two locations about 30 employees. The employees at the Burgdorf site were transferred to the newly founded swissauto powersport llc, while the Mellingen site was spun off into sa-charging solutions AG. In swissauto powersportprincess llc in Burgdorf are engines and vehicles - prototypes designed and sa-charging solutions AG in Mellingen is the development of chargers and endurance tests instead of motors. The development, distribution and marketing of the Swissauto 250 kart engine was taken over by the newly founded company Helvenco AG in Burgdorf.

history

Single cylinder - internal combustion engine with a generator as a range extender for a hybrid vehicle; presented at the IAA 2011

In 1989 , the company worked on the optimization of the Judd - V8 -motor the Brabham - Formula 1 teams, with Stefano Modena in the Monaco Grand Prix behind the two McLaren-Honda of Ayrton Senna and Alain Prost won the third place.

In 1992 Wenko worked on the concept and engine development as well as on the production of the Swatch car prototype, a preliminary project for the Smart . In 1996, the company completed the SAVE low-consumption concept based on the Smile vehicle, which was the first official three-liter car with a petrol engine and road legal. This vehicle concept was awarded the idée suisse award in 1997 .

In 1998 the new development of the MPE-750 motor took place in cooperation with Weber-Motor AG from Markdorf , which was later implemented in various applications and construction variants. In addition, the former Comprex AG in Mellingen was taken over.

In 2000, the company received the OECD award for sustainable technology in the field of transport and infrastructure. In 2001, series production of the SA 250 began , which is today the world's most successful four-stroke kart racing engine . In addition, Wenko has been developing engines for jet skis and snowmobiles since 2003 , which have already won numerous world championship titles in their categories.

In 2007, a cooperation agreement was concluded with AVL Graz for the development of a new, high-performance test bench for measuring and developing turbochargers.

In 2008 a prototype based on a VW Golf V was completed, which had a 1.0 liter engine with Hyprex pressure wave charging and 110 kW (150 PS).

In 2010 Polaris Industries from Medina , USA bought Swissauto.

technical data of the 500 cm³ Swissauto V4 engine
Engine type water-cooled V4 - two-stroke engine
Displacement 499.27 cc
power 200 hp at 12,500 min -1
Mixture formation 4 Mikuni - carburettor
ignition Capacitor discharge ignition
coupling Multi-disc dry clutch
Power transmission Six-speed cassette transmission
Secondary drive Chain

Motorcycle world championship

In 1992 , 1993 and 1994 the Swiss Rolf Biland and Kurt Waltisperg won the world championship title in the sidecar class . They used a Krauser two-stroke four-cylinder engine that was further developed by Swissauto in their LCR team . In 1994 the Swiss started with the engine designation Swissauto for the first time and won not only the driver's title but also the constructors' world title .

In 1995 they developed their own, very light and compact two-stroke V4 engine with a displacement of 500  cm³ for use in the motorcycle world championship .

In 1996 , in addition to Biland / Waltisperg, the Swiss brothers Paul and Charly Güdel and a few other duos used Swissauto engines under the name BRM-Swissauto in their sidecars. BRM was here for B üchel R hen M otoren. Although none of the Swissauto teams won the driver's title, they were successful again in the constructors' championship.

From 1996, the 500 cc engine was used by various manufacturers in the half-liter solo class. It all started with the ELF 500 ROC in 1996 and 1997 , with which the Spaniard Juan Borja reached 13th and 17th place in the World Cup.

In 1998 and 1999 , the German manufacturer MuZ used the engine in its MuZ 500 and achieved considerable successes against the three large Japanese plants with drivers such as Doriano Romboni , Luca Cadalora and Jürgen van den Goorbergh . After two years there were two pole positions and two fastest race laps . In 1999, the entire planning and construction of the machine was even carried out in-house by Swissauto.

In 2001 the newly formed Pulse Racing team started using MuZ machines that had been bought up under the name Pulse 500 . However, the team had major financial problems and was therefore unable to carry out any tests or further development and withdrew from the World Cup after only three World Championship points at the end of the season.

Automobile production

In 1987 the company introduced the Al Capone model . This was a 1930s style hot rod . A V8 engine from Chevrolet with 5900 cm³ displacement and 511  hp provided the drive . Plans to sell vehicles in Germany failed due to German registration regulations.

literature

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Entry of "Wenko AG, Burgdorf" in the commercial register of the Canton of Bern ( Memento from July 1, 2012 in the web archive archive.today )
  2. ↑ Golf 5 1.0 HXI. www.swissauto.com, accessed on November 26, 2019 .
  3. ↑ Polaris buys Swissauto Powersports. atv-quad-magazin.com, accessed October 7, 2018 .
  4. ↑ Vincent Glon: Les Championnats du Monde de Courses sur Route - L'année 1994. racingmemo.free.fr, accessed on June 30, 2010 (French).
  5. ↑ LCR - swissauto. www.swissauto.com, accessed on November 26, 2019 .
  6. ↑ MZ - WEBER GP1. www.swissauto.com, accessed on November 26, 2019 .
  7. ↑ Harald H. Linz, Halwart Schrader : The International Automobile Encyclopedia . United Soft Media Verlag, Munich 2008, ISBN 978-3-8032-9876-8 .