Orbital S2S

Car Review by Paul Negyesi

In March, at the Melbourne Autoshow in Australia a new 2-seater with a 2-stroke engine broke cover. It's the product of the Australian Orbital Engine Co. They're the world's biggest manufacturer of two-stroke engines. These are used in motorbikes, marines and across various markets such as lawn and garden.


The S2S is powered by a 3-cylinder 1.2-liter engine, capable of 57 kW (80 bhp) at 5800 rpm. These units also have been built into special Ford Festivas which are used by the Australian government fleet. The estimated fuel-consumption is the key to the S2S: 4.72 litres per 100 kilomtres. It is claimed that the emission capabilities are some 10 times better than the current Australian standards. Porsche condducted a 600 hour mechanical durability test. The result: the engine's power was 97 % of initial levels. There are other variants of the 2-stroke powerplants from 2-cylinder 0.8 liter to 6-cylinder 2-liter models. But at the moment only the 3-cylinder is used in cars.

    
The pride motivated Orbital to place this unit into a curvaceous sportscar. The body is made of GRP and the styling was carried out in-house with collaboration from Melbourine stylist Bernie Walsh. The S2S weighs only 750 kg and 3.5 meters long. It'll probably remain a one-off.

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