Thanks to Dutch turbos, Alpina engines deliver powerful torque

You don’t have to teach them to build cars at BMW, and at M GmbH they also absolutely know how to give the cars of the parent company a more than dynamic character. If you want more than a normal BMW, but find an M too much hardcore, you can turn to Alpina. They have been filling a niche there for more than fifty years with cars that take off at least as quickly, but that are just a little more comfortable in daily life, without compromising the driving quality. We are not only talking about the tuning of the chassis, but also give the engines their own character at Alpina. Where a BMW M seeks more in the revs, the Alpina engines are usually characterized by providing more pulling power at the bottom.

Alpina takes things so seriously that you can no longer speak of tuning. No, it can call itself its own brand. Alpina’s have their own chassis number and the name Alpina is also stated as such on the registration certificate. All nice and nice, but for its own character Alpina relies partly on Dutch technology, to be precise: turbos from Tachyon Engineering, which is located in Eemnes.

hypercars

At the end of the first decade of this century, the car industry is en masse to downsize engines with the help of turbos. The suppliers of those exhaust gas compressors – usually industrial giants – benefit from it. They do business with all major and minor car manufacturers, it’s pure mass production. However, these industrial giants have few options for smaller car manufacturers with specific wishes. A niche market with generally high requirements and low numbers is not interesting for the large turbo manufacturers. However, it does offer opportunities for specialists. They also see this at Tachyon Motorsport, a company where the focus was initially on racing and rallying. The required knowledge and expertise will be housed in a new company: Tachyon Engineering.

The engineering firm focuses on the design and development of turbos, but as a service it can also produce in relatively modest quantities. Various manufacturers of hypercars purchase their turbos from this specialist and Alpina has also become a regular customer for its thick six-cylinder engines. For some brands, this involves a few hundred turbos per year, with Alpina it goes up to several thousand.

customization

Tachyon Engineering does not supply ready-made turbos off the shelf, it is custom work with design and development processes that easily take two to three years. For Alpina, the company is already working on the cars for 2026. The starting point is a basic BMW engine. And then the challenges begin. For example, the engineers have to take into account the existing connections on the cylinder head (turbo and exhaust manifold nowadays increasingly form an integrated whole) and on the other hand also the connection to the catalytic converter and the particulate filter (these are all built against each other). That is fixed data. Within that available space, a turbo must be developed that in the first instance provides the desired engine characteristics. Fuel consumption and environmental requirements also play a role, as do the cooling, the lifespan and the use of materials. Oh yes, and then it must also be possible to produce it once. The eye also wants something: it is a product for above-average enthusiasts.

They are not all alone at Tachyon Engineering. Of course there is close contact with the German Alpina engineers, but in addition there is help closer to home. Almere is home to one of the world’s major turbo manufacturers: Mitsubishi Turbocharger and Engine Europe (MTEE), part of Japan’s Mitsubishi Heavy Industries, which supplies turbos to many major car manufacturers. The turbine wheel and compressor wheel as well as the intermediate shaft and the bearing block are supplied by Tachyon Engineering from MTEE. The development of the housing, the wastegate and the controls are all done by Tachyon.

Keep in mind that Tachyon outsources the casting entirely according to its own specification to specialized companies at home and abroad. The specialists in Eemnes then build all components together into one complete unit. This is done in a flexible production line with, among other things, a fully automated welding process. Yes, craftsmanship is mastery, but the advantage of automation is that the quality of the ten-thousandth turbo is still as high as the first.

When the entire unit is complete, a calibration of the wastegate and – not unimportantly – a leak test follow. The latter not only for a better environment; leakage ultimately also means loss of performance.

just in time

Alpina may call itself a car manufacturer, but it does not produce bodies itself. That’s what BMW does. BMW also carries out the assembly of the chassis and the assembly of the engines, entirely according to Alpina specification, after which Alpina further completes the finishing of the car. In many ways, this approach means a close collaboration between BMW and Alpina, if only in production logistics. That is why Tachyon Engineering’s turbos receive a unique QR code to be able to enter BMW’s logistics system (the turbos go directly from Eemnes to BMW).

In addition, as part of a standardized quality assurance system, Tachyon itself tracks each turbo with a unique number. This way it can always look back at who has performed a certain action, with which values ​​a turbo has passed the final check, with which settings of the welding machine the shaft of the wastegate has been welded or, for example, how tightly the bolts have been tightened. Everything is known. Being certified for quality standards is not only a nice diploma on the wall, it also simplifies cooperation with other companies, both customers and suppliers, who work according to the same standards. And that opens doors.

Alpina works just-in-time, which means that Tachyon can only deliver shortly in advance. Production therefore takes place in small batches that are then shipped immediately. The fact that Tachyon produces little or no stock has to do with the fact that it is unknown what the demand for a certain model will be in the future. Before you know it, you’ll be left with turbos – although parts should still be available after 15 years.

Also electric

CEO Thiemo Timmers of Tachyon Engineering expects to have work in the high-end automotive industry for years to come. The company is also looking further afield. “We are also developing turbos for shipping, including with a water-cooled aluminum turbine housing,” says Timmers. “In addition, with our knowledge and expertise we are perfectly capable of developing compressors for fuel cells. We are also working on electric turbos. These are not the electric compressors that you encounter here and there, but turbos with an electric motor on the shaft between turbine and compressor. With electrical assistance, the turbo is up to speed sooner, and when no turbo operation is required, you can capture the residual energy from the exhaust gas flowing through the turbine. This is possible because we let the electric motor work as a dynamo. This technique is still in its infancy. We are still working on optimizing it further, but we certainly see opportunities. Whichever way it goes, for the time being we are making an important contribution to what makes an Alpina an Alpina.”