‘Lada designed 38 Wankel engines in 30 years’
Secrets of Wankel power behind the Iron Curtain
The press traditionally reports that NSU, Mazda and Citroën were the only carmakers to mass-produce Wankel engines. Wrong! Lada designed 38 Wankels between 1974 and 2004. They were fitted to track and rally cars, boats, aircraft, motorbikes, ekranoplans and a raft of automotive prototypes. They were also fitted to a number of Lada production models.
The dream of Wankel motoring was still alive in the early Seventies. Mazda and NSU were making a fist of it, Citroën was yet to launch and abandon its Birotor, and a multitude of other manufacturers had Wankel development programs. Lada was late to the party. Soviet research institutions had toyed with unlicensed Wankels since the early Sixties, but it was not until 1974 that a dedicated design bureau was established at Lada’s Tolyatti factory.
Lada initially focused on a Wankel for everyday proletarian use. Fifty Lada 2101 ‘Zhigulis’ with 70bhp single-rotor engines were launched experimentally in 1978. Lada drew the same conclusions as its western contemporaries: fuel consumption was too high, the engines didn’t last long enough and establishing a support structure across the sprawling Soviet Union would be impracticable. Plans were suspended and the design bureau began to be disbanded.
A catcher-upper
Then, Lada’s Wankel bureau was given a new purpose: a dogonyalka. This translates as ‘catcher-upper’ and refers to the modified wolf-in-sheep’s-clothing cars used by sinister Soviet security agencies. The upper echelons of the KGB got Volgas with 5.5-litre V8 engines from Chaika limousines. The police and the lower echelons of the KGB had nothing comparable.
Policemen in a Lada 1600 pursuing criminals in an identical Lada 1600 would have an equal chance, at best, of catching them. This may have aligned nicely with the principles of socialism, but it wasn’t great for solving crime. An enterprising criminal who’d got their hands on a Volkswagen Passat would leave their pursuers for dead. Lada’s Wankel bureau was charged with building an engine that tipped the
Sam Glover spends his spare time breaking down in exotic locations around the world. He also tries to maintain a fleet of 50 obscure classics, from Anadol to Žuk.
odds in favour of the spooks and policemen. The state did not lack money or manpower, so fuel economy and service life were of secondary importance to performance. Lada’s solution was a twin-rotor unit that generated 120bhp and 108lb ft of torque. Fitting this to a Zhiguli led to Lotus Cortina-beating performance.
Wankel versions of the Lada Riva, Samara and 110 followed, with incremental increases in power, torque and longevity. The cars remained otherwise standard. A Russian review of a 135bhp Samara complained of its ability to spin its skinny 13in tyres in third gear, ‘terribly inadequate’ brakes and a tendency to handle ‘as if swimming’ at speeds above 90mph. Lada also fitted twin-rotor engines to a batch of Volga 3102s for the KGB. A tyre-burning 210bhp three-rotor version was also prototyped. Sadly, only two examples were built and both were destroyed.
Lada dogonyalkas were state-owned and assigned to government agencies. As the KGB lost its grip in the mid-nineties, however, the frontwheel drive models became theoretically available to the public via special order. Customers were not forthcoming. The Wankel bureau shifted its attention to aviation engines and dissolved in 2004.
The most interesting Wankel dogonyalka built in significant numbers was the Lada 21059 – a Riva with the most potent twin-rotor production engine. It’s rear-wheel drive, it weighs 995kg and it packs 140bhp and 137lb ft of torque. A Triumph Dolomite Sprint weighs 1005kg and has 127bhp and 124lb ft. It’s an absolute monster of a car. I know this because I have one in my workshop in Cirencester. I’ll explain how it got there next issue…
‘The twin-rotor Lada 2101 had Lotus Cortina-beating performance’