http://thekneeslider.com/archives/2010/10/14/ducati-elenore-v8-update/

Ok so not strictly a 'car engine' but no saying it can't go in a car ;-)

For any engine enthusiasts out there, check out the YouTube video and pics. Very clever design from Ducati! Not something I really see going into mass production however...

Just nice to know there are still people out there thinking and designing new concepts still :-)

It's an interesting piece of engineering, I hope he can get it working. I'm not sure about how efficient it will actually be though, and I'd like to see how he lubricates the pivot points, but it's nice to see people looking at established designs and wondering "what if.....?"

Very interesting!

Yes indeed.

If you like your engines, check out Wright Cyclone Aero engines. A masterpeice of engineering.

I'm looking at the animation, it is quite clever but I'm still seeing 10 connecting rods, 2 large ones and 8 small ones.. if it was developed further it could make a very useful engine however because it has a much lower rotating inertia that a conventional 8 cylinder engine. but I can't really see it catching on sadly...

interesting that , complicated setup tho but very clever how it appears to work, it would be expensive to mass produce and be able to do big mileages I should imagine tho..

I think Ducati's new oversquare engine, the 1199, is pretty impressive too. Huge bore but tiny stroke and pistons look scarily thin. And no timing belt either.

If you like your engines, check out Wright Cyclone Aero engines. A masterpeice of engineering.

P&W's Wasp Major is even more insane, a 28 cylinder air-cooled monster! 71.5 litres with a turbo and supercharger to make 3,500 hp. I should pop one in the Fabia

An absolute pig to operate though, if you started it wrong or left it idling too long, all the spark plugs fouled with oil and need replacing... all 56 of them. On the Boeing 377 you have four engines, so that's 224 spark plugs to change!

You need to continually manage carburettor air temperature by using intercooler flaps. And the engine cowl flaps need to be adjusted to keep CHT (Cylinder Head Temperature) to an acceptable level. The 377 engine has both a turbo and supercharger, and you have to manually control the speed of these to stop the bearings overheating. Oh and I almost forgot the water injection system. And finally the ram air scoops to boost manifold pressure.

Edited 21 March, 201214 yr by ckyliu

P&W's Wasp Major is even more insane, a 28 cylinder air-cooled monster! 71.5 litres with a turbo and supercharger to make 3,500 hp. I should pop one in the Fabia

An absolute pig to operate though, if you started it wrong or left it idling too long, all the spark plugs fouled with oil and need replacing... all 56 of them. On the Boeing 377 you have four engines, so that's 224 spark plugs to change!

You need to continually manage carburettor air temperature by using intercooler flaps. And the engine cowl flaps need to be adjusted to keep CHT (Cylinder Head Temperature) to an acceptable level. The 377 engine has both a turbo and supercharger, and you have to manually control the speed of these to stop the bearings overheating. Oh and I almost forgot the water injection system. And finally the ram air scoops to boost manifold pressure.

WOW !

My Dad's currently overhauling 2 Wright Cyclone engines

Lucky sod, would love to have a play with the throttle of one of those! Does he own a DC-3 or something? Dunno if I could afford the fuel even for just a few blips though, AVGAS 100LL is priced something silly.

Edited 21 March, 201214 yr by ckyliu

Lucky sod, would love to have a play with the throttle of one of those! Does he own a DC-3 or something? Dunno if I could afford the fuel even for just a few blips though, AVGAS 100LL is priced something silly.

LOL ! He's restoring them for a private collector/project. He's 83 years old and still has the skills

I'll stick some pictures up soon as I have them

Wow would love to overhaul and engine like that, so impressive, especially the figure stated above ;-) makes the 1.9tdi look like a child's chew toy lol...

Love old days engineering, I spent a week running round HMS Alliance, two massive supercharged diesels, with rockers the size of my forearm. Would pull hurricane force winds through the submarine, amazing!

Any advantage to this over a similar capacity V twin or V4.

Or is this an engine hacker's wet dream?

If they did put this engine into production,i'd imagine it would be in very limited numbers....kind of like honda did with the NR750.

The NR750 was just an exercise of what honda could do....V4 engine with oval pistons,2 conrods and sparkplugs per piston and 8 valves per cylinder.....thats right,a motorbike with 32 valve head ....all this back in 1992 as well.

Very interesting design that Ducati have come up with though,will need to keep an eye on it