Charley B

Couldn't slip that by you, huh? The P-47 Thunderbolt and the F-4 Corsair were probably the best known radials. We had a squadron of A-1 Skyraiders with us in Viet Nam, and I would skip a few hours of desperately needed sleep just to catch their launch time.

123quattro

You are seeing V8s showing up more and more due to packaging and parts sharing. That's the real reason. The block crosses with some other applications so the cost savings makes them attractive. I6/V12 engines are hard to package because they are so long. In a rear engine car, it lengthens the wheelbase. In a front engine car, they screw up the low hood lines stylists like.

If performance were the only factor, you'd probably see forced induction I6 engines. They are unbeatable for power and block longevity.

hacker-pschorr

Not so sure I agree 100%

• The F430 is the latest in the long line of "baby" Ferrari's with V8's. Sure their sister company is using the same motor, has nothing to do with Ferrari choosing a V8 for the 430.
• The Ford GT shares the Mustang engine, so I guess that qualifies.
  Saleen could have used anything, when building an all American supercar a V8 is the natural choice.
• V8 in the Vantage is loosly based on the Jag unit. The cylinder block and heads, crankshaft, connecting rods, pistons, camshafts, inlet and exhaust manifolds, lubrication system, and engine management were all Aston Martin designs. So they borrowed the block.
• The Audi R8 is rumored to be getting a V10 - that is shared with the Lambo line and S8.
• BMW could have saved a boatload of money using a V8 in the M5, they went with a V10 instead.
• New M3's V8 is actually based on the M5's V10
• Nissan GTR is a V6
• Corvette without a V8 would be like a 911 without air cooling.
• Acura NSX test mule's are rumored to have a V10 under the hood. Honda could have easily used a modified V6 from elsewhere in the line (IIRC Honda does not offer any car with a V8).
• Are rumors still going around about the Panamera getting a V10 eventually?
• Lamborghini - no V8's there even with some excellent V8 units available in the Audi / VW family
• Audi's move to a V8 for the S4 was rumored to be a push from management to drop turbo's due to warrenty and abuse (modding) issues. I'm not sure how much I believe that theory.
• Dodge........except for the Viper a V8 is necessary, see the Corvette.

I'm not totally disagreeing, just disecting this topic a bit more

RyanPerrella

The next Audi S4 will be a supercharged V6....... go figure

Abby Normal

A friend of mine is a pit mechanic for Tafel Racing (American Le Mans) and if you follow the series, you know that the Tafel Team went from the Porsche RSR to the Ferrari 430GT this past season. In the previous season the RSR's really struggled to compete with the Ferrari, AMLS made some rule changes that helped the Porsche's this season but that's another topic.

Two years ago, I went to the Petit Le Mans and was aable to get into the Tafel pits, the Ferrari drivers meeting (Thx Kim aka RSKY BIZ) andlearn a little insight to the specs of the cars,,, yes, it was way cool.

In talking with my friend, I asked him why the RSR were struggling to win against the Ferrari and his answer was simple, It's that V8 torque!

Perhaps one day Porsche will come to the table with a V8 in racing again. I think one porsche V8 was run in the LMP2 class however it really did not do that well.

Has any other engine design proven to be more succesful in all types of racing and platforms than the
V8 design?

hacker-pschorr

I do not disagree with anything in your post, just wanted to add one bit.

I've read in other places the *** dragger configuration of the 911 is starting to show it's age. The mid engine setup of the 430 is superior in handling and overall balance. The torque of the V8 is just icing on the cake
Well....since you put it that way.

• Most successful engine in F1 is the V8 Cosworth DFV.
• Indy 500 is not a fair comparison since V8's were the only choice for most seasons. Back during the Buick V6 era, they usually out qualified the V8's, they could not last all 500 miles out front.
• In many historic racing series where multiple enignes were allowed, the Porsche flat 6 screwed up the bell curve a bit.
• Trans-Am has always been V8 except when Audi showed up a 5-cylinder turbo (and Quattro) to win a couple of seasons.
• Most Porsche fans picture the flat 12 of the 917/30 when Can-Am is mentioned. That was only for a couple of seasons. Otherwise it was dominated by V8's in the McLaren's and Lola's (maybe a Chapperal or two in there) followed by the V8 powered Shadow's.
• Nascar.......nevermind
• Prototype racing post Can-Am saw some of the most diverse engine types. With I4 from Toyota, Turbo 6's from most and the big bore Chevy's in the Intrepid.
• Sports car racing has been dominsted by V8's unless the 911 was having a good season or back in the 60's when Ferrari was strong with the V12.....some chicken farmer from Texas was sure a thorn in their side.

RKD in OKC

Formula 1 went to V8 to slow the cars down.

Abby Normal

I've been reading the same thing and that also Porsche is looking at designs to move the engine in front of the trans-axle..

SeanR

Oohhhh nooooooose!

I can see the posts about that in OT.

PorKen

40V = crazy! (Audi pictured)

123quattro

That's the engine in my A6. It sucks even more when the timing belts snap on those...

hacker-pschorr

An Audi like yours pulled up to my friends import repair shop the other day. The Audi's owner asked Jim to listen to some noise from the engine to see what the problem was. Jim immediately told him to shut the engine off, they pushed it into the shop.

Jim found the water pump pully cocked at an angle (and hard to turn), timing belt debris everywhere (once the covers were off). This guy was very lucky, only needed a timing belt / water pump job.

The sad part of the story? It's a one owner Audi with 50,000 miles on the odo.

928ntslow

V8=cheaper....hmmm, maybe so, but that's not a bad thing. Let's not confuse that with lesser performance. It's actually a fantastic thing and can easily be justified. The consensus seems to be the V8 has always been reliable and the possibilities of producing more than enough hp for the money is incomparable, not to mention the weight savings.

Never the less, many are using the V8 these days...and that seems to be the trend.

mark kibort

V8 torque???? Hardly. as was mentioned, its mid engine, wider, has a wide HP range and very close ratio gears along with MORE HP!
With the gears as close as they are in both cars, its all about HP.

I have a dyno run of the porsche GT3RS. its got a perfectly flat torque curve!
I would imagine, so does the Ferarri. the difference is one is 3.8L and the other was 4.3 liters. the cars were running pretty close to the same lap times. Ferarri just was able to squeak by the porsches.

If they put both cars at the same rear wheel hp ad the same weight, who knows who would win. HP is hard to monitor.

Here is a mess of a graph, but if you look closely, if both cars Viper V10 8 Liter vs the little 3.6 liter RSR , had the same peak HP, the curves would not be that different and the big "torque" of the viper would have no advantages what so ever. remember, acceleration at any same vehicle speed is proportional to power. Accel = power/(mass x velocity). In this example, the close ratio gear boxes make up for any "torque" differences. Also, a Ferarri would have a pretty high strung V8, so i imagine the torque curve to be very similar to the porsche. In fact, this is a pretty beefy flat 6 at 438rwhp!!!

mk

blitz928

Sounds like the type of failures that I thought would only happen with a 928