What engine for supercar?

[gregpe]

Lets say hypothetically that you responsible for power-train for new super-car manufacturer.. goal is do something new something standing out of the crowd... modern car..

option 1
LS based with using RHS components 8.2 litre (502ci) v8 pumping 800hp form NA engine assuming that this is possible and will be quite expensive considering that car would be road legal

Option 2

V10 5.4l high revving modern powerplant with 700hp ultra modern branded by well known manufacturer -tuner

what would appeal to you 800HP na engine from massive v8 or less but from V10 even if second option is bit more expensive.

Edited by gregpe on Sunday 15th February 09:52

Edited by gregpe on Sunday 15th February 09:54

[johnnyreggae]

Surely if it truly is a premium vehicle a only v12 is appropriate ? An American V8 with the best will in the world says kit-car

[Scousefella]

Would an 800bhp N/A lump get past emmissions these days?

[boxerTen]

Neither option really stands out. If it were me I'd go for a relatively small capacity engine, but massively oversquare bore to stroke dimensions akin to a modern superbike engine. So say a 5 litre V12 producing 700-750 bhp at somewhere north of 10,000 rpm.

[toohuge]

Op- you're not based in Newmarket are you?

If you are, drop me a PM.

[dom9]

Of the 2, No.2 for me...

Interesting question! Is this theoretical or genuine market research? Both engines sound interesting.

I'm with the V12, small capacity, 10,000rpm idea though as well!

[artmed01]

For me definitely option 2,

Large V8 with two valves so very old technology nobody want to hear big V8 in any car apart of muscle car or kit car!!..

Obviously v12 would be a best choice..



Max power is not relevant is easy to do even more power those days any supra will be faster than this 800HP kitcar ups sorry “supercar”

and with this engine configuration drivability and emission is questionable as well

[@well]

Personally I’d be put off by any newly designed car that is using an LS derived engine, its old technology and shows a lack of technical forethought!
Don’t get me wrong I love the sound of a big old v8 but to design a new car around one seems a little daft when there are many far better options available.
As artmed01 mentions it all seems a bit kitcar if you use a crate engine, it then gets you thinking is the whole project a little bit style over substance! If someone wants to make a truly appealing supercar you have to offer something a little bit different!

[4321go]

This is such a simple question to answer. Here it is:

[thegreenhell]

gregpe said:

Lets say hypothetically that you responsible for power-train for new super-car manufacturer.. goal is do something new something standing out of the crowd... modern car..

Your stated goal surely rules out option 1 straight away? LS V8 is the very opposite of something new, different and modern. For me you'd need either a big V12 or something smaller, but still interesting, with hybrid tech.

[gregpe]

Well 100 hp from liter of displacement on NA engine is quite an achievement considering that you have only two valves per cylinder no variable cams....

[MBRLTD]

In my opinion you have to agree with the above comments.

The supercar/hypercar market is full of innovative, new design and tech. In fact so fast is the development and progression that we daily see what we would class as new tech being used in mass produced performance road cars.

High revving, innovative, efficient, high output engines are in high end Audi's, Jag's and BMW's the world over.

If you were designing a new supercar that actually needed to sell, that actually needed to perform on a par with or better than the competition you just can't go down the route of using something old and trying to make it work better. Especially a LS7 lump.

In my experience all large capacity, high output LS based engines become un-drive able. All small throttle finesse is lost and they are terribly in-efficient.

All things that even average new 'supercars' suffer with. They drive like an everyday Focus at part throttle and still out perform LS based engines after that.

LS engines are used the world over in road and race settings because they are bulletproof and provide cheap power.

So a new supercar would need a modern designed V10/12 or possibly a V8 if it could perform as well. I potentially also think that could interest a different group of people who don't want a supercar that has a small capacity turbocharged engine that a lot of manufactures seem to be going for now.

Just my 2p's.