gsp

Dusenberg produced them. One of the best cars ever made.

silvershadow

A million years ago, I saw an inline 8 on some big American car like a Packard (not sure). The owner said the engine was derived from a locomotive engine. He also said the engine was incredibly smooth compared to a V8. But it was a high-torque/low rpm engine.

FormulaRX

Yeah the old straight-8 engines in the Packards and Duzenbergs produce very little horsepower but massive amounts of bottom end torque at very low rpms. Even if the inline 8 concept is applied to today's technology, it's very difficult to get it to run smoothly because the extra length of the crankshaft causes it to be less torsionally rigid at high rpms. The inline 6 is about the max you can do an inline configuration and still have it stable under high rpms as can be seen in the M3, Supra, and Skyline engines. Anything past 6 cylinders inline will not be able to reach high rpms that efficiently, however Cadillac has developed a V-16 which is essentially the length of an inline 8 so I guess it may be possible but very impractical seeing the lenth that the car would have to be.

NoTorq

Does anyone remember the Ford T-drive concept? It was an engine/transimission concept from the early 90s that took a straight 8 and had the drivetrain connected to the middle of the crankshaft instead of the end. The engine was mounted transversly with the driveshaft coming straight back (hence the name T-drive). Really cool concept but it obviously didn't go anywhere, it was still pretty tough to fit it in a modern engine bay.

horya

yeah, as far as saving space, the i8 wouldnt work, as for the w8 and the w12 they were all based on the vr6 motor. the vr6 is not exactly a v the pistons are not alligned with one another, thus making the angle much more acute, and also saving space

Legal Bill

V configuration advantages:

Shorter block allows shorter body/hood

Torsional rigidity of block and crank is much higher

Slightly opposed cylinders cancel vibration

"tilted" cylinder banks take advantage of "downflow" intake

Shorter crank needs feewer main bearings to maintain low vibration at higher RPM.

Casting "square" block is easier than casting rectanagular block

Short engine is easily positioned to balance weight of car

Windscreen

Some whacky Italians attempted a T-drive with a couple Ferrari V-8's in the late 80's. They called the engine the V16T. It was designed to go into a supercar called the Cizeta Moroder. I'm not sure if they ever actually sold any, but I thought the concept was pretty cool, if not a bit wide.
http://www.fast-autos.net/cizeta/cizetamoroder.html
http://www.giorgiomorodergallery.com/morod...der/cizeta.html

Steve