W-12, W-8, W-4?

[Dave Eaton]

it actually a bit more complicated than that.  audi has worked on "w" motors
(remember the avus?) for some years, as have the folks at vw.  audi's design
was a traditional "single bank" "w" engine, while vw's is of course using
the narrow head "v" motors.  with the w16 bugatti motor, and the new w12 for
the a8l, it is clear that the vw design has won out over the audi one, and
the audi design has been binned.  not a surprise as the narrow head is an
absolutely brilliant engineering solution to produce compact, high
displacement and very smooth power plants.

btw, to give an example of the advantages, the bugatti motor is 16
cylinders, 8 litres, 1001bhp, but only 700mm long, and 780mm high!

dave
'95 rs2
'90 ur-q

-----Original Message-----
Date: Fri, 06 Apr 2001 08:06:20
To: <quattro at audifans.com>
From: Mike Arman <armanmik at n-jcenter.com>
Subject: W-12, W-8, W-4?

I looked with great interest at the cutaways of the W-12 engine. Some
*very* clever engineering and some *very* complicated casting and
machinework allows Audi to get 12 cylinders in a space not much longer than
what would usually be required for a three cylinder engine. It is also very
light for the displacement, since the ratio of parts that move to parts
that don't move is very good.

I gather that this engine is a "modular design", and could be stretched to
be an 8 liter W-16 (wahoo!), and I think I read somewhere that it could be
shrunk to be a  four liter W-8 or even a two liter W-4. This would result
in a very short engine for its' displacement, at the penalty of some extra
width (which isn't really a problem, because a car generally needs to be
two people wide anyway).

Any word if this W-8 is going into VW products? I'd just love to take a
four liter W-8 out of a wrecked 2003 Jetta at the pick and pull (any engine
in the yard only $159!), and then see if I can adapt it for aircraft
applications!