the birth of a v16

[Dave Eaton]

according to the local car magazine, the w16 engine, destined for the
bugatti veyron and the audi "silver arrow" (debut 2003), has just had its
1st run at vw's r&d centre in wolfsburg.  this was the full production
prototype of the quad turbo, 64-valve, 8litre motor, and the 1st step
towards the machine which will produce 730kw, and 1250nm.

the editor of the magazine, talked extensively to dr frank metzner, the
"father" of the vw "vr" engine programme.  apparently, a new dynamometer was
required, as nothing could handle 750kw.  there was a lot of tension on the
1st firing of the motor because there were so many new technologies in use
for the motor, and there had been little practical experience in many of
them  before within vw, and the motor represented over 1million dm, and
thousands of hours of work.  one of the technology steps looks to be the awd
system with the use of a shaft taking the gearbox drive from a multiplate
clutch (looks like) at the front of the gearbox, along the side of the
motor, to the diff integrated to the front of the motor.  perhaps this
signals a change for other models as well?

much of the tension on the firing of the motor was apparently because nobody
was sure how well the engine would run on the firing order chosen.  the
computer narrowed the 6 million possible combinations down to 4, but could
help no further.  it was up to the engineers to choose the best one of
these.  in metzner's words "cross out fingers and hope".  the firing order
is still secret but has been patented apparently, along with several of the
other technologies in use in the design, although most of the internals are
common with the other w and vr engines.

the engine putted along at 1,000rpm, and everyone was happy.

dave
'95 rs2
'90 ur-q