Tech details of 2000 hp+ world's fastest supercar engine?

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g-force_addict
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Joined: 18 May 2011, 00:56

Re: Tech details of 2000 hp+ world's fastest supercar engine

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J.A.W. wrote:But.. will 2000hp on the street - really be enough?
Only for a while.
After people get 'bored' of the new new world's fastest car then yes 3000 hp will be the next goal.

Kind of greed, there's never enough. Always wanting more.
Is that horsepower-greed bad? Hell no!
To paraphrase Michael Douglas character in Wall Street I
The point is, ladies and gentleman, that greed, for lack of a better word, is good. Greed is right, greed works. Greed clarifies, cuts through, and captures the ESSENCE OF THE EVOLUTIONARY SPIRIT. Greed, in all of its forms; greed for life, for money, for love, knowledge has marked the upward surge of mankind. And greed, you mark my words, will not only save MOTORING, but that other malfunctioning corporation called the USA. Thank you very much.

SlowSteve wrote:Next question: Is it do-able within a reasonable volume?
A 10 liter engine is a damn big engine. And it's going to need a damn big everything else to go with it. The clutches, gearboxes etc are going to be monsterous. So, how do you get it IN the car? Do you have a different shaped car? Bigger? Wider? longer?
IMO 2000 or 3000 hp cars will revert back to front engine.
As you said the gearbox is going to be huge. I just don't think there's enough room for it in a mid engine car. At least not unless wheelbase and car length gets increased to ridiculous dimensions.

SlowSteve wrote: Or - do you put two 5 liter engines in - one front and one rear and wire them together with clever electronics? Over all it will lead to a lot less mass. Weight distribution is a little off the beaten track, but this has been done before and it's well proven.

Or - do you put in 4x 2.5l engines - one on each wheel, and an even fancier ECU. The guy who sets up the suspension is going to be in an entirely new world, and may make the grumpy face, but it gives a whole heap of new ways of doing 4WD, getting the power down in a tyre friendly way, traction control, launch control etc etc.
Multiple engines are a great idea... except PERHAPS for gearbox reliability.
Transmissions are currently the weak link in many performance cars. The idiotic gear shifting behaviors of most owners don't help either.
What would happen if at 400 km/h+ a gearbox doesn't upshift? The tire would be rotating at a lower speed. Would the tire drag into the pavement likely exploding thus creating and instant crash?
Such gearbox would need a freewheeling mechanism so that if it doesn't upshift it will still rotate at the other tire speeds.

Now what happens if it doesn't downshift? Hopefully it won't be that bad as the engine would just rotate at a lower speed. As long as it doesn't cause the engine to create excessive engine braking compared to the other engines everything would be fine.

4 engines could allow torque vectoring. By opening more the throttle in the engines on the outside of the corner.

SlowSteve wrote:Example: I like to build very fast boats. Oh so fast. Sometimes my wife even lets me GO in the fast boats. 1000Hp is a reasonable amount of power for a boat. 1500 is better. Do I put in a 1000HP engine - no.... it'd be massive, cost a fortune and it'd be a swine to look after. Instead I use 4 x 250HP motors. Which are cheap, easy to fix and gives me lots of new functions when it comes to steering and active control. Also, they have the benefit of not smashing their way out of the hull when you go over a big wave, like a huge block of 1,000HP motor would - this is considered beneficial.

If I want more power - 1500 - I use 6x 250HP motors. But now I need a wider boat to get them all in a line. That changes hull design, which changes.... pretty much everything else really. A 6 engine boat is a different beast to a 4 engine boat. But... either of them are MUCH MUCH better than a single engined boat.
Nice. Yes it looks like bigger engines based on existing engines cylinder banks or at least multiple engines are the way to go.
So did 60s drag racers and tractor pullers.
Off topic: Are multiple propellers better than single ones?
Are multiple inboard engines usually mounted in tandem or something to a single propeller? If so what transmissions do they use? Do high speed boats have gear-shifting gearboxes? If so what off the shelf gearboxes can handle those 1500 hp to a single propeller? Maybe they can be used in future hypercars? Now getting back on topic.

SlowSteve wrote:Almost all the discussion in this thread is about idealogical discussions. But - this is an engineering forum, and perhaps you guys should think practically for a while: a 2,000 HP car will be created. Of course it will - because it doesn't exist today, and people like new things and engineering nerds like to make new things before other engineering nerds manage it - that what makes engineering nerds excited. I can say this, because I'M an engineering nerd, and its what makes me excited. a 2,000HP car is as certain as Night is to follow day.
Absolutely.
Nice reply.