Whoopsy:

Now for more engine facts. 

For the same displacement, a V12 will have more inherit friction loss than a V8, more moving parts and surfaces. One reason way back then F1 went to V10 as a compromise between piston speed vs friction loss. Not to mention weight.

Nick, you are correct that choosing the number of cylinders is a balancing between the ability to rev higher (more smaller cylinders) and friction/weight (fewer is preferred).  When you balance these factors in a high performance engine, you arrive at the optimum cylinder size being in the neighborhood of 350cc.  The reason that many F1 engines went to V10's in 1989 is that the displacement limit was 3.5L and a V10 gave ten cylinders of 350cc capacity.

When the F1 rules changed to 3.0L limits in 1995, most of the top teams continued with V10's.  So, I assume the optimum cylinder size was likely on the slightly lower side of 350cc (between 300 and 350cc).  Downsizing to V8's would have resulted in cylinder sizes of 375cc and the teams must have concluded that ten 300cc cylinders was more optimum than eight 375cc cylinders.

This Gordon Murray motor is nearly 4.0L (3.98L), so going to V12 is preferred over a V10 or V8 for this capacity (332cc for V12 cylinders is nearly perfect, rather than 398cc for V10 or nearly 500cc for V8).


--

 

18 GT3 Manual, 73 Carrera RS 2.7 Carbon Fiber replica (1,890 lbs), 06 EVO9 with track mods. Former: 16 Cayman GT4, 73 911S, Two 951S's, 996 C2, 993 C2, 98 Ferrari 550, 79 635CSi