This engine that fits perfectly in my hand has a displacement of 2.95 cc but has an incredible output of 1.8 horsepower. If you put it next to a 50 cc, 2 horsepower weed whacker engine, you realize how incredible 1.8 horsepower is for something so small. But it gets even crazier if we take the displacement and the horsepower and calculate the horsepower per liter of this little thing. The number we get is: 610 horsepower per liter. To put this into perspective, here is the Koenigsegg Jesko, a $3 million hypercar whose 5.1-liter twin-turbo V8 has an output of 1,603 horsepower when running on E85 ethanol fuel. These numbers give us a specific output of 316 horsepower per liter. About half of that, and this one, which is a single-cylinder nitro engine, costs about $80. Now, to match the specific power output of this little engine, we have to go beyond the $3 million hypercars and get to current Formula 1 specs, from things money can buy to things money can’t buy. Current Formula cars make between 750 and 1,000 horsepower thanks to their 1.6-liter turbocharged V6 engines and hybrid drivetrains. Nobody knows the exact numbers because they’re not published, but we’ll take the higher number which is 1,000 horsepower and say that it’s all coming from the engine alone – in other words, we’ll ignore the hybrid capabilities of the F1 cars. In that scenario, we’ll get 625 horsepower per liter. So we can only beat the specific power output of this engine when we add up the numbers in favor of Formula 1. But the only reason we can do this is because I’m using my budget engine as a reference. If you take something a little more competition oriented from a company called OS engines, which specializes in making them, let’s pick this one, the OSSPEED R2105. I think it costs around $650, but it makes 2.76 horsepower from 3.95cc and that gives a specific power of 791 horsepower per liter, so not even Formula 1 can match this. Now we need to answer a few questions. How does this miniature little engine manage to have such incredible specific power? Well, there are three reasons. Engine number 1 is a two-stroke, and as we know, two-strokes squeeze more power out of the same displacement at the expense of longevity and emissions. Because this thing is a two-stroke, it has no camshafts, no valves, and no valve springs. There’s nothing here, it’s just a giant heat sink with lots of coolant fins to maximize surface area and help the engine not overheat. Because there are no valves or valve springs and because we have an absolutely tiny and very light piston, rod and crank inside this engine, it can rev to around 30,000 rpm. And this is the most important reason, it's the fuel. This is called a nitro engine because the total amount of it that it runs on is called nitromethane. And nitromethane is an absolutely incredible fuel with incredible energy potential. To look at that power potential we have to look at some numbers once again. This time let's talk about power per unit of weight. If we put it on a scale we'll see that it weighs 355 grams. Our power output is 1.8 horsepower, which means we generate 5 horsepower per kilogram, or 2.3 horsepower per pound. Formula 1 generates 2.7 horsepower per pound or 6 horsepower per kilogram when the engine and electric motor work together. So do Formula 1 powertrains have a better power-to-weight ratio? Well, yes, but that is only because the actual fuel used in this engine is only 16% nitromethane. But luckily, there is something in this world that can demonstrate what happens to the power-to-weight ratio when you increase the percentage of nitromethane in the fuel. You get this. And these are the best fuel dragsters. Their fuel is 90% nitromethane and the rest is mostly methanol. Their engines weigh around 226 kg and produce 11,000 horsepower. This gives us 22 horsepower per pound or 48.5 horsepower per kilogram. In case you are wondering, no, there is no electric motor that has a better power-to-weight ratio. Koenigsegg’s Dark Matter engine weighs 39 kilograms and is capable of generating 800 horsepower, it sounds very impressive but it gives us 9.3 horsepower per pound or 20.5 horsepower per kilogram. #d4a #d4aespanol #obdeleven #automotive #carcare