The most unusual engine designs in the world.

The most unusual engine designs in the world will surprise you, as there is a great variety of them. Shall we get to know them?

These are the most unusual engines in the world, and you may well be surprised by many of them. We take a look at the strangest powertrains for propelling a car. Some of the most unusual engine designs have gone on to succeed in sports cars and even in best-selling models. Others have ended up in technical dead ends, but all of them provided an insight into the engineering thinking required to drive car design forward.

Flat-12 – First used: 1946

Porsche started the trend of the flat-12 design in 1947 when Ferdinand Porsche devised a 1.5-litre unit for the Cisitalia. It was used in the Italian firm’s Grand Prix car, but never saw the light of day due to its complexity. The world then had to wait for Ferrari to take up the baton in 1964 with its Formula 1 cars, but once again it was Porsche that left its mark on the design with the Le Mans-winning 917.

However, Ferrari was the first with a flat-12 road car, courtesy of its 365 GT4 Berlinetta Boxer, and the second word refers to the engine design.

Gas turbine – First used: 1950

The first use of a gas turbine engine in a car was, perhaps surprisingly, by the conservative British carmaker Rover. The Jet 1 was the result of the UK’s leadership in this technology after the Second World War and was based on the P4 chassis. Acceleration was good for the period, taking 14.0 seconds to go from 0-100 km/h.

During development, the engine reached 230 CV. General Motors and Chrysler made attempts with the gas turbine engine, and several motorsport campaigns at Le Mans, Indianapolis and Formula 1 failed to advance the idea. However, there are plans to use a gas turbine with range-extender hybrids from the British firm Delta Motorsport.

Triple – First used: 1953

The triple is a three-cylinder inline engine that has existed for much longer than the current crop of compact units such as those used by Ford and Volkswagen. The design came to prominence in the 1950s when DKW and Saab used two-stroke versions of the design for their small family models.

A measure of how good these engines were is that the DKW gave two-time Formula 1 champion Jim Clark his first racing experience, and Saab won the Monte Carlo Rally with a 93. Today, the design is prized for its small size, efficiency and strong torque characteristics.

BRM H16 – First used: 1966

British Racing Motors was innovative in its approach to the new 3.0-litre regulations in Formula 1 for 1966. Where others used V8 and V12 engines, BRM presented the H16, essentially two flat-eight engines stacked on top of one another.

Each had its own crankshaft, to which gears were linked, but this design made it very heavy. It was used in the Lotus 43 and driven by Jim Clark to victory at the 1966 United States Grand Prix at Watkins Glen. However, that would be the H16’s only win and it was soon abandoned in favour of a V12 design.

Rotary engine – First used: 1967

Mazda will always be associated with the rotary engine. Many of its most memorable models have used this engine design, and it is working hard on a new sports car based on the RX-Vision concept.

However, the engine was created by the German engineer Felix Wankel, who developed it at NSU before the company made a deal with Mazda. That resulted in the 1967 Cosmo 110S coupé and founded a line of sports cars that used the smooth, free-revving character of the rotary engine to great effect.

Flat-eight – First used: 1968

The flat-eight had long been favoured in aircraft, but its smoothness was outweighed by manufacturing cost, which is why it took until the Porsche 908 for the design to see the light of day. Designed for sports car racing, the 3.0-litre unit took advantage of the new Group 6 rules in 1968 that raised the maximum engine capacity to 3.0 litres.

It was not an immediate success, but it was a solid starting point, and the 908 went on to form the basis of Porsche’s International Manufacturers’ Championship triumph over three consecutive years from 1969 to 1971.

V5 – First used: 1983

Think of the V5 and you will most likely think of the Mk4 Golf and its derivatives such as the Bora and the SEAT Toledo. The 2.3-litre engine made its debut in the Passat in 1997 and arrived with 148 CV, as it aimed to bridge the gap between the company’s inline-four and V6 units.

It had limited success despite the ingenious engineering required to make such a compact unit. Before that, only General Motors had played with this design, and it decided not to put its diesel version into production.

VR6 – First used: 1991

It is one of the most unusual engines. Distinguished from a normal V6 by its narrow angle (15 degrees) and its staggered V configuration, the VR6 engine from Volkswagen consisted of two cylinder banks housed beneath a single cylinder head covering both rows.

First seen as a 2.8-litre unit in the Passat and Corrado, the VR6 was built with the sole purpose of fitting transverse engines into front-wheel-drive cars. The reduced angle and staggered configuration allowed the engine to be installed in vehicles that previously had 4-cylinder engines, and it later appeared in the Mk3 Golf.

Another factor that sets the VR6 apart is its unique sound, which differs from that of inline or V-configured engines. Thanks to the ability to use the firing order of a straight-six engine, and with two overhead camshafts for the 12- and 24-valve variants, the VR6 was very thirsty, and the only model currently using the latest 3.6-litre VR6 with 276 hp is the seven-seat Atlas SUV.

W16 – First used: 1995

Bugatti may be most closely associated with the W16 engine in its Veyron and Chiron models, but engineer Ramón Jiménez was the first to build a supercar with this configuration.

The Frenchman joined four 1000cc Yamaha motorcycle engines to achieve a W12 with two crankshafts and 80 valves with an output of 560 CV. One of the coolest unusual engines!

W8 – First used: 2001

It may have ended as a technological dead end, but the W8 engine from Volkswagen remains an intriguing design. It joins two narrow-angle V4 engines on a common crankshaft, allowing an eight-cylinder engine to fit in the space normally reserved for a V6. It is undoubtedly one of the most famous unusual engines.