When we talk about engines and crazy displacements, there are only so many liters and cylinders that one can imagine. Usually, most motorheads think of a 12-cylinder engine as the ultimate, as it has been proven, time and again by various supercars, including the ones from the house of Aston Martin.
But the next supercar contender of an engine is not a V-shaped one at all, rather an X-shaped one, and is a 20-cylinder one. Formula-One car designer Gordon Murray, once said that anything above a V12 is plain showing off, and considering the man is behind many a successful Brabham and McLaren, it does make for a valid point.
But the makers of the X20 are not really concerned about that and frankly, with everything bigger truly getting better nowadays, 20 really is a round number. And with these many cylinders, the engine can easily conjure up supercar fantasies, and probably realize most if not all of them.
So is the X20 worth all the hype? Here’s what we know about this 20 cylinder engine with supercar dreams.
The Makers Of The X20
The X20 has been turned from a concept into reality by a small British automotive design firm, Bevan Davidson International (BDI). It's headed by Phil Bevan, a longtime motorhead who has been designing and making cars since 1969, including the almost-there vehicles from Trident. BDI also owns Connaught and its 22.5-degree supercharged V10 engine that was made by powertrain whisperer, Tim Bishop.
As a company, Connaught was quite the in thing for motorsports in the ‘50s before it all went down. The company made a comeback in the 2000s, ably assisted by Tim Bishop and also Tony Martindale, both of whom once worked for Jaguar.
BDI’s HQ lies some 33 miles from Lotus’s HQ in northern England, so part of the inspiration is right there. The company is now planning to launch several modular versions of the 20-cylinder engine, as well as the Connaught engine, under the Villiers brand.
It’s not a finished project yet, and one could argue that a 20 cylinder engine in itself is nothing new because versions are used in locomotives (the diesel variety), large trucks as well as in boats and such – but cars are still more far-fetched theory.
The Details About The X20 Engine
Technically speaking, the X20 engine is not a whole new ballgame. The X20 is a pair of horizontally opposed V10 engines, with the two crankshafts meeting in between via gears. The two 2.0-liter engines together make for a 4.0-liter displacement, and 40 valves in total, and are said to be able to churn out 400 horses without forced induction. BDI has mated it to a Lamborghini Gallardo six-speed manual transmission.
The base engine, the V10, again from Tim Bishop is a clever one. Usually, V10s are high displacement engines, like the 5.7-liter V10 of Porsche. Or even the Audi R8 engine which is a 4.7-liter V10. But Connaught made a 2.0-liter one and put it in the Connaught Type D Syracuse GT car, which in its supercharged form, jetted 300 horses and ran 0-60 mph in 4.3 seconds, at top speeds of 170 mph – cool for the 2000s.
And this V10 is also pretty nifty. Not only can it double itself up into the X20 specification, but also add another two cylinders and become the Connaught 22.5-degree V12 engine. Strip off some of the cylinders, and it can become a 1.2-liter V6, or a V4, or even a V5. Multitasking modularity, at its best/
The Future Of BDI, Villiers, And Connaught
According to Bevan himself, BDI’s top boss, not all of the ideas dreamed up by Connaught or even Villers come through. In fact, it's only 10% that actually come to fruition or have a success rate. That does not stop BDI from brainstorming newer and crazier engines, like the X20. Or the Connaught V12. Or even the smaller ones that can be made chopped off or built up from the same base V10 engine by Tim Bishop.
Will the X20 engine actually see life into a supercar? Time will tell, although, for a 40-valve, 4.0-liter X20 engine that manages to jet 400 horsepower, minus any supercharging, the future sure looks bright in the supercar world. Supercharge it, and you might just have the next big thing on track as well as off it.
But there is often many a slip between the cup and the lip, so the world is waiting and watching to see if BDI and Villiers would be able to deliver on all their big dreams. Especially when it comes to the innovative if strange X20 engine that comes with far less displacement than what you’d expect…
So what kind of car would you want to jam the Villier X20 into? A performance truck? A JDM? True blue American muscle? Or a European sports car restoration project? Time will tell...
Sources: Road&Track, TheDrive