A W16 engine is a sixteen-cylinder

piston engine A reciprocating engine, also often known as a piston engine, is typically a heat engine that uses one or more reciprocating pistons to convert high temperature and high pressure into a rotating motion. This article describes the common featu ...

with four banks of four cylinders in a W configuration. W16 engines are rarely produced, with the notable exception of the Volkswagen Group 8.0 WR16 engine, which has been used since 2005 in the

Bugatti Veyron The Bugatti Veyron EB 16.4 is a mid-engine sports car, designed and developed in Germany by the Volkswagen Group and Bugatti and manufactured in Molsheim, France, by French automobile manufacturer Bugatti. It was named after the racing driver Pie ...

Bugatti Chiron The Bugatti Chiron is a mid-engine two-seater sports car designed and developed in Germany by Bugatti Engineering GmbH and manufactured in Molsheim, France, by French automobile manufacturer Bugatti Automobiles S.A.S. The successor to the B ...

and their related models. __TOC__

Volkswagen Group

The W16 engine that Volkswagen Group uses in its Bugatti Veyron and Chiron has a displacement of and

four 4 (four) is a number, numeral and digit. It is the natural number following 3 and preceding 5. It is the smallest semiprime and composite number, and is considered unlucky in many East Asian cultures. In mathematics Four is the smallest c ...

turbocharger In an internal combustion engine, a turbocharger (often called a turbo) is a forced induction device that is powered by the flow of exhaust gases. It uses this energy to compress the intake gas, forcing more air into the engine in order to pro ...

s. It is effectively two narrow-angle VR8 engines (based on the

VR6 VR6 engines are V6 piston engines with a narrow angle between the cylinder banks and a single cylinder head covering both banks of cylinders. Volkswagen Group introduced the first VR6 engine in 1991 and VR6 engines currently remain in producti ...

design) mated at an included angle of 90 degrees on a common crankshaft. The most powerful version of this engine, installed in the Bugatti Bolide, generates at 7,000 rpm. At the 1999

Geneva Auto Salon The Geneva International Motor Show is an annual auto show held in March in the Swiss city of Geneva. The show is hosted at the Palexpo, a convention centre located next to the Geneva Cointrin International Airport. The Salon is organised by t ...

Bentley Bentley Motors Limited is a British designer, manufacturer and marketer of luxury cars and SUVs. Headquartered in Crewe, England, the company was founded as Bentley Motors Limited by W. O. Bentley (1888–1971) in 1919 in Cricklewood, North ...

presented Hunaudières, a concept two-seated mid-engined car with an 8-litre W16 engine. The engine was the basis for the

. Another concept car from Volkswagen Group to have the W16 engine is the

Audi Rosemeyer The Audi Rosemeyer is a concept car built by Audi, shown initially at Autostadt and at various auto shows throughout Europe during 2000. Although it was never intended for production, its striking design and highly sporting nature drew considera ...

, introduced in 2000 and shown at various auto salons. The engine fitted to Rosemeyer is the only W16 variation to have five valves per cylinder.

Other manufacturers

In 1916, a rotary valve W16 engine was built in France by Gaston Mougeotte. The

Jimenez Novia The Jimenez Novia W16 is a French one off sports car built in 1995 by Ramon Jimenez, a French motorcycle racer from Vaucluse. It reportedly cost £600,000 ($855,000) and took ten years to develop. It features an aerodynamic body with center lockin ...

, a one-off sports car built in 1995, used a W16 engine with two crankshafts. Built by combining four

Yamaha FZR1000 The Yamaha FZR1000 is a

motorcycle

produced by

inline-four motorcycle engines, the engine has a displacement of , eight camshafts and five valves per cylinder, and produces .

References

{{Piston engine configurations Piston engine configurations 16 16-cylinder engines