Keeping the V12 Alive
While the future of supercars and hypercars may be electric, Ferrari isn’t ready to let the V12 engine die. The company has just recently filed a new patent with the United States Patent and Trademark Office for a new V12 engine that’s supposed to be more fuel-efficient than previous designs, according to Carscoops.
There are two ways that Ferrari has achieved a more fuel-efficient engine. The first is by injecting a little bit of fuel before the spark plug ignites. This fuel ignites slightly ahead of time and causes the fuel to burn hotter than it would otherwise.
The second way that Ferrari is achieving better fuel economy is by having a separate chamber from the main combustion chamber. This pre-chamber has a second set of spark plugs and is designed “for cyclically and selectively determining the ignition of the mixture present in the pre-chamber and triggering the combustion reaction.”
Ferrari is fighting hard to keep the naturally aspirated V12 engine around. The company doesn’t want to hybridize it, and it doesn’t want to downsize from the 6.5-liter design either. This is an interesting move by the company, but it’ll be even more interesting to see what Ferrari does in the future to keep the V12 pumping out power.
