So take this airplane, which I blogged about before, and marry in this engine.
I'm not sure what the difference in weight will be. The Falconer weight is "firewall forward", the weights given in the Supermarine web pages are not. The Falconer's full power couldn't be used at takeoff, but you don't ram the throttle of a Spitfire or a Mustang all the way forward on takeoff, not unless you want to kill yourself with a torque roll. You don't want to go past Vne without some serious flutter testing.
But it would sound cooler and you'd have power up a lot higher.
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"The Falconer V12 was brought to market in 1990 by world renown racing engine builder, Ryan Falconer. Designed as a thoroughbred racing engine specifically for marine and aviation use, it has also become a favorite of the high-end street rod and custom vehicle crowd. These engines can be configured in a wide variety of styles to suit most any application. All Falconer V12 engines are built to order from the finest components available in limited runs in order to ensure the highest quality and performance. Base price: $65,000"
Uhm, okay, at least it's less expensive than a house (other than a trailer house ;). And it has the right number of cylinders. I think it just goes on the wishlist though, not exactly in my budget right now or, well, probably ever :).
- Badtux the Flightless Penguin
Well, the Falconer outperforms a Conti IO-720 on horsepower, price, and number of cylinders. (and probably weight, as well.) It's practically a steal!
I guess you could make yourself a replica P38 and get Falconer to do a counter-rotating version if you really wanted to crank it up on takeoff...
SmellsOF, I assume the $65K base price of the Falconer is for the marine engine. The aviation engine has dual redundant ignition systems, dual redundant drive belts for the accessories, and dual redundant fuel injection systems, as well as cam changes that result in lower horsepower but the horsepower occurring at a lower RPM. My suspicion is that once all this adds up, you'll be pretty close to a Conti IO-720 price-wise and power-wise. It's fun to laugh at the general aviation piston engines and how little horsepower they make for a given displacement, but they are the result of many decades of evolution that have done a pretty good job of optimizing them for their given task. Just look at the fiasco that was the Porsche-powered Mooneys...
- Badtux the Flightless Penguin
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