The V12 Engine - The Technology, Evolution and Impact of V12-Engined Cars 1909-2005
Lavishly illustrated and meticulously researched, The V12 Engine explores the great 12-cylinder racing and production cars that made automotive history.
Biggest of all production twelves was Hispano-Suiza's Type 68-bis of the 1930s, whose 11.3 litres produced 250 bhp. It displaced a stunning 50 percent more than America's largest twelve of the classic era, the Pierce-Arrow. Driving such a 68-bis, one driver credited it with a "mighty, effortless surge of power which completely grips the imagination."
At the other extreme was Ferrari's first V12 of 1947 measuring only 1.5 litres. Powering both road and racing cars, it was the foundation stone of Ferrari's exotic reputation. Inspiring Enzo Ferrari was his fond memory of a racing car built by America's Packard, first to offer a production V12 in 1915. Ferrari's exclusive production is the opposite of America's Lincoln, which put 220,000 twelves on the roads of the world.
Ludvigsen also explains how and why twelves evolved as they did and introduces such major movers as Jesse Vincent of Packard, Sunbeam's Louis Coatalen, Louis Delage, W.O. Bentley, Sir Henry Royce, Hispano's Marc Birkigt, Ferruccio Lamborghini, Sir William Lyons of Jaguar, Bugatti's Paolo Stanzani and, of course, Enzo Ferrari. He brings to life their struggles to achieve their aims and quotes contemporary verdicts on their cars.
Ferrari's fabulous Enzo V12 brings the story up to date, along with contemporary twelve-cylinder engines from Mercedes-Benz, Lamborghini, BMW, Maybach, Aston Martin, Maserati and Rolls-Royce, and such newcomers to the V12 ranks as Toyota, Bentley, Volkswagen, Cadillac, Peugeot and Audi.
Product details
| Author: | Karl Ludvigsen |
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| Details: | 590 pages, 10.25 x 8.25 x 1.42 in (26 x 21 x 3.6 cm), hardback |
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| Illustrations: | 585 b&w and color photos, drawings |
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| Language: | English |
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| Publisher: | Bentley Publishers (USA, 2016) |
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| ISBN: | 9780837617336 |
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