When a new hypercar builder arrives on the scene, it's met with lots of skepticism and eye rolling. It's typically all warranted, though, as these cars promise insane speeds, crazier price tags, and an often imaginary waiting list. This is also usually accompanied by press release photos that are made up of Photoshop renderings.
When Dubai-based Devel announced it would be building a car, it ticked all of these boxes. Perhaps our initial skepticism is ready to be tempered, though, because the engine that will be used just made more than 5,000 horsepower on a dynomometer.
Devel Sixteen spotted in the wild
The claims stack up thusly. Devel has a car called the Sixteen and the company says it will be capable of reaching 345 mph. That's still very much crazy talk, but what's crazier still is the fact that the car will use an engine making more than 5,000 horsepower. At least that last statement appears to be rooted in reality.
Steve Morris Engines is the supplier of the powerplant to be used. This crew is very good at building bespoke, high-horsepower engines, and the latest dyno run video helps prove that. In it, you can see the SME-built 12.3-liter V-16 engine that breathes through a quartet of massive turbochargers. Each turbo is a honkin' 81 millimeters, meaning its compressor inducer is 81 millimeters in diameter. Working together, the entire package produces 5,007 horsepower and somewhere in the neighborhood of 3,900 pound-feet of torque.
This is clearly a monster of a motor. How it will work in the real world is still very much in question. We're now more curious than ever to see it applied in the Devel Sixteen, though, and this brings up more questions than it answers. What sort of gearbox will handle all of that power? Even if the car is all-wheel-drive, traction is certain to be an overwhelming issue. Is there an option to instead put this crazy engine into the back of a boat?
Regardless of the answers above, we can't wait to see the SME come to life in the Devel Sixteen...should that ever actually happen.
