Man Built a 12-Rotary Engine With Over 5,000 HP That Cost 500,000$

Rotor engines, or Wankel engines as they are still called in honor of engineer Felix Wankel, their inventor, are not exactly new, having been patented over 90 years ago.

Over the years, several companies have tried to integrate this type of engine into their range, including NSU, Alfa Romeo, Ford, Nissan, Porsche, Rolls-Royce, Suzuki, Toyota, and even Lada, with little success in the end. Mazda, however, is a special case, as it is probably the only manufacturer to have successfully used this particular internal combustion engine design over a long period of time.

Tyson Garvin, the builder of the incredible engine, is a keen water sports enthusiast, and in particular of high-speed yachts, who decided to build the 15.7-liter engine specifically to install it in a boat. He set to work back in 2010 and wanted the design to be relatively compact in the first place, trying to pack as much power as possible into the dimensions of a regular marine V8, which he did; the engine is 76 cm long, 80 cm wide and 61 cm high. It weighs 376 kilograms and should deliver significant performance, provided it uses a complex methanol fuel blend.

The engine's construction is extraordinary because it's unique. It incorporates just 12 triangular pistons or rotors, grouped four at three ends, giving the engine a 'Y' shape. It is the engine's construction that has enabled it to achieve this impressive performance, with the engine capable of 1,400-5,000 hp at readings of up to 14,000 rpm.

For the first time, the engine was started as far back as 2014, but required significant modifications along the way, and is only now practically ready. The creator of the engine claims to have spent half a million dollars just to make it, but it's well worth the investment.