W engine design
The VR6 engine is a narrow angle (15°) v6, designed to fit in the confined engine bay of a front wheel drive car. It is very short compared to an inline 6, because the cylinders are staggered, even cylinders moved forward, odd cylinders moved backward to reduce the length. Joining two such designs together into a W engine creates a design that is much shorter than a V with the same number of cylinders, but not too much wider. Volkswagen's W12 engines utilize two VR6-like sets of cylinders mated at 72 degrees, and the W8 consisted of two VR4s at the 72 degree angle. In the W16, each side is made up of eight cylinders, but the 'bank' angle is increased to 90 degrees. The W16 can be thought of as two banks of two sets of VR4s joined end to end. Note that this design differs from the W18 engine that Volkswagen produced for its Bugatti concept cars of 1998 and 1999. The narrow angle of each set of cylinders allows just two camshafts to drive each pair of banks, so just four are needed in total. For this reason, the engine is sometimes described as a WR16.
W16 engine specifications
The Volkwagen Group W16 as configured for the Bugatti Veyron 16.4 is a 16-cylinder quad-turbocharged engine with four valves per cylinder. The engine is 71 cm (about 28 inches) long and weighs approximately 400 kg (882 lbs). Maximum power output is 1001 HP at 6000 rpm, with a maximum torque of 1250 Nm (922 lb-ft) from 2200 to 5500 rpm.[1] This engine is also reportedly being considered for use in other Volkswagen Group products, though likely naturally aspirated and detuned from its Veyron configuration.
