Here's What A 50cc V12 Engine Sounds Like

It’s amazing what you can get on Ali Express these days if one gets a little carried away. If you’re happy spending upwards of about £2,000, for instance, you can buy a tiny, working V12. How tiny? We’re talking a mere 50cc.

The ‘DSF-V12’ is built by a young company called Chuan Qi Precision, and it runs on regular pump unleaded. It’s a single overhead camshaft, 24-valve design (can you imagine how tiny the valves would need to be to make it a DOHC, 48-valve V12?) and it revs up to 12,000rpm. Wonderful.

A YouTuber called JohnnyQ90, who specialises in high-end R/C builds, has gotten hold of one of these little things, and has been busy upgrading the unit while showing us all what it’s like to be in possession of a dinky V12. In this latest video of his journey, he creates a beautifully intricate fan that works directly off the belt, featuring multiple CNC-milled parts.

Unfortunately, it’s not quite up to the task, so it needs to be replaced with what look to be desktop PC fans - first an 80mm diameter one, then a 100mm unit. That V12 clearly gets toasty. 

Initially, the V12 sounds a little agricultural, but after adding tubular exhaust manifolds - 3D printed via files sent by Chuan Qi - it sounds fabulous, and not unlike a Formula 1 car from 30 or so years ago. We can’t wait to see what JohnnyQ90 does with the V12 next. 

Many would probably be happy having something like this sat in their garage to occasionally fire up (it’d certainly be great to blow away Monday blues with those 12 tiny pistons firing away), but the intention is for it to power R/C vehicles like cars and boats. The company that builds it also sells a four-speed gearbox for those wanting to use the engine as more than a very fancy desk toy.

What would you put it in? 

Via Motor1