You may have heard of any number of spectacular engines designed to output massive amounts of power, but by far the V24 was one of the most absurd.
From its modest beginnings in 1860 as a single-cylinder, coal gas-powered machine capable of just two horsepower, to the high-revving, 1,000-horsepower V6 powerplants used in F1 cars today, the evolution of internal combustion engines has been extraordinary. Based on a recent study, 96% of all passenger vehicles in the world as of 2024 are still powered by internal combustion. Categorized based on size, fuel types, and cylinder configurations, the most common are gasoline and diesel engines in straight or „V“ arrangements, and one of the biggest made was a 24-cylinder monster arranged in a „V“ layout.
Installed on the Macchi-Castoldi M.C.72 race plane of the Italian Air Force Ministry in 1931, the AS.6 was the world’s first V24 engine, created by automobile manufacturer Fiat. Built from a combination of two Fiat AS.5 engines arranged end to end, the resulting AS.6 produced 2,400 horsepower. Seven years later, American engine maker Allison utilized a similar design strategy of combining two engines and created its own V24 engine, the V-3420, which was released in 1938.
