V12 Engine

V12 engine /vee-twelv en-jin/ noun (countable)

A V12 engine is a twelve-cylinder piston engine where two banks of six cylinders are arranged in a V-configuration around a common crankshaft. This is the aristocrat of engine layouts, a configuration of such inherent smoothness and complexity that its primary function is to announce the owner's immense wealth and disdain for fuel economy. It is the automotive equivalent of a Swiss tourbillon watch: a beautiful, expensive, and complicated way of achieving a level of refinement that simpler engines can only dream of. While perfected by the Italians at Ferrari and Lamborghini, the V12 found a very British home in the grand tourers of Jaguar and Aston Martin, providing the silent, turbine-like thrust required to cross a continent at highly illegal speeds.

The Full Story of the V12 Engine

The sole purpose of the V12 engine is the pursuit of perfect smoothness. An inline-six cylinder engine is in natural primary and secondary balance, meaning it runs with a silky smoothness that a four-cylinder can only dream of. A V12 is, in essence, two of these perfect inline-sixes joined at a common crankshaft. The result is an engine that is in perfect balance. Its power strokes are so frequent and overlapping that the power delivery is not a series of distinct bangs but a continuous, seamless flow of torque. Its first great application was in the sky, powering the fighter aircraft of the First World War, a legacy culminating in the magnificent Rolls-Royce Merlin that powered the Spitfire.

On the road, the V12 was initially the preserve of the most expensive luxury cars, but in the post-war era, it was captured and defined by the Italians. Enzo Ferrari made it the heart and soul of his brand. For decades, if a car had a Ferrari badge on its nose, it had a V12 engine behind it. This cemented the V12 as the only proper choice for a true exotic supercar.

Britain’s great contribution to the V12 story was its attempt to democratise it. In 1971, Jaguar stunned the world by launching its own 5.3-litre, all-aluminium V12, and putting it not in a stratospherically expensive special, but into the mass-produced E-Type and XJ saloon. It was a magnificently audacious move. The engine itself was a masterpiece of smooth, silent power, giving a Jaguar saloon a level of refinement that cars costing three times as much could not match.

The timing, however, was catastrophic. Launched just before the 1973 oil crisis, the Jaguar V12’s prodigious thirst for fuel, with single-digit miles per gallon a grim reality, made it an instant dinosaur. It was also fiendishly complex. Trying to service the engine, crammed into a bay never designed for its bulk, was a task that broke the spirit of many a mechanic. It was prone to overheating, which would cook the dizzying web of rubber hoses and wiring that surrounded it. It was a brilliant piece of engineering almost perfectly unsuited to the era into which it was born.

The V12 had a British renaissance in the 1990s. The Gordon Murray-designed McLaren F1 used a naturally-aspirated V12 built by BMW, an engine many consider to be the finest road car engine ever made. Shortly after, Aston Martin launched its own V12, a unit famously and ingeniously derived from the architecture of two Ford Duratec V6 engines. This engine would power Aston's grand tourers for two decades, re-establishing the V12 as the heart of the marque. Today, the V12 is an endangered species, a glorious, inefficient, and wonderfully unnecessary piece of engineering that is being slowly legislated into extinction.

For The Record

Why is a V12 so smooth?

Because of its inherent primary and secondary balance. With twelve cylinders, there is always an overlapping power stroke. The delivery of power is a continuous series of small pushes rather than a few big bangs, which is what gives it its characteristic turbine-like smoothness and lack of vibration.

Was the Jaguar V12 reliable?

The engine block and rotating assembly were very robust. The problem was everything attached to it. The ignition system was complex, and the sheer amount of heat it generated in a cramped engine bay would cook the rubber pipes and wiring, leading to the infamous reputation for overheating and electrical failures.

Is the Aston Martin V12 really two Ford engines?

The original 6.0-litre V12 that powered the DB7 Vantage and Vanquish was. It was developed by Ford and Cosworth by effectively combining the architecture of two 3.0-litre Duratec V6 engines. It was a clever piece of engineering that gave Aston Martin a world-class V12 relatively cheaply.

What is the difference between a V12 and a W12?

A V12 has two banks of six cylinders in a simple V-shape. A W12, as famously used by Bentley under VW ownership, has four banks of three cylinders, arranged in a W-shape. It is shorter but wider than a V12, offering a different packaging solution for all-wheel-drive cars.

Will V12 engines survive in the electric era?

Almost certainly not in series production. Emissions regulations are making them virtually impossible to certify for road use. Their final home will likely be in very limited-edition, track-only hypercars for the super-rich, a final, glorious swansong for a magnificent piece of engineering.