> =

> http://www.autobild.de/archiv/ausgaben/1997/10/42/vw/tele&m.hbs?referer=
=3D1997%2f10%2f42
> =

> The text is in German.  Can anyone translate?

I'm not sufficiently motivated to do the entire article, which is full
of idiom that I'd have a hard time with anyway, but here's the blurb
under the picture of the motor:

} The W12-motor is made up of two VR6-motors.  So it's extremely
compact.  =

} Length/Width 510/700 mm.  5.6 liters displacement, 420 HP at 5800 rpm,
530 Nm =

} (I forget the conversion to ft-lbs, sorry) at 3000 rpm.  =

}  Four valves per cylinder, stepless (continuously variable) cam
timing, =

} Power Transferred through a sequential (motorcycle type?) six-speed
transmission.

> Der W12-Motor ist aus zwei VR6-Motoren zusammengesetzt. So ist er extre=
m kompakt: =

> L=E4nge/Breite 510/700 mm. 5,6 Liter Hubraum, 420 PS bei 5800/min, 530 =
Nm =

> bei 3000/min. =

> Vier Ventile pro Zylinder, stufenlose Nockenwellenver-stellung.
> Kraft=FCbertragung per sequentielles Sechsganggetriebe.

- -Uwe- (learned English when I was 7, my German is pretty rusty these
days)

http://www.vw-online.de/newstxt/news_12.htm

Check out VW's supercar! Pretty bad ass! I wonder how much? Can someone translate the
German? It looks like Audi's supercar (Avus?) w/a bit of restyling and minus the polished
aluminum body.
- --
_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/
Philip Meadows Jr.
pmonramp
http://www.smu.edu/~pmeadows

Philip Meadows Jr. wrote:
>
> http://www.vw-online.de/newstxt/news_12.htm
>
> Check out VW's supercar! Pretty bad ass! I wonder how much? Can someone translate the
> German? It looks like Audi's supercar (Avus?) w/a bit of restyling and minus the polished
> aluminum body.
> --
> Philip Meadows Jr.
> pmonramp

Hi, all!

Here's my stab at the translation (I've taken some liberties to make it
readable).  Apologies for the inelegance of the translation (I don't do
this for a living :-)  Apologies, also, for the fact that I couldn't
convert the metric measurements...

Volkswagen's first 12-cylinder engine:
Volkswagen W12 Premieres at the Tokyo Motor Show
- ------------------------------------------------

At the 1997 Tokyo Motor Show, Volkswagen presented for the first time
its "more-than-a-six-cylinder" engine, the Volkswagen W12.  This
innovative powerplant is presented as part of an exclusive concept
sportscar that arose in partnership with Ital Design.

The uniquely compact 12-cylinder engine is laid out in a space-saving
W-design, in which two VR6 engines are joined at a 72-degree angle.

Four valves per cylinder are driven by four overhead, chain-driven
camshafts. The engine's 5.6-litre displacement currently yields
420bhp5800rpm.  A more powerful, flatter torque curve is achieved by
means of an engine management system with stepless, hydraulic camshaft
adjustment.  Maximum torque of 530Nm is available at 3000rpm.  A total
length of 510mm and breadth of about 700mm make the engine exceptionally
compact.  The crankshaft housing, with plasma-coated bushings, is made
of aluminium.  Magnesium components are also included, for example, in
the valve cover and timing chain cover.

The crankshaft, running in seven main bearings with offset connecting
rod journals, transfers power to a sequential six-speed transmission.
The W12, longitudinally mounted in front of the rear axle, permanently
drives all four wheels.  Power distribution is transferred between the
front and rear axles via a viscous coupling.

The concept car is constructed by Ital Design in a monocoque
configuration with front-attached, upward-opening doors.  The 4.40-metre
long and 1.92-metre wide, but only 1.04-metre high, two-seater concept
sportscar weighs only 1200kg and glides on 19-inch alloy wheels.  The
tyre sizes are 255/40 ZR 19 front, and 285/35 ZR 19 rear.  Brakes are
cross-drilled, ventilated discs all round.

- --
Christoff Snijders
1996 GTI VR6
17,500 kilometres and counting.

Made a quick stab at it.  Hope this helps.

Ralf
'81 930
'85.5 944
'89 YJ

First 12 cyl. from VW:  VW W12

Premiere at the Tokyo motorshow.  At the Tokyo Motor show presents for
the first time its "More than 6 cylinder", the VW W12.  This new
technology is being introduced in an exclusive sports concept-car, in
cooperation with Ital Design.

The original compact 12 Cyl. is a spacesaving W-configuration where by 2
V6 engines are coupled at an angle of 72 degrees.

The 4 valve per cyl. are driven by 4 chain-driven cams.  The
displacement of 5.6 Liter will generate 420 HP at 5800 rpm.  An engine
management system with (stufenloser??? ), hydraulic cam adjusters
(lifters maybe?) produces a strong and equalized torque.  The maximum
torque is 530 Nm at 3000 Rpm.  The engine with its total length of 510mm
(51 cm...divide by 2.54 to get inches), and a width of 700mm (70cm) is
very compact.  The last 2 sentences of this paragraph talk about
housings (bellhousing?) made of Aluminum/Magnesium components from which
the valve covers and chainhousing (?) covers are made of as well.

A 6-speed sequential transmission mounted ahead of the rear axle (a la
944?) is a permanent all wheel drive system.  Power is distributed to
front and rear axle through a viscous system (much like a quattro no
doubt).

The concept-car that debuted at the Tokyo motor show was built by Ital
Design using monocoque construction-method, with gull-wing type doors.
The 4.4m (again 440 cm / 2.54 for inches) long and 1.92m wide, and only
1.04m high 2 seater sports-concept car weighs in at 1200 kg (multiply by
2.2 to get lbs.) and sits on 19" mags.  Tire dimensions:  Front 255/40
ZR19, back 285/35 ZR19.  Vented disc brakes all around.

Christoff Snijders wrote:
> Here's my stab at the translation [...]

  Hey Christoff, thanks for the translation.  I couldn't have done
  better myself  |-).  And you know I'm not lyin', 'cause my German
  vocabulary can be counted on the toes of one hand.  |-)

> Volkswagen's first 12-cylinder engine:
> Volkswagen W12 Premieres at the Tokyo Motor Show
> ------------------------------------------------
>
[...]
> The uniquely compact 12-cylinder engine is laid out in a space-saving
> W-design, in which two VR6 engines are joined at a 72-degree angle.

  Fascinating.  So altogether the outer banks sit at 102 degrees to
  each other, barely wider than a 90' V6!  Very clever, those Germans!

> The engine's 5.6-litre displacement currently yields
> 420bhp5800rpm.  A more powerful, flatter torque curve is achieved by
> means of an engine management system with stepless, hydraulic camshaft
> adjustment.

  Gosharooty!  It's about time we have an answer to the VTEC system!
  |-)

> Maximum torque of 530Nm is available at 3000rpm.

  390 ft./lbs. !!!

> A total
> length of 510mm and breadth of about 700mm make the engine exceptionally
> compact.

  About 20 inches long (presumably along the length of the crankshaft?)
  by 27 inches wide (presumably valve cover to valve cover?).

> The concept car is constructed by Ital Design in a monocoque
> configuration with front-attached, upward-opening doors.  The 4.40-metre
> long and 1.92-metre wide, but only 1.04-metre high, two-seater concept
> sportscar weighs only 1200kg and glides on 19-inch alloy wheels.

  It's 173" (14.4') long by 75.5" (6.3') wide, and 41" high, and
  weighs only 2645 lbs.

> Date: Fri, 24 Oct 1997 22:34:13 -0500 (CDT)
> From: aqndev.tivoli
> Subject: Re: VW W12 Supercar!

>> Here's my stab at the translation [...]

> Christoff he beat me to it.  And he did a really good job.

>> The uniquely compact 12-cylinder engine is laid out in a space-saving
>> W-design, in which two VR6 engines are joined at a 72-degree angle.

> Fascinating.  So altogether the outer banks sit at 102 degrees to
> each other, barely wider than a 90' V6!  Very clever, those Germans!

No, I don't think so.  I assume the 72 degree angle references the
centerline between the 15-deg banks of the VR6s.  So the outer banks of
the W-12 would be 87 degrees apart, while the inner banks would be  57
dgrees from each other.

The variable valve timing is interesting.  But what I find even more
noteable was the fact that it has 4 valves per cylinder.  Wasn't there
some speculation a while ago that it would be impractical (if not
impossible) to do a 4-valve head on the VR6?  Clearly this is not the
case...

Now I'm not in the market for a "supercar".  But I wouldn't mind having
a next-generation GTI with a 24V VR6 with continuously variable valve
timing (and a syncho drivetrain).

I'm also somewhat surprised by the "conservative" hp figures of the
W-12.  420hp from 5.6L is not very agressive, given the 4V heads and the
variable valve timing.  Seems to me that a setup like that are should be
capable of producing 100hp/L even in an emissions legal state of tune on
pump gas.

- -Uwe-

Have you all seen the VW W12 Showcar from the Tokyo Motor Show? If not it
is on the VW Vortex webpage. That can be found at:

http://www.vwvortex.com

The car was apparently designed by Italdesign (Giorgio Guiarretto' Firm) to
display the new W12 engine that VW is developing from 2 VR6s mated into a
W. I guess VW is moving up in the world since it appears that shows are
much more important to it now. COOL!
        Still, I would have changed a few things from these pictures. On the front
I'd have relocated the VW emblem down to the grille, and given a second set
of round lights (driving lights) to the front of the car next to the round
fogs. That would have made it distinctly Scirocco 1 (an Italdesign car
also) and shown the VW family heritage better. Well the car will probably
never see production, so no big deal. I just thought that'd look better.
Later-G

Hey Gang,

Going against our policy of self-promotion and wasted bandwidth on the
list, we felt this was worth mentioning. We have recently received some
truely stunning pictures of the W12 show car. These images are VERY similar
to the limited edition posters that Ferrari produces. We can only hope that
VW makes posters available for sale at dealers.

The images are in two different sizes, medium and large. In order to
preserve image quality, some of the pictures are rather large in size. We
did this in case anyone is looking for some cool desktop backgrounds for
their computers.

The pictures can be found at 
under "Features". Remember these are large and downloads will probably be
slow.

Cheers,

- -jamie and doug

____________________________________________________________________
Jamie Vondruska                              
jamievwvortex                          Oak Brook, Illinois, USA