These Are The Smallest Displacement V12 Engines Ever Made

Not to be confused with the later car with a similar name, the 1950 Ferrari 275 F1 had a 3.3-liter Lampredi V12 that made 300 hp at 7,300 rpm. Not bad for a car that was built almost 75 years ago, even if the engine size is a bit odd.

There are actually quite a few 3.0-liter V12s, but as big fans of Dan Gurney, we’re going to start off with the Weslake 58. It powered the Eagle MK1 and was capable of making more than 400 hp, as well as revving to 10,000 rpm.

Matra’s 3.0-liter V12 first appeared in the Matra MS11 in 1968. The MS11 doesn’t have the greatest record as a Formula 1 car, but who cares about a little engine unreliability when it could be tuned to make well over 400 hp? (Ok, Matra and Jean-Pierre Beltoise probably cared.)

When the rules changed after 1937, Mercedes-Benz could no longer use the supercharged inline-eight that it had been using in the W125. So instead it built a supercharged 3.0-liter V12 for the 1938 W154.

Alfa Romeo used to love a much less common configuration and went racing with several flat-12s, but in 1982, the Alfa Romeo 182 got a good, old-fashioned 3.0-liter V12 to go with its Marlboro stickers. And not only did it sound incredible, but it also made more than 500 hp.

While a flat-12 such as the ones Alfa Romeo previously used isn’t super common, BRM used to race with a flat-16. That changed in 1967 when BRM switched to (yet another) 3.0-liter V12. By the end of its life, it was pushing 500 hp.

In the late 1950s, Maserati was wildly successful in racing with its 3.0-liter V12-powered 250F. But that engine didn’t actually start its life as a 3.0-liter. In fact, it was originally a 2.5-liter V12 that made a little more than 300 hp. Either way, that’s a pretty low displacement for a 12-cylinder engine.

The Ferrari Colombo V12 is arguably the most famous small-displacement engine on this list. Ferrari eventually built larger versions, including the still-small 2.0-liter found in the 166 S, but it started life in the Ferrari 125 as a tiny 1.5-liter V12. It didn’t make much more than 100 hp, but back in 1947, that was a lot more than it is today. And yet, it’s not the smallest V12 on this list.

So far, we haven’t emphasized exact displacement because it’s not super relevant when the cars listed are all middle of the pack. But considering how well-known Ferrari’s 1.5-liter Colombo V12 is, we’d like to point out that technically, the V12 that Honda used in the RA272 is even smaller. While Ferrari’s was 1.497 liters, Honda’s was 1.495 liters. It’s a tiny difference, but it still counts.