These Are the Best Race Engines of All Time

The Cosworth DFV 90° V8 is the winningest racing engine of all time, and it looks great and sounded great, so I’d go with that...

The DFV’s list of achievements is far too long to include in a single slide, so I’ll say this about it: It won. A lot. Take however many wins you think that is, add ten, and then double it.

Submitted by: GTO62

Dino v6 specifically:

Lancia Stratos’s Dino 65degree V6 - to me THAT is the sound of WRC. Perfect balance of being substantial, throaty, and revvy. You hear a high pitch approaching, lighten up, throttle rev zip/popping, a deep downshift and full blast away...

And that family of engines (including the later V8 in the F40) had prior F1/F2 use and lasted in vehicles from the late 50s until the early 2000s.

It doesn’t hurt the Dino that it ended up in one of the prettiest cars ever to race: The Lancia Stratos. If I won the lottery tomorrow, I would have one of these in my garage.

Submitted by: FutureDoc

Matra F1 MS11 V12 - Sound, engineering, and the beauty of it!

Exposing an engine from the bodywork of a race car really makes it feel like there’s the bare minimum amount of structure involved to count as a “car.” It also makes the engine a centerpiece, something to be admired.

Submitted by: minardi

The Gurney-Westlake V12.

Sure it only won one F1 race, but the design with the exhausts looking like the Eagle Mk.1's feathers. The engine was no slouch either.

See what I mean about exposing the engine? Those headers are a work of art on their own. The car around them is just gravy.

Submitted by: Knyte

Came to post Cossie DFV, but was beaten to it...then thought of the engine from the 917, and someone had that already...then thought of....point is, there are a bunch that can be argued here (though DFV wins through ubiquity, longevity, reliability, etc.). I’m going to propose two choices that aren’t so obvious, but their impact is extensive: the Coventry Climax 4-cyl, and the VW boxer engine.

Both are (or were) astoundingly cheap, very reliable, easily worked on by anyone with basic tools...yet able to make amazing power for their size by true expert engine modifiers, and they were found in a bazillion race cars for decades. And not just entry-level, either...though they were both great motors for those kind of series (Formula VW, etc.). These engines were used in ‘serious race cars’ as well!

An argument could be made for the Jaguar XK engine, too...especially if you factor in success/entries. Probably a bunch of other great engines I’m missing, too....it’s hard to just state one as unequivocal. But, again, the DFV will probably win this argument, all possible factors considered. You can’t dominate ‘the pinnacle of motorsport’ (where innovation seems to occur on a race-by-race basis) for 14 frickin years without being something special!

VW’s little flat four may not have made incredible power, or been The Winningest Race Engine, but its relatively cheap cost and the fact that Volkswagen made approximately one point three billion of them made them perfect for getting people into motorsports.

Submitted by: Osmodious

Obviously the Colombo V12, especially the 250. Everything else is fighting for second place.

The looks, the sound, the race history, the number of gorgeous cars it was put in. . . no other engine is such an all-star.

A good engine needs a good name. I’ve always wanted an engine that’s going to ask me “Just one more thing...”

Submitted by: Garland - Last Top Comment on Splinter

Porsche 917/30 Can-Am’s 5.4L V12, it was so good it killed the sport.

Rumor has it that the way to keep your race series going is simply to ban Porsche. They’re too good at racing, and they make everyone else immediately uncompetitive.

Submitted by: ExGavalonnj

BMW M12, 1,400 HP at 5 Bar of boost and three laps of qualifying, running on Rocket Fuel in 1986 before the fun police imposed fuel restrictions and boost limits before the outright ban in 1989

Fun fact about the M12's horsepower rating: It’s a guess. BMW’s engine dyno didn’t even go that high, so the engineers had to estimate the total power output.

Submitted by: Bob

I don’t think there’s really such a thing as a bad race engine, but my favorite will always be the C7.R

I’ve been on a Corvette kick recently, browsing Facebook Marketplace and Craigslist every night for them. Please stop suggesting QOTD answers that involve cool Corvettes, I am this close to picking one up and every picture I have to find draws me even closer.

Submitted by: Laststandard

I’ll go with Ferrari Tipo 043, which was the most powerful V12 in F1 history, and last V12 to be in use.

Its destroked version (Tipo 044, 3.0 l) for the 1995 season sounded so beautiful compared with the rest of the field.. (who were running V10s and V8s).

The Tipo 043 revved to over fifteen thousand RPM. I’ve never spun a motorcycle engine that fast, let alone one in a car.

Submitted by: decece

The Offy.

From 1930 to 1983, it was a great race engine for American racing. How great?

Let’s talk Indy 500. 27 times. That’s how many times it won. From 1950-1960, it wasn’t just the winning car, but the 2nd and 3rd place cars as well. And all but 1 time, it was on the pole too.

But all legends eventually get de-throned. In 1963, the legendary Ford/Cosworth V8 dethroned the Offy.

But the Offy wasn’t finished. In 1968, the rules changes to methanol and the ability to make a small displacement turbo car to compete with the larger displacement NA cars lead to the Offy coming back. The Offy moved back to be THE engine to have for the Indy 500 all the way through the 70s. It wasn’t dethroned from this spot until the late 70s when the maximum boost was lowered.

But it wasn’t just Indy cars. Basically for about 50-60 years, if you were watching a US open wheeled race, you were watching cars powered by the Offy.

The Offy was everywhere, inescapable in open-wheel motorsport. Modern technology has left it a relic, but it deserves credit for its pedigree.

Submitted by: hoser68

Talk about an easy answer—the Chrysler 426 Hemi:

Thanks to its real-deal hemispherical engine design, to say this engine could breathe was the understatement of the year. And here the engine performed fantastically well at two very opposite racing extremes. NHRA use with runs down dragstrips over in less than 10 seconds while also kicking ass and taking names on NASCAR racetracks with the motor going flat-out for hours at a time.

The design was pure genius and lives on to this day with the aluminum block aftermarket versions. It is the best.

That Thang Got A Hemi?

Submitted by: the 1969 Dodge Charger Guy

Taking the cue from the prompt about “best sound” - for me there was nothing better before or since than the sound of the Ferrari 333SP 4.0L V12 screaming up the turn 1 right hand corner hill at Road Atlanta. Intoxicating. Absolute magic.

I love the sound of American big block V8s, but that Ferrari to this day was the best automotive sound I have ever heard.

Nothing beats the sound of a high-strung European engine. I’m sorry to all those cammed V8 owners, but you’re stuck in second place.

Submitted by: MrMach1

I’m not a Chevy guy, but even I can admit it’s gotta be the Small Block Chevy.

While something like a 2005 Honda F1 V10 is way cooler, the SBC got more regular people into racing and powered more home-built race cars than anything else. It’s almost single-handedly responsible for grassroots motorsports, without a cheap and reliable engine the hobby wouldn’t be where it is today.

The classic, the hot rodder’s bread and butter, the engine that foretold the LS to come. It’s not fancy, it’s not modern, but it got the job done.

Submitted by: DeWayneV8

Whatever engine is in the rental I am taking to track day.

The fastest engine is the one you don’t have to maintain. But will your rental insurance cover you if you hit a wall?

Submitted by: ikaiyoo