And there's the rub. The flat crank engine has real balance problems and for years the upper limit on flat crank V8 displacement has been less than 300 cubic inches. If you look at all the racing engines and ultra high performance V8s with 180 degree cranks, you find most of them at 200 cubic inches or close, or less. And yes, safety wiring is necessary for most of these engines, although I don't think the new Ford engine is safety wired.

The flat crank 8 is exactly like two four cylinders at right angles to each other. Four cylinders have inherent shaking problems. When they get much bigger than 2 liters they will have a balance shaft to counteract the shaking. So two of them at right angles will have even more severe problems. The advantage is it's easier to do ram tuning with a four cylinder because of the evenly spaced exhaust pulses. The disadvantages outweigh the advantages in most every case, except for the Indycar and Ferrari V8s.

R.