Automobile Use
Inline-twins were used in the early days of motoring in models such as the 1898 Decauville Voiturelle which used a pair of cylinders taken from a de Dion model mounted fore and aft and positioned below the seat.
In 1955, engineer Aurelio Lampredi designed an experimental straight-twin cylinder Formula One engine on the theory that it would provide high levels of torque for tight race circuits. The result was the 2.5-liter Type 116 prototype. Unfortunately, it vibrated so badly it broke the test bench and was never used in a racing car.
Straight-twin engines have been used in very small cars (e.g. Microcars, "light" cars, and city cars such as the Fiat 500 and 126, NSU, and Mitsubishi Minica. From 1967 to 1972, Honda produced the N360 and its successors N400 and N600 with straight-two engines in 360 cc, 400 cc, and 600 cc sizes. The Z600 was produced from 1970 to 1972. From 1958 to 1971, Subaru produced the 360 with a rear-mounted, rear-drive 358 cc air-cooled engine.
Current production cars that use a straight-two engine include the Tata Nano, which has a 623 cc engine, and the Fiat 500 TwinAir, which has a turbocharged 875 cc engine.
Read more about this topic: Straight-twin Engine
Famous quotes containing the word automobile:
“Let a man find himself, in distinction from others, on top of two wheels with a chain—at least in a poor country like Russia—and his vanity begins to swell out like his tyres. In America it takes an automobile to produce this effect.”
—Leon Trotsky (1879–1940)
“The westerner, normally, walks to get somewhere that he cannot get in an automobile or on horseback. Hiking for its own sake, for the sheer animal pleasure of good condition and brisk exercise, is not an easy thing for him to comprehend.”
—State of Utah, U.S. public relief program (1935-1943)