Automotive

1600 hp monster diesel firing up at Rétromobile 2012

1600 hp monster diesel firing up at Rétromobile 2012
This vintage 30-ton 1600-horsepower Type 9 V.O.S. Duvant engine is currently on display at the Retromobile 2012 show in Paris
This vintage 30-ton 1600-horsepower Type 9 V.O.S. Duvant engine is currently on display at the Retromobile 2012 show in Paris
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This vintage 30-ton 1600-horsepower Type 9 V.O.S. Duvant engine is currently on display at the Retromobile 2012 show in Paris
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This vintage 30-ton 1600-horsepower Type 9 V.O.S. Duvant engine is currently on display at the Retromobile 2012 show in Paris

Hey, you like really big engines? Well, here's one that's not going to fit under the hood of your F-150. This 30-ton (27-tonne) Type 9 V.O.S. engine is one of just three built by the French company Duvant in 1962. It's over 18 feet (5.5 meters) long, 11 feet (3.4 m) tall, and gulps down 350 liters (92.5 US gallons) of diesel fuel per hour. With its four valves per cylinder and turbocompressor, it is capable of producing 1600 horsepower. Best of all, should you happen to be in Paris this week, you can see the thing running.

This particular Type 9 spent 50 years in the basement of the Auteuil Race Course, in Paris. There, it drove a giant alternator, that could power the entire facility in the event of a power outage.

In 1990, it was used for the last time. By 2000, the race course owners were looking for a new home for the engine, so the Association des Amoureux des Vieux Moteurs (Vintage Engines Appreciation Society) took it off their hands. After taking it apart, winching it out of the basement by crane, then transporting it and reassembling it, members of the Society were finally able to start it up again in 2010.

Now, it's on display at the Rétromobile 2012 show in Paris, running February 1st to 5th.

Among the other vintage oddities on display will be a 1913 Audi Type C with airplane fabric covered coachwork, an incomplete 1920s GERIN aerodynamic concept vehicle, and two examples of early amphibious cars.

24 comments
24 comments
Rkt9
No it won\'t fit in your F-150, or your Kenworth. It might fit in your railroad diesel electro-motive, but 1600 HP is really whimpy. It might fit in your luxury boat. The rate of fuel consumption per hour is atrocious! Rather than start it up at a show, and waste precious fuel, they should take it to the scrap yard, where it belongs.
Victor Rouleau
Go hug a tree rkt9, your opinion belongs in the scrapyard. The same thing could be said about every retro plane/car/boat out there. Its not intended to have any commercial use anymore and just serves to satisfy the interest of a niche segment.I for one think its quite cool even if i never hope to own one.
The Tom
Agreeded, dump this thing. Waste of space, money, fuel, and now my time. :)
Mr T
Also agree with Rkt9, while I like old machinery, there comes a time when you have to admit that a piece of crap is a piece of crap and scrap it...
christopher
Wow - looks like all the greenies got out of the wrong side of their tree thismorning!
Slowburn
It is a historical artifact owned by those that treasure such things.
Windmaster Hiroaki
See it start & wait for goddamn massive amounts of toxic waste gases get into my nostrils? thanks but i\'ll pass. nostalgic or not, it doesnt change the fact that this thing here ain\'t doing any work & will start polluting the air around the second it\'s fired up. i agree with Rkt9 up there. this thing here belongs to the scrap yard.
Zappenfusen
I hope the naysayer\'s aren\'t serious. Destroy a machine demonstrating how we got where were at? Blasphemy! Maybe never crank it again, that being an awful thought. Imagine the man hours involved in bringing it to life. Make a spectacle of turning it over once a month for 5 minutes. I\'d pay to see that. Hopefully it would start.
Narendra Rajcoomar
1600 HP yes, but over 60,000 lbs feet of torque
JoeB
(Sarcasm alert!!)
By all means, junk this relic! And junk other outdated things like the Eiffel Tower (lots of steel), Notre Dame (room for green space) Napoleon\'s Tomb (replace with indoor garden)..
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