Yes, we said 9,000 horsepower potential. We’re not pulling that number out of our keisters either. It is listed on the R12 website as the highest potential output from this 960ci 12-rotor piece of engineering that will find homes in things like boats and apparently an exotic super car of some type. In the video you’ll see the engine running on a single Holley four barrel carb. The mondo horsepower version would be twin turbocharged and fed with a fuel injection system, so don’t go giving us any guff about making 5,000hp on a single four barrel. That’s a different program altogether.

The engine was designed and built by Tyson Garvin. We first saw it on display at the PRI show back in 2012 and we were blown away by it then. This is the first video we have seen and heard of it running. The motor has four rows of three rotors and displaced some 960ci. It is dimensionally identical to a big block Chevy and is designed to fit in the same places a rat motor would fit. That means, cars, boats, etc. We talked with Garvin on the phone about the engine yesterday and he let us know that the engine is scaleable for whatever space and needs someone may have. Want to make it smaller? Unbolt a couple rows of rotors. Want to make it bigger? Add a couple. It is completely modular like a “normal” rotary. The engine weighs 830lbs and would have a redline of 8,500-9,000 RPM theoretically. That theory is soon to be put to the test.

Garvin is actively seeking a dyno to put the engine on and  gain knowledge of power levels, failure points, and to test the accuracy of his own thoughts on the engine. “Guys are making 600 per rotor and at least one guy has a two rotor engine that makes 1600hp,” he said. “This engine is stronger and should be able to handle more boost than other rotaries out there so that means that with turbos and the right fuel injection setup we could see more than 7,000hp going on the existing math.” He wasn’t kidding and the scary part is that this thing could make more than that. If it makes 800hp per rotor you are looking at 9,600hp. The turbos he spoke with are going to be a PAIR of 122mm units that he will essentially run as hard as they can go. “We’re looking to test the engine to the point of failure,” Garvin said. “We want to see what the limits of the design are, how much boost it can handle, what kind of RPM it will run, etc.”

We actually trying to find Garvin a place to dyno this thing and we have a couple ideas that we passed along to him and his team. The video you see below is the first footage of the engine up and running. It is started and stopped a couple times and then it is run for a while. Note the footage with the glasses of water sitting on the engine while it is running. They are barely even rippling. That’s pretty impressive and so isn’t the noise that this monster makes, even with just a 4bbl carb on top of it to feed the fuel.

Garvin is back to working on this project all day, every day or at least between record breaking endurance boat runs. In his spare time, Garvin attacks the high seas in very fast boats for very long distances. He has held the record for the quickest run from New York City to Bermuda multiple times and he’ll be heading out west to try for another record off the coast of California in a couple of weeks. But back to the engine….

This is the first footage of it running and we’re going to keep you posted on the progress and development of this fire breathing monster!

PRESS PLAY BELOW TO HEAR THE MIGHTIEST ROTARY ENGINE IN THE WORLD COME TO LIFE!