Ladeeez and gents, the Ferrari 712 Can-AM. Too bad it was never developed to be competitive. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mjp6NjfKffU
Your title is actually the beginning of a very interesting thread Excluding aero engines & dragsters after WW2 the last Chevy CanAm engines were at least 8 litres Physically the 16 cylinder 917 engine was not small What other candidates can we come up with ?
There have certainly been bigger HP output engines. but I think this one was the biggest displacement Ferrari comp engine.
I would've went with the 1913 Mercedes 82/200, of which six were built. 21 litres, 200 horsepower. And they raced it at Brooklands! Nothing beats cubic inches, indeed.
I guess that Land Speed Record cars aren't eligible? Many of these had V-12 aircraft engines. And if "Competition" includes Unlimited hydroplanes, you can add the Rolls-Royce Griffon, all of 2240 cubic inches or nearly 37 liters!
The aluminum Chevy elephant engines that ran in the later days of Grp 7 Can-Am were 510ci, or 8.3 Liters. There was a post war special in the UK called the Swandean Spitfire that had a 27 liter supercharged R-R Merlin engine that ran sprints and the odd hillclimb. If you want to extend this to drag racing there was the "Quad Al" built by Jim Lytle which used 4 Allison V12 aircraft engines with a total displacement of 6840ci. All wheels drive with twin slicks at each corner. Kurt O.
Joe Schubert was developing a very large engine for racing: http://www.schubeckracing.com/Anewgenerationofraceengine.html
