At the risk of upsetting some apple carts here its time people realised that BHP figures are pretty meaningless. Torque is what counts. There is an ancient saying in motoring circles "torque turns wheels"! BHP is a mathematical figure calculated from the maximum torque produced multiplied by the RPM and the date of your last underwear change.
I'm rebuilding a Locust but using the Haynes manual for inspiration and as a rough guide. I'm building it with a 2.9 V6 Cosworth Granada lump simply because that will give me a big fat torque curve. Yes I know that a 4V per cylinder will traditionally produce most of its torque at higher revs but a 2.9 litre V6 is still going to give some fairly substantial torque from around 2K and a smooth build up from there. Add into the mix that when you really boot it to above 4K its gonna fly but with no sudden surge of thrust, just a strong build of forward motion and I think its the way to go, well for me it is anyway.
The biggest problem with smaller capacity engines generating high power outputs is they invariably have an "on cam/off cam" (on boost/off boost for turbos) moment where they change character from Mr Hyde to Dr Jekyll and all hell lets loose. The same is true to some extent of bike engined cars.
D.
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