- The new V-12 from De Tomaso Automobili looks bizarre and literally alien.
- It took four years to get this engine right; With a displacement of 6.2 liters, it would reach a speed of 12,300 rpm and produce 900 hp on synthetic fuel.
- The car it fits in, the P900, will cost three million dollars.
In space, no one can hear you scream. Presumably the cold, hard vacuum should also keep us from hearing all those TIE fighters flying by. However, when you’re bathed in a soup of nitrogen, oxygen and trace gases, you may well hear a scream or two, in this case the howl of a twelve-cylinder internal combustion engine revving above 12,000 rpm.
This is the new 6.2-liter V-12 from the De Tomaso Automobili P900, and it looks like it came straight from HR Giger’s sketchbook. It’s a writhing mass of steel guts and features an incredible 12:1 exhaust manifold that ends in a huge cylindrical exit. This is what jet engines sometimes look like with the covers off, except with feverish and terrible symmetry.
The P900’s engine is designed to run on synthetic fuel, with a peak power of 900 hp. Previously, in 2022, the company had also made a Judd Power V-10 available for the P900’s carbon fiber chassis, as development of the V-12 was expected to take two years. In the end it took twice as long.
On the outside, the P900 has the expected hypercar look, with huge aerodynamic elements, glass like a fighter jet cockpit and truly enormous air intakes. It’s primarily intended for track use, but is gloriously impractical.
However, the look of this new bike makes you think they might as well leave the body off. All that tubing gives the V-12 the presence of the Xenomorph Strangerand you have to imagine that the sound it makes could make your heart jump out of your chest.
Mind you, we’re talking about a $3 million purchase here, something that should rival the best that Ferrari and Lamborghini have to offer (let alone Bugatti or Koenigsegg). The P900 will be old-fashioned in some respects, with no hybridization with its powerplant and only rear-wheel drive. The formula is simple: a curb weight of less than 2,000 pounds, huge power, active aerodynamics. The fact that there’s mechanical artwork under the skin only adds to the appeal.
Only 18 P900s are planned for production, which may come as a relief to the manufacturers who welded up this spectacularly complex exhaust. De Tomaso plans to provide storage space for these cars at the Nürburgring, where there is a tarmac worthy of such a beast, and space to let it scream.
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Brendan McAleer is a freelance writer and photographer based in North Vancouver, BC, Canada. He grew up on British cars, came of age in the golden age of Japanese sports compact performance, and started writing about cars and people in 2008. His special interest is in the intersection between man and machine, whether it concerns the racing career of Walter Cronkite or the half-century-long obsession of Japanese animator Hayao Miyazaki with the Citroën 2CV. He has taught both of his young daughters how to shift a manual transmission and is grateful for the excuse they provide to constantly buy Hot Wheels.
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