An rc nitro engine is an engineering marvel. These tiny nitro engines can scream to speeds in excess of 40,000 RPM! This is an extremely HIGH RPM for a reciprocating style engine (where a piston goes up and down constantly "stopping" and changing directions). Just for comparison, a typical V8 engine may run out of steam somewhere around 6000 RPM or so. Even a typical "high revving" 4 cylinder car engine will usually be limited to around 7500 RPM. There are exceptions with some racing type automotive engines able to rev up a few thousand RPM higher, but even so it becomes very clear how amazing these little nitro rc engines really are!
If you look at the power output of a typical 
rc nitro engine, you soon begin to really see how amazing these small fire breathing engine really are! Let's say you have a powerful full size hot rod car with a 350 cubic inch displacement engine that cranks out around 375 HP. That's a powerful engine that will make a full size car really move! Here's where it really gets interesting. If you take the displacement of a typical "big block" nitro rc engine (.21 cubic inches or above), you will find that they will usually produce somewhere between 2 - 3 HP. If you figure the power to displacement ratio of one of these nitro rc engines, you quickly realize that the power output of these little engines is mind boggling. For comparision purposes, that hot rodded 350 V8 would not just be pumping out in excess of 300 HP, but it would need to thump out in excess of 3000 HP to match the power to displacement of typical rc nitro engines!
rc nitro engine, you soon begin to really see how amazing these small fire breathing engine really are! Let's say you have a powerful full size hot rod car with a 350 cubic inch displacement engine that cranks out around 375 HP. That's a powerful engine that will make a full size car really move! Here's where it really gets interesting. If you take the displacement of a typical "big block" nitro rc engine (.21 cubic inches or above), you will find that they will usually produce somewhere between 2 - 3 HP. If you figure the power to displacement ratio of one of these nitro rc engines, you quickly realize that the power output of these little engines is mind boggling. For comparision purposes, that hot rodded 350 V8 would not just be pumping out in excess of 300 HP, but it would need to thump out in excess of 3000 HP to match the power to displacement of typical rc nitro engines!
