OT: Which Engine Configuration has the Most Power?, Curious Minds Want to Know Options

[Britain Smith]

I was discussing the engine layout of a Porsche motor in a horizontially opposed configuration and the question came up on which engine configuration produced the most HP/liter and why? I know that an advantage of a Porsche motor is that the center of gravity is really low, but does its configuration have any power advantages when compared to say a 90 degree V6 or an straight 6? For simplicity, lets keep the discuss focused on normally aspirated motors. What are you thoughts and why?

-Britain

[lapuwali]

It wasn't the vibration that caused the landing crashes. It was the enormous gyroscopic effect of that huge mass spinning at the front of a very short and light airframe. If you banked the plane one way, the nose would climb rapidly, if you banked it the other way, it would dive rapidly. If you pushed the nose down, it would bank violently. Pull it up, and it would bank the other way.

Plenty of novice pilots died trying to turn shortly after takeoff, and finding the plane either nose down, or nose up so much it stalled, because they forgot to apply opposite elevator and rudder to compensate for the gyro effect.