V3 engine
Appearance
The V3 engine is a V engine with three cylinders. A V engine with the usual two banks, one bank contains two cylinders, the other only one. A rare configuration, it has only been used for two-stroke racing motorcycles.
The first example was used by DKW in 1953.
Honda later revived the layout in the following bikes:
- Honda NS500 Grand Prix racing motorcycle of the early 1980s
- Honda MVX250F
- Honda NS400R
Suzuki also made a V3 two stroke engine called the RP68 that made 19 bhp and revved to 20000 rpm.
A related layout was the W3 or 'fan' engine, although this placed all three cylinders in the same plane, but none of them in the same bank. This was used for the 1905–1915 four-stroke Anzani engine, which was used in motorcycle and aircraft applications.