3 cylinders, 6 pistons

🧐

I expected it was somebody trying to make a pointlessly complicated thing but after reading the Wikipedia article I just don't know any more.

the bottom crankshaft going counterclockwise is messing with me...

@ardgedee nah, the Deltic ran great in locomotives for years. Horizontally-opposed two-stroke diesels can be incredibly efficient and light. Slightly complicated, especially when you consider the full engine had six ranks of three cylinders. But hey, at least it wasn't a BRM P75 ...

@rk2z the engine wouldn't work if they all went the same way

So these cranks would drive different sets of wheels? Or are they unified by being fed into a complicated maze of cogs and gears?

/too lazy to read the Wiki

Nevermind, I did read the wiki after all: “required separate crankshafts on each end of the engine that must be coupled through gearing or shafts”

@mare I think they wanted to avoid a huge, heavy cylinder head, so yay complexity