Koenigsegg developing a camshaft-less engine

Koenigsegg Regera

To be launched within "the next couple of years"

Following the news that
Koenigsegg could launch a four-door model within the next five years, now it
has emerged the Swedish supercar manufacturer is working on an engine with no
camshafts.

Again Top Gear reports an
engineering team of eight members has been developing this unit for the last
few years, while Christian von Koenigsegg has been toying with the idea for
almost 14 years. He says the project will be ready "within the next couple of
years".

"The way I see it, if
you view the engine as a piano, and the valves as keys, with a camshaft, you're
playing the piano with a broomstick", he told TG at the 2015 Geneva Motor Show.
"The reason you have a four-valve cylinder head instead of a two-valve is so it
can breathe freely on high rpm for more power, but that's counteracting your
efforts at low rpm, because you get less speed through bigger ports and less
turbulence and poorer distribution."

"The first thing is to
shut off two valves", he continued. "Then if you get rid of the throttle body -
because you can throttle with the valves - you can open them a little or a lot,
you get better response than butterflies on an intake tract, because you're in
the combustion engine. Thirdly you can shut off cylinders completely like Audi
is doing, but you don't have to choose just two to do it. And fourth, you can
have any valve timing you want - a diesel-like character, or an F1-type
character because you have no restriction whatsoever in cam profile."

 Note: Koenigsegg Regera powertrain pictured.