Comparison Tests
The number 12 is powerful, perhaps even more so than pi (3.142) or the so-called golden ratio (1.618). The Sumerians of ancient Mesopotamia probably started it. They worshipped 12 astral gods, one for each of the 12 heavenly bodies of the solar system as they knew it (and as we may soon discover). Subsequent pantheons in Greece, Rome, and elsewhere also housed 12 superior deities, and the transition to one-god religions didn't dampen humankind's enthusiasm for the dozen. Christians count 12 apostles; Muslims, 12 holy imams; and Jews, the 12 tribes of Israel. Chinese, Vedic (Indian), and Western cultures all recognize 12 months and 12 signs of the astrological zodiac. In Chinese medicine, there are 12 jing meridians of ch'i, or energy flow, in the body. And in modern-day secular America, Alan Greenspan presides over 12 Federal Reserve banks. We try cases before a jury of 12 of our peers and appeal federal cases in one of 12 circuit courts. We enroll in 12-step programs to kick nasty habits. We buy doughnuts and bagels in batches of 12, and on and on it goes.
The number 12 looms supernaturally in the mechanical realm as well. Consider the V-12 engine. Back in the early years of internal-combustion research, this configuration was found to run with uncanny calm. Thanks to a natural balancing of the reciprocating and rotating parts, an even-firing V-12 is free of the first- and second-order forces and moments that cause vibration in many other engine types. The earliest military aircraft designers tooling up for the Great War were attracted to the power-dense V-12 because it posed less risk of shaking an airframe to pieces. By World War II, V-12s were the engine of choice in fighter planes, with the Rolls-Royce Merlin powering Allied Spitfires and Mustangs and the Daimler-Benz DB 600-series motivating Axis Messerschmitts (see sidebar). And the V-12 made just as good a civilian plowshare as it did a military sword, as wealthy drivers began learning as early as 1916 with the Packard Double-Six.
As engineering has progressed through the jet age, the space age, and on toward the age of Aquarius, the 12-cylinder has survived as the automotive engine of choice for patricians, plutocrats, and power brokers the world over. GM is hard at work on a V-12 for a flagship Cadillac; Ford's V-12 marks time under sporty Aston Martin hoods awaiting better days for a possible Lagonda or Jaguar XJ12 sedan reprise; Toyota builds a V-12 for its anachronistic, chrome-bumpered Century in Japan and might install it in a 2006 Lexus; and VW will soon crowd 12 cylinders into the space of eight in its forthcoming Phaeton W-12.
BMW and DaimlerChrysler are the leading sellers of V-12 cars. Their ritzy Rolls-Royce and Maybach divisions each feature V-12 powertrains in cars that cost in excess of 300 large. For lesser moguls and magnates, or those who simply like to show a bit more stealth with their wealth, there are the BMW 760Li and the Mercedes-Benz S600. Both provide the same engine technology and 90 percent of the power of their Rolls Phantom and Maybach 57 stablemates for about four dimes on the greenback.
In the case of the BMW, the new technology includes direct fuel injection (a U.S. first) that lowers cylinder temperatures to permit a higher compression ratio and thereby boost power by five percent over that of a similar port-injected engine. Valvetronic variable valve timing and lift do away with traditional throttle plates and their pumping losses to further increase efficiency. Mercedes ditched last year's fuel-saving cylinder deactivation and took a somewhat blunter approach to power generation—it bolted on two 3K-Warner K24 turbos with intercoolers, blowing 14.5 psi into the S600 (or 18.9 psi into the Maybach). The pertinent numbers are: for the 760Li, 438 horsepower and 444 pound-feet; for the S600, 493 horsepower and 590 pound-feet. The impertinent ones are: for the BMW, 15 city and 23 highway mpg; for the Mercedes, 13 city and 19 highway.
To report on the current state of the V-12 supersedan art, we pretended as though our 11th and 12th Vedic astrological houses (the ones governing income and expenditures) had endowed us with the wealth and power to acquire a quarter-million dollars' worth of BMW and Mercedes sedans and park them in front of important buildings in the current seat of global power, Washington, D.C. (and if you like these photos of us, there are probably hundreds more like them in Secret Service filing cabinets across the capital).
