To answer some of your questions:
Engines: We considered many different engines from BMW straight sixes to Ford Ecotec turbo, but the engine that gave us all we wanted - power; 200+ bhp and light weight -85Kg's was the Hayabusa. I asked a mate who is sporting director for Suzuki if he could get us a pair of Hayabusa motors, and that eventually led to RPE. At this point in time all we want to do is get the old girl flying. We're not going after any speed records so don't need a huge amount of power. The aircraft currently weighs in at around 800Kgs so hopefully just over the 1000Kg's with engine, gearbox and drivetrain and we will have around 420bhp in total driving a pair of very efficient propellers so she'll be fast enough for me at least.
Engines 2: Both engines are mounted in the rear fuselage, one immediately behind the pilot but in front of the wing spar, the other even further back behind the spar. Both engines connect to a nose mounted gearbox via long driveshafts that pass down either side of the cockpit and join at the gearbox. The rear engine drives the left side shaft, which in turn drives the forward propeller which turns anti-clockwise. The front engine, right side shaft, rear prop clockwise. The sketch below explains it all.
Ailerons: The aircraft does have ailerons but it also has split flaps and the ailerons are designed to droop in landing configuration. The flaps and undercarriage are designed to be fully automatic taking their cue from throttle position, manifold pressure and airspeed.
Overall it was a highly complex aircraft and was revolutionary for it's time. Some of the patents extended to her were not seen in action for many years after the event. For example, the internal low drag "Meredith" effect cooling system was not seen on an aircraft until the P51 Mustang arrived in the latter parts of the war.
The plan if we can get funding is to bring her to Europe as a static exhibit this year and show her at various events such as Farnborough and Goodwood amongst others. Then we will ship her back to the states to install the engines and fliught test her over the winter before bringing her back in 2013 for a full season display.
If you guys want to know more, please visit our website
http://www.bugatti100p.com Whilst there, be sure to click the Facebook "LIKE" button. The more people that we can make aware of this project, the better chance we have to secure valuable funding, not least the costs to ship her over this summer. Thanks for taking an interest, it's been a long hard slog to get to where we are, but we are starting to see the light at the end of the tunnel - now where did I put my sunglasses!
