NICE RIDE: Mercedes’ $2.8 Million Hypercar Gets Huge Power from a Tiny Engine.

The Project One gets most of its oomph from a turbocharged 1.6-liter V6 engine. That may seem minuscule for this sort of use case, but consider that this machine is a close cousin to the one that powered the car Lewis Hamilton drove to an F1 championship in 2015. Of course, some accommodations had to be made.

Many of these changes have to do with how, and how high, the engine revs. The engine in an “ordinary” Mercedes sports car, say the $158,000 AMG GTR, is sized and tuned to make max power around 6,500 rpm. This limits heat and wear, allows for slightly greater tolerances in internal equipment, heightens longevity, and limits vibration.

A Formula One racecar will more than double that number, reaching about 13,500 rpm, and the Project One’s engine is a lot closer to that primal scream than to the roar of the GTR. The small, free-spinning motor will redline at an outrageous 11,000 rpm.

700 horses out of 1.6 liters? We may have found the replacement for displacement: Money.