Chapter 190: German Engine Advanced? The Fake-Spec King!

The headquarters of MTU Company, a nine-story building with a glass curtain wall, looks impressive and gives a modern feel.

Eighth floor, conference room.

"MB873 diesel engine is our MTU Company's most advanced engine, and also the world's most advanced engine. Your visit here for inspection is the wisest choice! In fact, you don't need to develop any tanks yourself; currently, the Leopard 2 tank developed by Krauss-Maffei Company is about to complete all testing, and you can directly purchase our Germany's most advanced tank!"

MTU Company's overseas sales manager Schultz talked incessantly, and all the leaders present were quite embarrassed.

Buy?

Our Eastern country's territory is vast; we would need at least five thousand tanks to be sufficient, but with the little foreign exchange in our national treasury, being able to buy a few hundred would already be good! Moreover, we don't even plan to buy all these engines; we intend to produce them under license, and symbolically purchasing a dozen or so would already be fine.

"Let's still listen to your tank diesel engine," Zhu Lao said.

"Good, then we'll continue introducing the diesel engine. Our Leopard 1 tank uses the MB838 diesel engine, with only 830 horsepower, which cannot meet the demand for third-generation tanks, so we have newly developed the MB873 engine……

"Compared to the previous one, displacement increased from 37.4 liters to 47.6 liters. Only a ten-liter increase in displacement, yet the power nearly doubled, reaching 1500 horsepower……

"Is this 1500 horsepower the net output?" After the other party finished speaking, Qin Miao was the first to ask.

Instantly, Schultz's face showed an awkward expression.

When talking about engine power, many domestic automakers nowadays produce engines with very high power; even an ordinary 1.5T engine can output 178 horsepower. Looking abroad, for example, BMW's low-power version of a 2.0T engine actually only has 156 horsepower, which is mockingly called turbo lag.

Then what?

You'll know once you drive it; acceleration and such simply aren't as fast as theirs with turbo lag!

Then someone went to test on a dynamometer—that is, flooring the throttle to measure wheel power. BMW's turbo-lag engine can exceed 160 horsepower at the wheel, while those claiming 178 horsepower don't even reach 150 at the wheel! How much exactly? The data measured by the media is even more shocking: 122 horsepower!

The false-spec manufacturers were slapped in the face and immediately came up with an explanation: "Our stated power is the rated maximum power; you measured the net power!"

An engine doesn't just output power; it also consumes part of it itself—for example, the cooling system consumes part, the air conditioning when turned on consumes part, upgrading the exhaust pipe also reduces power, and the transmission also consumes part…… Our data is not falsified; you measured what remains after these losses!

But why does BMW directly label net power? Isn't it just because manufacturers want to fool people, thinking high numbers are impressive?

And MTU Company's this tank diesel engine is also a false-spec king!

Soviet tanks emphasize being low to reduce the hit area; as for the small interior space… well, we could just let short people from Central Asia drive the tanks!

Russian tanks weigh almost never over forty tons; although their engines are only six or seven hundred horsepower, they can still speed like the wind.

What about Europe?

Europe has no short people; they are all big and stout, so the tanks they use cannot be too small.

Large hull, large turret— the consequence is overweight, often over sixty tons; the British, to preserve life, make the armor thicker, so tank weight can even exceed seventy tons.

With great weight, good mobility requires higher engine power! In the 1970s, 1500 horsepower was considered the ideal power level for tanks.

Americans' diesel technology wasn't enough, so they simply tinkered with gas turbines; Germans, meanwhile, tinkered out the MB873, shocking the world. A 1500-horsepower tank diesel engine was a world first!

But…… the Germans actually took a shortcut as well.

Gasoline engines easily reach tens of thousands of RPM, while commercial diesel engines are generally only one to two thousand RPM, with only some car diesels having higher speeds.

Our Eastern country's Type 59 tank diesel engine is also two thousand RPM; Germans, to increase engine power, raised the speed to 2600 RPM. Although the power met the standard, the resulting heat was also very high, so a high-capacity radiator is still needed.

How big? The power consumed by the radiator can reach as high as 220 horsepower!

The advertised 1500 horsepower, in fact, after leaving the engine leaves only over 1300 horsepower; the transmission system loses a bit more, and at the tracks, having over 1200 horsepower left would already be good.

Of course, even so, it's definitely stronger than other engines—for example, Britain's maximum is only 1200 horsepower; after losing a few dozen horsepower to the cooling system, what reaches the tracks is only around 1100.

But what we need to clarify now is the false-spec power issue.

"What? Can't we say it?" Qin Miao continued: "Just now, when you were presenting the engine data, you seemed not to have mentioned the RPM, right?"

Everyone also came to realize that the other party had introduced many engine parameters, but simply hadn't mentioned this RPM—what's there to say about it?

"Qin Miao, don't spout nonsense here, making our German friends lose face!" Just then, Luo Qiang spoke again.

If before, Qin Miao merely attributed Luo Qiang's behavior to inferiority complex, thinking foreign goods are just good, then now this guy's conduct has already crossed the line; behind closed doors you could say anything, but now, in front of foreigners, he's reprimanding his own people……

Qin Miao won't tolerate that.

"Oh, so you're friends with them, huh? Do you exchange gifts? Do you help each other out?"

Luo Qiang's face changed—this is saying he accepted bribes from foreigners!

"Of course not, Qin Miao, don't talk nonsense."

"I'm talking nonsense? Which of my words are nonsense? I don't know much about some engine parameters and want to study them carefully; how, did I step on your tail? You're protecting the Germans so much—are these people your father?"

Luo Qiang's face grew even uglier: "Qin Miao, you……"

"Enough, Secretary Luo, don't say more!" Leader Zhao said with a grim face: "You're a secretary; just do your proper job, don't forget your position!"

Luo Qiang felt a jolt in his heart; he knew he had already left a bad impression on Leader Zhao, all because of Qin Miao……

"Engine speed and heat generation are closely related; regular commercial diesel engines usually run around two thousand RPM, which is the best compromise. Blindly raising speed to increase power is a losing proposition." Zhu Lao said: "We don't know how MTU Company selected these parameters for this diesel engine."

Zhu Lao also supported Qin Miao's proposal!