I am really, SERIOUSLY, impressed

Me too. I have only ever seen one thing that surpasses it.

See 1/3 Scale Ferrari, read the page, and watch the video (warning: it's on a slow server, takes a while to load).

Then look at the pictures here, and see the incredible detail.

This model is fully functional with a perfectly replicated mechanically fuel injected V-12 engine, 5-speed transmission, suspension, working shock absorbers, hydraulic disc brakes, accurately calibrated instrumentaion, etc. It is an exact 1/3 scale replica of the real car, right down to the number and placement of the rivets that hold the chassis together. If you could find a 1/3 scale person, he could drive the car.

Build time was 20,000 hours over 15 years (including three years to prepare the drawings). That's an average of more than 25 hours a week.

The engine is built on a larger scale than that of the V-8 that started this thread -- the V-12 is probably about 40% over-square bore to stroke (just guessing, but probably in the ballpark), the "312" designation suggests a 3.6 liter engine (12 cylinders, 300cc each) scaled down to 1/3 size, so it is a 1200 cc engine in the model. That would give a bore of about 6cm, a stroke of 3.6 cm, or 2.36" by 1.4". While the components of the V-12 are on the order of twice the size of the V-8, actual engine displacement is about 13 times greater due to greater number of cylinders and the fact that the displacement goes up proportional to the square of the bore.

I have two questions concerning the V-8 engine:

1) He made the pushrods out of drill stock, implying that they are solid steel, rather than hollow. Would this cause valve float at high RPM, or would the small scale of the engine (1" bore, .9" stroke!) make even solid pushrods so light that their weight wouldn't be a factor? They are no doubt so small in diameter that making them hollow would be impractical. [I guess the fact that he claims a 12,000 maximum RPM sort of answers my question in any case]

2) Is there provision made in the ignition system for spark advance as engine revs increase?

tanstaafl.