S68 V8 Interactive Engine

Engines are some of the most impressive machines people use every day, and almost nobody gets to see one run from the inside.

We set out to build an interactive explainer that makes a modern V8 understandable to anyone: tap a part, slow it down, take it apart, and watch the physics happen.

The engine is the hero, front and centre, surrounded by small live panels that explain what you're seeing: the slider-crank geometry, the cross-plane crankshaft, valve timing and the pressure-volume (indicator) diagram for the current cylinder.

Visitors can orbit and zoom, tap any part to isolate it, switch between hero, front, side, top and cylinder views, and flip to glass, section or exploded mode to see inside.

Playback runs from real time down to 1/100 speed, and "hold to rev" lets you feel the engine respond, with matching sound.

Built with three.js and plain JavaScript. Every part (block, pistons, rods, crankshaft, camshafts, valves and chains) is generated in code, with no 3D model files, so the whole experience loads fast.

A small simulation drives the crank angle, and everything else is derived from it: piston positions follow the real slider-crank formula, valves follow the cam profiles, and the diagrams update in sync.

Engine sound is synthesised in the browser with the Web Audio API and follows the RPM.