Rolls-Royce Merlin prey, Rolls-Royce named the engine the "Merlin" after a small, Northern Hemisphere falcon ("Falco columbarius"). Two more Rolls-Royce engines developed just prior to the war were added to the company's range. The Rolls-Royce Peregrine was an updated, supercharged development of their V-12 Kestrel design, while the 42-litre (2,560 cu in) Rolls-Royce Vulture used four Kestrel-sized cylinder blocks fitted to a single crankcase and driving a common crankshaft, forming an X-24 layout. This was to be used in larger aircraft such as the Avro Manchester. Although the Peregrine appeared to be a satisfactory design, it was never allowed to mature since
Rolls-Royce V8 engine of work under Les Maddock and Colin Weston, the first result of which was the N80, a 4-valve, double overhead camshaft, 5.0 litre V8. This successfully ran first stage 1000 hours testing straight off the drawing board without incident. Subsequently, the marketing brief foresaw the requirement for a higher capacity version and the N81, 6.0 litre version, was designed. The project was stopped around 1991 with further development of the L410 engine that enabled emissions requirements to be met using a pre-catalyst assembly at substantially lower investment. Rolls-Royce V8 engine In the history of Rolls-Royce automobiles, only two distinct series