Rolls-Royce–Bentley L-series V8 engine as the "six and a quarter" litre engine. When new, the Rolls-Royce/Bentley V8 was rumoured to be an American engine design licence-built, but it was developed in-house by Rolls-Royce and Bentley engineers. This can be seen in its design characteristics, with features like an aluminium alloy cylinder block with wet liners, gear-driven camshaft, (initially) outboard spark plugs and porting inspired by the Rolls-Royce Merlin aircraft engine. The bore spacing of 4.75" was unlike any American V8 engine and the firing order was 1-5-4-8-6-3-7-2 something uncommon in any period American OHV V8. The deep skirted crankcase design is also rare with
Rolls-Royce Trent April 1996. Initially Rolls-Royce had difficulty selling the engine; British Airways, traditionally a Rolls-Royce customer, submitted a large order for the competing General Electric GE90 engine. The breakthrough came when it won orders from Singapore Airlines, a staunch Pratt & Whitney customer, for its 34 Boeing 777s. The Trent 800 has a 41% share of the engine market on the 777 variants for which it is available. In 1998 Boeing proposed new longer range variants of the 777. Taking advantage of the Trent 800's growth capability, Rolls-Royce designed and built an improved engine designated "Trent 8104", which was later scaled