Automakers the world over are moving to downsize their engines in an effort to improve fuel economy. Some gearheads and performance enthusiasts fear this may be the final nail in the coffin of the V8 engine. And who knows, they might be right. Then again, there are some pretty amazing advancements being made in terms of downsizing engines without losing horsepower…though this next engine may have gone a bit overboard. Or is it underboard? 

Check out this video of the 9 horsepower, 6.09 cubic-inch “Stinger 609” supercharged V-8 engine. It’s teeny, it’s tiny, and it still costs $7,000. Motor Authority reports that Conley Precision Engineering has put together the world’s smallest supercharged V8 engine. Precision engineering is right, because imagine the tooling it takes to develop a fully operational motor that’s this tiny! 

But that $7,000 gets you a supercharged V-8 engine that runs, works, and revs up to 10,000 RPM. That’s kind of insane, and one has to wonder what kinds of vehicles could actually use such a small motor. Certainly not your standard RC car, that’s for sure. No, this engine is for serious enthusiasts with money (and tires) to burn. Nine horsepower on a model car is like 9,000 horsepower in a full-size car.

To top it off – the engine sounds really, really cool when you hear it running. The attention to detail is impressive to say the least, and watching this little mechanical wonder is both inspiring and envy-inducing. We can think of dozens of cool projects that we could power with the Stinger 609, from skateboards to beer coolers. Weighing just 11.25 pounds, the Stinger 609 is 14 inches long, 6 inches wide, and 10 inches tall.

The possibilities are endless, so what kind of wacky projects you would power if you had one of these tiny mechanical terrors lying around? For those other rev-happy geeks out there, we’ve also dropped in the naturally aspirated version of the same engine in the video below. While this scale-model lacks the supercharger up top, it’s still one of the most accurately built, functioning scale models we’ve ever seen!