Posted on 12/15/2025 7:01:50 AM PST by Red Badger
Ferrari is exploring radical oval pistons that could shrink engines, boost efficiency, and reinvent how high-performance gas motors are designed for the next generation.
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Key Points
* Ferrari patents oval, or "stadium-shaped," pistons to replace traditional circular designs.
* The design could significantly shorten engines while maintaining displacement and cylinder count.
* Oval pistons could also lower frictional losses, improve combustion efficiency and lead to engines that "breathe" better.
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Breaking Away from Tradition
For as long as internal combustion engines have existed, pistons have been round. This wasn’t necessarily because circular shapes were optimal for performance. It was simply the easiest and most cost-effective geometry to manufacture with the machinery available when engines were first being developed. Manufacturing technology has evolved dramatically since then, yet piston design has remained stubbornly circular.
Ferrari oval piston patent rotating assembly
Ferrari’s European patent application, published in March this year, proposes something different. The company has filed protection for what engineers call a stadium shaped or pill shaped piston design. Instead of the traditional cylindrical form, these pistons are oval with elongated sides, or rectangles with semi-circular ends. Nothing says how serious Ferrari is about the internal combustion engine’s future than a complete reimagining of fundamental engine architecture.
Ferrari oval piston patent single piston. Ferrari oval piston patent pair of pistons
How Oval Pistons Switch Things Up
Ferrari’s key innovation lies in the orientation. The long side of each oval piston lies perpendicular to the crankshaft. This arrangement allows the short dimension of the piston to run parallel to the crankshaft, which means the entire engine becomes significantly shorter from front to back.
This matters enormously for packaging, especially in engines with many cylinders. A V12 engine using conventional round pistons requires substantial length to accommodate all twelve cylinders. Ferrari’s oval design could compress the footprint considerably while maintaining the same displacement and cylinder count, possibly even with a hybrid unit. The patent also describes using shared connecting rods via a multi-link system for pistons on opposite banks, further reducing the engine’s overall size.
Ferrari isn’t the first to experiment with oval pistons. Honda attempted something similar with its NR500 motorcycle racing engine in the ‘70s and ‘80s, but oriented the pistons differently with the long axis parallel to the crankshaft. The ellipse piston design was also more complex, and Honda faced issues with the precise machining of piston rings, creating the required combustion chamber sealing and eventually high-rpm failures.
Ferrari oval piston patent cross sectional
More Than Just Space Saving
As packaging constraints tighten and efficiency demands increase, engineers must find creative solutions to maintain power output without building physically massive engines. Exotic configurations like Bugatti’s W16 have addressed this problem through clever cylinder arrangements, but Ferrari’s approach attacks the issue at an even more fundamental level by rethinking the piston itself.
2018 Ferrari 488 GTB
The benefits of oval pistons are potentially more than just space-saving. Depending upon how the oval shape is implemented, there is great potential for improved combustion efficiency, lower frictional losses, and better thermal management. Given the increased surface area of the piston, there’s also scope for increasing valve surface area through more valves, which would allow the engine to breathe better. On the flip side, manufacturing complexity and cost will shoot up, considering a switch to oval pistons is like reinventing the wheel.
Whether this patent ever materializes in an actual Ferrari engine remains to be seen. But the very existence of this filing suggests Ferrari is actively exploring ways of rethinking internal combustion engine architecture for the better, which is good news for enthusiasts hoping to see them around for decades to come.
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About the author
Simran Rastogi News Editor, Autoblog
Simran Rastogi is an automotive journalist with over a decade of experience writing and road testing for leading Indian and international outlets, including OVERDRIVE, India Today, and HotCars. Passionate about both modern and classic cars, he combines deep research with engaging storytelling to make automotive content accessible to all audiences.
“Any one remember the Wankel engine from 50 years ago? Supposed to be the up and coming new engine design!
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The Wankel is still used when you need very high power to weight ratios above 2hp/lb piston engines struggle to hit 2/lb rotary has hit 5+ right up there with gas turbines but with half the fuel burn rates of turbines.
Rotary engines are widely used in aircraft for this very reason and there are a half dozen companies that make custom rotary for drones and general aviation too. They are also used in watercraft and snow machines again for their unbeatable power to weight.
So why not cars ? Simple the EPA it is a function of the way rotary engines are lubricated and their flat long skinny combustion chamber that they produce large amounts of particulates from the oil burning, and also HC emissions from the squish zones all around the edges of the combustion chamber they simply cannot be as clean as a piston engines without major tech improvements. Modern direct injection rotary don’t mix fuel and oil and also don’t squish fuel into quench zones at the edges of the combustion chamber. A modern rotary with a three way catalyst can hit tier 2 bin 5 but will still struggle to hit T2B1.
I used to build and race RX7s all through the 90s switched to Rally racing Saabs in the early 2000s every one was a crate motor build.
Mazda is still doing rotary engines for range extenders in some of their REVs just not in the USA again the EPA. Small light weight, it fits in the spare tire well and gives the REV 500+ miles of range with a small fuel tank.
I don’t buy the line about “lower friction”. The story repeats that it is but gives no reason for it. If anything, the friction would be worse. In order to have the same power, the oval piston engine would have the same displacement as the circular piston engine. This means that the area of the oval top has to be the same as the area of the circular top. This means that the ring contact area would be higher. It is this ring contact area that makes most of the engine’s friction. That means higher friction, not lower.
In addition, the long side of the oval would be more flexible than the side of a circular piston. This means that the overall contact pressure of the oval pistons would have to be higher to keep the same oil consumption, making the friction go up even more.
Looks like room for 4 valves and a healthy squish band on either side for a good mix. Couple plugs per would not be too shabby.
Hey, someone read the excerpt and repeated something from the second half on it for everyone else!
ZERO reciprocating parts. We should be swimming in this and turbo tech.
“If anything, the friction would be worse. In order to have the same power, the oval piston engine would have the same displacement as the circular piston engine. This means that the area of the oval top has to be the same as the area of the circular top. This means that the ring contact area would be higher. It is this ring contact area that makes most of the engine’s friction.”
Beat me to it!
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