Markus, I'm not a transmission guy, so forgive my ignorance... Regarding Owens' idea of a boxer engine, there was a thread a while ago about a 2cyl boxer w. a transaxle based on a Suzuki SV650, which seems pretty feasible. Much was also discussed in the "optimum powertrain" (or something like this) a few months back. As we probably seek for the most badass engine, WWU's V8 and Auckland's V2 are by far the most impressive,followed by UAS Graz/Karlsruhe/AMG 2cyl