Some of the most iconic sports cars of all time have had powerful V8s as their beating hearts. While the V8 has also been central to the American muscle market, it has been equally overseas, especially in Italy, where brands like Ferrari, Lamborghini, and Maserati have used it to birth the most dreamy and superb cars in automotive history.

When it comes to the greatest and fastest V8s made on American soil, Dodge, Chrysler and Ford have ruled the muscle car game. On the other hand, we see Ferrari’s name the most, having come out with the greatest V8s in the Italian supercar game. In that vein, take a look at 5 of the fastest American and Italian V8s ever made.

10 Italian: Ferrari 3.9L F154 Twin-Turbo V8 (710 HP)

Ferrari F8 Tributo Engine
Ferrari

An engine that wins the 'Engine of the Year' award for four years in a row is not an engine to be messed around with. The Ferrari 488 GTB was upgraded to the 488 Pista, and its final evolutionary form was the F8 Tributo.

Ferrari F8 Tributo - Corsa Blue
Source:wikipedia

Many consider the F8 Tributo the greatest sports car in the world. Part of the famed F154 series of engines by Ferrari, the F8 Tributo’s beating heart was the 3.9L F154 twin-turbo, which produced 710 horsepower, giving the car a sub-3-second 0 to 60 mph time.

9 Italian: Ferrari 4.5L F136 V8 (605 HP)

Ferrari 458 Speciale Engine
Ferrari 

For many purists, Ferrari's 4.5L F136 V8 unit was the pinnacle of high-rpm thrills. Often referred to as a Ferrari-Maserati engine, the F136 engine powered the Ferrari 458 Speciale, and over the course of its life span, also found its way into an Alfa Romeo 8C.

Ferrari 458 Speciale 2014
Ferrari 

Undoubtedly, the engine's most powerful rendition was with the 458 Speciale and the Ferrari Aperta, where it made 597 horsepower at a supersonic 9000 rpm, capable of reaching 203 mph speeds. Even more impressively, its power output made it the most powerful naturally-aspirated engine to ever be put into mass production.

RELATED: The Best Features Of The LaFerrari Aperta

8 Italian: Ferrari 4.0L F154CD twin-Turbo V8 (986 HP)

Ferrari SF90 Stradale Engine
Ferrari 

The Ferrari SF90 Stradale is one of the more recent cars by the Italian brand. While externally it bears some similarities to the Tributo, what lies underneath the Stradale is something completely different. There lies a 4.0-liter F154 CD variant of Ferrari's twin-turbo V8 under the hood of the SF90 Stradale.

Ferrari SF90 Stradale 2020
Ferrari 

This beast of an engine pushes 986 horsepower along with 590 lb-ft of torque. With two electric motors, this hybrid engine is one of the most powerful V8 units that ever came out of Maranello. By far the best feature of this engine is the 'Wall Effect' strategy, which maximizes power throughout the rev range and only cuts off the power at the 8000-rpm redline.

7 Italian: Lamborghini 4.0L FSI twin-turbo V8 (641 HP)

Lamborghini Urus engine
By Y.Leclercq - Own work, CC BY-SA 4.0,

Lamborghini is most known for the work they do with the V12 engines. However, the Raging Bull isn't completely lost when it comes to producing a beautiful and extremely powerful V8, which they showed with the birth of the Lamborghini Urus.

Lamborghini urus
Via lamborghini.com

Powered by a 4.0L FSI twin-turbo V8, the Urus produces 641 horsepower and is capable of reaching the 60 mph mark in 3.6 seconds, with all of its 5000-odd lbs. The Urus is also the only car to use a Lamborghini V8 engine in the 21st century.

RELATED: Why The Lamborghini Urus Should Be Considered One Of The Coolest Cars Of All Time

6 Italian: Ferrari 2.9L F106 V8 (471 HP)

Ferrari F40 engine
Ferrari

First used in 1973, the Ferrari F106 V8 was the basis for every mid-engined Ferrari up until the 360, finishing production in 2005. The engine found its way into the 308, the F355, and even the F40 in a twin-turbocharged form. Evolving over the years in the extremely capable hands of Maranello workers, the F106 V8 engine grew to produce an output of 400 hp in its unboosted form, and 477 horsepower when fitted with twin turbos.

ferrari_f40_1987_rear
Via: FavCars

The F106 V8 was in the Ferrari F40, which in itself is one of the most iconic sports cars of all time. Anyone from the eighties who was into cars most certainly had an F40 poster in their room, and underneath the hood of that iconic and beautiful car was the F106 power unit.

5 American: Hemi 6.2L Supercharged HEMI V8 (840 HP)

Hidden cup holders on Dodge challenger
Via youtube.com

A boosted version of the engine used in the Dodge Challenger, the supercharged Hemi 6.2-liter is a fantastic monstrosity that calls the Dodge Challenger SRT Hellcat its home. It's an immensely powerful unit, producing 717 horsepower, and more impressively, the engine reaches 840 horses when running on high octane racing fuel.

Red 2022 Dodge Challenger SRT Hellcat
via Dodge

With a massive 2.7-liter supercharger, it is the most powerful production muscle car ever made, propelling the Demon from 0 to 60 mph in just 2.1 seconds, and it takes only 6.7 seconds to reach 100 mph.

RELATED: Dodge Challenger SRT Demon Vs SRT Hellcat: Is More Horsepower Truly Better?

4 American: Ford Predator 5.2L V8 (760 HP)

 Ford Predator Engine
Via Ford Authority

Ford has used the 5.2-liter Predator V8 engine since 2019. The Blue Oval based it on their existing Coyote engine but instead fitted it with a cross-plane crank and a supercharger, which boosted the power of the engine to a whopping 760 horsepower.

Ford Mustang Shelby GT500
Ford

It is the revered and coveted Mustang Shelby GT 500 that uses this Predator V8 unit, which is the most powerful engine ever stuffed into a Ford production car and takes the GT 500 from 0 to 60 mph in 3.4 seconds.

3 American: Chevrolet Supercharged LT5 V8 (760 HP)

2018-SEMA-Chevrolet-LT5-CrateEngine-026
via Chevrolet

The 2019 Chevy Corvette ZR1 hit the market with a supercharged LT5 engine powering it. With a massive output of 760 horsepower, the LT5 engine was a lot more effective at delivering power than the outgoing LT4 engine. Chevrolet even stated how the LT5 was the most powerful engine ever put in a production Chevy vehicle.

Chevrolet Corvette ZR1
Chevrolet 

It made the Corvette extremely capable, propelling it to the 60mph mark from naught in under 3 seconds, pushing the speedometer to a 100 in just six seconds. Thus, the LT5 Chevy engine powers one of the quickest rear-wheel-drive cars in the world.

RELATED: 10 Modified Mustangs That Would Annihilate A Corvette ZR1

2 American: SSC Tuatara twin-turbo 5.9L V8 (1750 HP)

SSC Tuatara engine
via BusinessInsider

How could the engine behind the fastest production car in the world not have made it to this list? The SSC Tuatara, the brainchild of SSC North America, houses a 5.9-liter V8 underneath and is capable of reaching an estimated 316 mph. Formerly Shelby SuperCars, SSC collaborated with automobile designer Jason Castriota to make the Tuatara, which succeeded their Ultimate Aero model.

SSC-Tuatara-2
VIA: SSC North America

Interestingly, the Ultimate Aero itself was also the fastest production car in the world when it came out in 2006, officially having been timed at 254 mph. The Tuatara's 5.9-liter V8 produces 1750 horsepower with 984 lb-ft of torque, which makes the hypercar capable of going 0 to 60 mph in a mere 2.5 seconds.

1 American: Chevrolet Performance ZZ632/1000 (1004 HP)

Chevrolet ZZ632/1000
via MuscleCarsAndTrucks

As General Motors moves towards transitioning towards electric power, it unveiled its biggest V8 engine yet last year. Chevy's ZZ632/1000 crate engine is an enormous 10.0-liter unit, which churns out 1004 horsepower and 876 lb-ft of torque, even without any supercharging!

Chevrolet ZZ632/1000 engine
via TuningBlog

However, this engine was designed specifically for drag-racing builds, and not meant for street usage. Designed with a redline of 7,000 rpm, Chevrolet subjected this gargantuan V8 engine to 200 simulated runs during R&D and reported zero developmental issues.