Slanted internal combustion engine

An internal combustion engine, comprising

• a plurality of in-line cylinders having axes which lie in a common plane which is sharply inclined with respect to the vertical,
• a cylinder head having an exposed lower surface spaced from said cylinders, said head having for each cylinder an intake passage and an exhaust passage, said intake and exhaust passages leading outwardly from the cylinders to the exposed lower surface of the cylinder head,
• a single overhead camshaft parallel to said common plane of the cylinder axes, said camshaft having a rotational axis which is offset above the said common plane of the cylinder axes,
• an intake valve and an exhaust valve for controlling said intake and exhaust passages of each cylinder, said valves being directly actuated along their respective axes by said camshaft,
• said valves lying in mutually parallel planes which are perpendicular to said camshaft axis, said valves of each cylinder diverging from each other as they approach their cylinder and intersecting the common plane of the cylinder axes at different angles, the axes of said inlet valves being more sharply inclined with respect to said common plane than the axes of said exhaust valves inclined with respect to said common plane.