The engine is an Isuzu built 3.5 litre alloy V6 as fitted a few years back in the Holden Rodeo in Australia. It was quite a powerful engine when it was released and used a lot of fuel. The engine was not a success in Australia and was dropped not long after as there were a significant number of them with piston slapping and out of round cylinders.
To put it into perspective, a mate who was teaching automotive at TAFE had a contact at Holden who asked if he wanted some engines for his students to work on. He agreed and the day after a day of annual leave he returned to find 284 warranty returned engines from GM Aust of which 282 were petrol and 2 were diesel. It was not uncommon for owners to have 3 replacement engines by 120,000kms on their vehicles.
GM put it down to differences in environmental factors between Japan and Australia
That being said, a different story in the Spitfire. Fitted with a custom manufactured dual ignition system which was originally developed for the UK market where dual ignition is mandatory for aircraft. Also fitted with a belt drive unit.
Correctly configured, the engine was so smooth you could almost literally balance a $2 coin on it's end on the engine whilst it was running.
These are general comments and have nothing to do with the cause of the crash.