Matt Whiting wrote:

This makes no sense at all. Exactly what did the mini-500 design do to
hobble the engine? If the designs are essentially the same, then the
engine isn't going to know the difference. If the performance really
was dramatically different, then SOMETHING had to be dramatically
different between the designs. And saying that one was overseen by one
person and one by a different person, isn't a design difference.

Gearing ratio of the transmission? Put the engine into more of a cruise
range instead of WOT...