G'day Adam. I also think that 2X200 hp engines is a bit lame but maybe that's what was available and affordable at the time. The Pond racer had a pair of V6 Nissan engines of about 3 litres each and they developed over 450 hp each, admittedly at much higher revs than the original straight 8 Bugatti engines in the original aircraft but with today's techology and materials it should be possible to make a gear box system that could handle the higher revs of a modern owerful engine. However, that may break the budget so I guess they've gone with what they can afford for now. Maybe a some later stage they'll be able to afford to increase the power by fitting different engines. I wouldn't advocate the 300Z engines of the Pond racer which were putting out 600 hp but were notoriously unreliable. Perhaps if they were only putting 450 hp they may have been more reliable than they were. And yes, that 1930s flight control "computer" still has me intriqued. The only thing I can think of is that it was some kind of mechanical mixer similar to what the Mirage had.
Regards,
RHB.