It's stupid only if the goal is cheap HP, but judging from this guy's background and the team he's working with, they're not chasing cheap.
I think it's a great exercise in the unconventional. It would be a rich, curious engineer's dream project. Kudos to them for attempting it.
I'll be very interested to see what they do for an oiling system on a pair of V8's laid over 45 degrees.