Yes and no. Some of the German engines out there have the oil pumps driven with little chains...I know *why* they did that, but it's not the most robust design in terms of longevity. That said, the Germans make some of the most impressive and innovative engines out there.
The OEMs design their engines to hopefully last beyond the warranty period while still providing a good balance between NVH, efficiency and meeting established power goals. The engineers would love to create a light crankshaft that still meets all of the aforementioned requirements, but for the sake of saving money they too have to compromise. Especially with high volume, cost sensitive engines - they're trying to maximize the margins and spend the money elsewhere - like places where the general public would actually notice.
With experiments like this,
there's a fine line to walk between eliminating weight on the recriprocating assembly and sacrificing strength - Timo's goal is to figure that all out. There are other OEM crankshafts out there in the world without counterweights and they seem to run just fine...so we're not at the point where we can say this will not work.
Lastly, the sooner you figure out that telling a Finn "No, you can't do that." is like adding gasoline to a camp fire, the better off you will be.
Cheers,
Matt