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From: ted@imsvax.UUCP (Ted Holden)
Newsgroups: net.auto
Subject: Re: turbos and other superchargers
Message-ID: <511@imsvax.UUCP>
Date: Tue, 11-Feb-86 11:57:35 EST
Article-I.D.: imsvax.511
Posted: Tue Feb 11 11:57:35 1986
Date-Received: Thu, 13-Feb-86 19:06:56 EST
Organization: IMS Inc, Rockville MD
Lines: 13


The turbocharger, despite any increase in backpressure it may cause, is
still the most efficient kind of supercharger.  The only reason anyone
uses belt-driven superchargers at all has to do with the requirements of
drag-racing, in which split seconds mean winning or losing.  This is the
one situation in which the turbocharger doesn't quite get it, due to the
fact that it only comes on at (relatively) higher rpms, whereas the boast
from the belt-driven supercharger is there from jump.  Drag-racer motors
still lose more power from driving the belt-driven supercharger than they
would from driving a turbo but, all things considered, it doesn't matter
to them.  Turbochargers are the superior technology for any other application
requiring monstrous amounts of power, although most hot-rodders still prefer
more ordinary technology.