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From: jon@msunix.UUCP (Jonathan Hue)
Newsgroups: net.auto
Subject: Re: turbos and other superchargers
Message-ID: <187@msunix.UUCP>
Date: Mon, 24-Feb-86 01:24:27 EST
Article-I.D.: msunix.187
Posted: Mon Feb 24 01:24:27 1986
Date-Received: Wed, 26-Feb-86 20:27:33 EST
References: <511@imsvax.UUCP> <2802@ihuxf.UUCP>
Organization: LMSC-Mechanisms & Servos, Sunnyvale, Ca.
Lines: 30
Summary: 1150hp from 1.5-liter turbo

In article <2802@ihuxf.UUCP>, cuda@ihuxf.UUCP (Mike Nelson) writes:
> 
> While the comment of instant boost for superchargers in drag racing is in all 
> practical purposes correct, the most important reason for using a supercharger
> over turbo is the amount of horse power the units can add.  When was the
> last time you saw a V-8 (approx 600) cubes producing 2800 HP with turbos?
> It is very easy to change the gearing on a supercharger to control the boost.
> How could a turbo user modify the amount of boost in a few minutes?  When
> the superior technology for turbos causes their net gain in HP to be greater
> than can be gained by superchargers then you can be sure more drag racers
> will be using them.  I think the writer of the referenced note might be 
> confusing the need for monstrous amounts of power with reliability and 
> versitility where turbos are superior.

I don't agree.  The BMW 1.5-liter turbocharged engine used in the Brabham
Formula 1 car produces 1150hp during qualifying, which is 12.78hp/inch^3, and it
can hold together for a few laps while it's doing that.  In a 90 minute race,
the engine produces 818hp (9.62hp/inch^3) and, well, sometimes will last the
whole race.  TAG-Porsche Formula 1 engines produce more power in race
configuration and are more reliable.  I think 818hp from 1.5 liters for 90
minutes of acceleration, braking, and a couple thousand shifts is a heck
of a lot more impressive than 2800hp from a blown, Keith Black Chrysler Hemi
engine burning nitromethane (nitromethanol?) and methanol which lasts six
seconds, whereupon it needs a rebuild.


Bitchin' Camaro!		Jonathan Hue
Bitchin' Camaro!		LMSC-Mechanisms & Servos
Tire Tracks Across your Lawn!
(c) The Dead Milkmen, 1985	{amdcad!cae780,sun!sunncal}!leadsv!msunix!jon