Turbocharge it or Supercharge it?

Both mechanisms have one main purpose; to increase the overall power of your vehicle by significantly adding horsepower. However each product functions in complete diverse ways.

What a turbocharger does is that it simply takes in the air and compresses it prior to it being injected into the engine. What this does is that it forces more air into the engine, which means that it would automatically inject more fuel, which in return would increase the power. Turbocharger works off the exhaust emitted from your vehicle. The turbocharger is mounted onto the exhaust manifold, and is driven by the exhaust itself. The way it functions is that on one side of the turbocharger, the exhaust is being rushed through a tube which has in place a turbine inside. As the turbine spins, the air coming in through the air-intake is being compressed and thrust into the engine. Now sometimes, depending on your turbocharger, the air can be compressed to a point where the air travelling into the engine will be going in hot. This will cause the engine to “knock” which can result in internal damage to your motor. To avoid this problem, you can install an, Intercooler, which is a cooling system that is installed between the way OUT of the turbocharger and the way IN the motor (I will provide more information about intercoolers in future posts).

A supercharger does the exact same thing, yet it is operated in a different way. A supercharger is also an add-on to your engine but that is installed differently. A supercharger will usually be installed on top of your engine if possible or to the side. Contrary to the turbocharger, the supercharger is driven by a belt that is coupled to the engine. The good thing about this is that you will get power right away from your supercharger. But on the downside, you do not get all the power promised by the manufacturer. The reason behind this is that it actually takes power from your engine in order to operate the supercharger. Suppose you have 200 horsepower in your stock engine, and you want to add a supercharger that will add 50 horsepower to your engine. You will have to use up an estimated 10 HP in order to drive the supercharger. So theoretically your vehicle will only gain 40 HP.

2008 Scuderia Bizzarrini p538 Barchetta Prototype

2 years ago, Cobra International Co., Ltd, announced the start of production of the Cobra Limited Edition, Arbitrage GT. A lightweight component sports car made almost entirely of carbon fibre. Subsequently, 8 months ago a great opportunity presented itself.

Well into the construction of the Arbitrage GT platform, The Cobra/Arbitrage team took the opportunity to join together with Mr. Giotto Bizzarrini to bring back a modernized version of the Scuderia Bizzarrini P538.

Because of some historical events, the manufacturing of the original Arbitrage GT has been dismissed. And while the Cobra/Arbitrage team presses on to finish the production of the first four Bizzarrini cars within this year.

Plans are to ship the first prototype to Nardo (a racing circuit located in Itialy) for testing by Mr. Giotto Bizzarrini and his team. The date of completion of the concept will be announced sometime in November of this year.

Only 100 Bizzarrini P538’s will be assembled over the period of 4 years, and the final price has not been released. But with a Mid-Engine V8, rear wheel drive, and with a body made almost entirely of carbon fibre, you can expect this dream car to be very pricy.

Audi Develops Race Version of the R8

For the very first time, Audi Sports will manufacture a racing sports car specially designed for the costumers who want the more powerful GT3 version of the Audi R8. The Audi R8 will offer costumers a racing sports car equipped with high end technologies and the typical and luxurious Audi qualities.

However, because the GT3 regulations disallow the use of four-wheel drive, the Audi R8 GT3 will be developed with distinctive rear-wheel drive. And with newly developed six-speed sequential sports gearbox, a wide-ranging list of safety equipment guaranties the highest level of protection and with a V10 mid-engine capable of reaching 500 horsepower, this race car is very anticipated by professionals’ race car drivers all around the world.

This model will be available to purchase from autumn 2009. It will be manufactured together by Audi Sport and the Quattro GmbH, which is also accountable for the fabrication of the Audi R8 street version. The price is yet to be determined.