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Danny Thompson set out last month to best his Bonneville speed record of 256 mph in an ethanol-powered Mustang. He hit 265 mph and then flipped his 'Stang end over end. Here's the astonishing view from the passenger seat. More »
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You say your daily driver needs classic early-60s looks, clean-burning alternative fuel... and enough supercharged horsepower to rip out your spine? You want instant Project Car Hell Poster Child status? We've found your next car! More »
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Want to make your friends gag with jealousy and hate you for your backyard engineering skills? Emulate what Kent Hausauer has done with this Chevy 350 — run two turbos to a supercharger intake and get drunk on stupid power. More »
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We like nothing better than to see technology originally developed to save polar bears perverted for the purposes of performance. Such is the case with the DDMworks Ariel Atom and its twincharged engine. More »
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LeMons competitors Freerange Racing's unveiled their "perfected" wind-powered supercharger. Made from HVAC ducting blades connected to a flex plate, geared to a starter shaft and turning a 14L semi turbo. Pushes 1PSI of boost at 65MPH and looks delightfully dangerous. More »
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Controlled Power Technologies has perfected one of the holy grails of forced induction, the electric supercharger. While they're partnering with Ricardo for a compact 1.2-liter super-efficient engine, we like the idea of a V8 making otherworldly power. More »
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What's more ridiculous than a sport-oriented SUV? How about a 510 HP 2010 Range Rover Sport? It gets the new 5.0-liter supercharged V8 from the 2010 Jaguar XFR. When did Range Rover become a pussycat? More »
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It might be cool… but is it worth the price? 71% of you think that $3.5 million is a good deal for this 1938 Maybach, and today we're going with a more affordable machine. More »
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Lotus is planning to add a supercharger to its upcoming Evora 2+2. That's a good thing, because they’re also planning versions with an automatic transmission and an electric convertible top. More »
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SMS, Steve Saleen's new operation, wants to sell 2005-09 Mopar Hemi owners a supercharger that the company claims can bump underhood horsepower by as much as 45%. The SMS 296 supercharger has some unique features, including an internal intercooler and a low profile, letting the blower sit between the cylinder banks and fit entirely under the hood. Obviously, we can't verify any of the company's output claims, but if they'd send us a Challenger so-equipped, we'd be happy to amend this post with full test results. Steve? Anyone? Full release with specs after the jump.
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Bugatti Veyron? Gauche. Bentley Continental T Red Badge? Slow. Rolls Royce Phantom? Piteously un-British. Why would you choose any of these rides when a 1040 HP, blown 592 Hemi-motivated, four-passenger Rolls Royce Silver Shadow is at your beck and call? We'll pause while you do a double take. That's right, this Silver Shadow has been fortified with a leather-bound roll cage, massive sticky rubber, an array of billet goodies, more gauges than a 2010 Chevy Camaro, and 592 cubic inches of good times. More »
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Let's say you've got a current generation Ford Mustang GT that doesn't get you excited any more and a couple grand taking up space under your mattress. Roush Performance can solve both of your problems with the addition of a new supercharger dubbed the TVS2300 ROUSHcharger. For around $5000, Roush will provide you a kit of parts which, when properly assembled and tuned, develop more than 700 HP. Holy. Crap. The cool part about the kit is if you already have a Roush supercharger, this kit can take advantage of some of the parts and save you cash. Details, and musings after the jump. More »
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We know the thought of heading out to a drag strip for the first time can be both daunting and intimidating. This past weekend we did just that when we were invited to the second annual Ford Racing Invitational to try our hand at the straight-line game of drag racing. Having always focused more on the curves and less on the straights, this was your author's first time in front of a Christmas tree. As such, we figured it might be the perfect time to show you the ins and outs of running a car down the quarter-mile. Hey, we came in third place, so we guess we can't be too shabby at it. More »
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It would appear that sheer number of doors trumps all other factors when it comes time to pick an airport limo for your next punitive project car, as evidenced by the results of yesterday's Choose Your Eternity poll. And I've got to admit that I almost didn't include the Hexador Suburban... because I was calculating how hard it would be to go up to Boise and get it for myself (still bummed that I didn't buy the 20R-powered Sprite in the first PCH). And today we have another car that presented such a dilemma... but then I came to my senses and remembered that I'm holding out for a Warsaw Pact hot rod project: Zaporozhets with Tatra drivetrain. More »
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We have a friend who once got out of a moving violation ticket because before the cop had a chance to put pen to paper, a Camaro tore by with a blond woman hanging onto the hood. And screaming. Only in Queens. However, as he didn't get a good look at the woman, who knows if she was deformed. What we're here to talk about, in the spirit of yesterday's most hellish spoiler post, is your favorite thing to ever stick out of a hood. Our WRX has a burn scar intake for the poorly positioned (i.e. gimmicky) intercooler that blocks a little visability, so we don't like that. And we know the proper answer is probably some sort of three foot high, drag strip special blower. But, we've got to go with hood tachs. As they are the coolest. You? More »
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The mayhem that was the Chicago-style Nostalgia Funny Car battle at the California Hot Rod Reunion wrapped yesterday with Bucky Austin driving his 1977 Mitsubishi Lancer Celeste Plymouth Arrow-bodied Funny Car to the king of the hill spot. The struggle to the finish was as heavy in the pits as it was on the track, as crews blew apart what was left of engines to repair damage from the horrors of nitro in time for the next round. Out of nineteen cars entered only one could trip the win light in the end. Vegas, Mustangs, and Firebirds all eventually fell victim to the power of Plymouth. More »
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The good stuff kept burning long after the last pair of race cars lit up the clocks at the California Hot Rod Reunion. With dusk came the return of Cacklefest to the hallowed track surface of Famoso Raceway. Over 50 restored fuel machines of the slingshot and funny car variety first ran parade in front of the capacity crowd, then put fire into the holes until thousands of eyeballs either watered up the acrid power of nitro, emotion, or a mix of both. More »
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One great thing about Alameda is you never know what kind of cars you'll find parked on the street. We've seen everything from a 1937 Cadillac to a Unimog in this series, but this may just be my favorite find yet. Yes, it's a Studebaker Avanti. A primer Studebaker Avanti, no less. When I spotted that distinctive front end from a few blocks away, there was no mistaking what I'd found. More »
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In a world, where $50,000 pickup trucks are for po' folks, and pigskins are for both throwin' and eatin', there's a truck. It's the Saleen S331 for 2008, and it combines Ford's 5.4-liter three-valve V8 with a twin-screw supercharger for 450 horsepower and 500 lb-ft of torque. Underneath, the stock Ford running gear gets support from Saleen's RaceCraft suspension, with N2 struts with linear-rate coil-over springs, a tubular anti-roll stabilizing bar and urethane pivot bushings Saleen's showing it off this week at the Texas State Fair. More »
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Nissan owners will be happy to know the Stillen company of Costa Mesa, California is offering a free trip to Disneyland with the purchase and installation of a supercharger system. The trip includes two days at the park and two nights at the hotel while the Stillen crew wrenches a gas huffer onto your VQ. Free vehicle pickup and post-vacation delivery of your newly supercharged ride is included. C'mon kids, we're going to light up the tires at Space Mountain! [Supercharged Disneyland from Stillen] More »
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Somewhere between Nebraska and California these guys scored an auxiliary fuel tank previously attached to a 1944 American Republic P-47 Thunderbolt. The tank was shipped back to Germany, where it met up with an early hemi, a roots blower, some Merc running gear, and giant tiki head with a 13 on its forehead. The entire project is supported by the Konfederate Klassics crew, who also seem to be building a Kadett V8. [A German Tank in Bonneville via rennabteilung.de] More »
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We knew it was coming and we're surprised it took this long to happen. The folks at Big 3 Performance have released a supercharger system for the 2007 Cadillac Escalade ESV to mark "yet another leap forward in the never ending quest for more power." For serious — that line's pulled directly from the press release. And why shouldn't they be tooting their own horn? For a mere three drachmas $6,895 you can toss them your plain-Jane standard 6.2-liter 2007 Cadillac Escalade ESV, and in short order you'll get back an E-XL-V packing a high output supercharger system that adds an extra 147 horses and 122 lb-ft of torque to the not-normally-meek engine, bumping the final numbers up to a scorching 550 HP and 539 lb-ft o' tire-squealing and race-winning torque. No word yet on whether the next "leap forward" involves strapping a jet engine to the back of the 2008 model. Hit the jump for the rest of the details on the purple-people-eating monster getting the first 'charger. Oh, and yes — it's got scissor doors. More »
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It may be cliché to stick a bunch of Xs and Rs on a tweaked econobox and call it a performance brand, but some clichés are just fine for getting the job done. For Kia, XR will mean performance — that is, turbocharging in Europe, supercharging for US-bound cars. Kia told Autocar it's calling that strategy "glocal" — offering a global brand but localized for the specifics of individual markets. The company telegraphed its plans by way of a tricked-out, XR-badged C'eed hatch (above), revealed at a press function in Korea last week. It's all part of a plan to expand Kia sales in the US from 315,000 units last year to 627,000 by 2010. And that's just fine, because cheap, supercharged hatchbacks make us daydream of new ideas for a racing series. – Mike Spinelli More »
]]> http://jalopnik.com/index.php?op=postcommentfeed&postId=262495&view=rss&microfeed=true [Update: oops. That's a Cobra, not a GT500] Okay, boys, get that sound turned up. Way up. Why? So you can hear the age-old battle of forced induction. That's right, it's the whine of the supercharger vs. the wail of the turbocharger for hoon supremacy. You'll notice the supercharger gets its groove on first, which is why they are so loved by the drag-racing community. However, once those turbos spool, it's lights out, Mr. Mustang. How much out? How about 160 mph out? King of the Road, we need you now more than ever. (Thanks to Mr. Mayor for the tip) – Jonny Lieberman More »
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Boy racers of the San Fernando Valley — consider this your warning. No matter how modded your EVO, no matter how often your daddy lets you take out the M5, no matter how yellow your Gallardo, you will lose the stoplight drag to a stock looking 2005 Mustang GT. Notice I said looking, because besides the body panels, interior and rear brakes, nothing about this bruiser is remotely OEM. So much so that the list of modifications would run for three pages and bore all but Uncle Bumbeck to technical tears. All you really need to know is that owner John has sunk about $50,000 worth of go-faster gear into his red baby. Most notable is a custom built, 12-fin Vortech supercharger that runs at 21psi on high-test. That, along with a slight bore-out to 5-liters returns 614.7hp and 507.5lbs. ft of neck-snapping torqueage to the meats. John didn't bother to test the crank horsepower, because as he put it, "Who cares?" How does it drive? Make the jump and I'll tell you. More »
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One of our greatest regrets in life was the night when the busty, pro-S&M temptress with the 300ZX Twin Turbo invited us back to her hotel room saying, "I've got a 1.5L of Maker's Mark" and we said no. And while we totally blew it with the world's greatest woman, it's nice to know British Nissan engineers have built a car that would have pleased her. By slapping a centrifugal supercharger onto the already great VQ engine, power climbs from 300 hp to 382 hp, 0-100mph times plummet by 2.5 seconds and the 350Z GT-S looks hoontastic, too. Odds of Carlos building it? On par with us getting our time machine working. – Jonny Lieberman More »
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Finally. Lotus is sending its top-shelf hooch to the US, in the form of a superchargerd Exige S. The company anounced today that the near-supercar Exige is coming to the states in the form of a 220-hp version (a 16-percent lift from the base model). The coupe, which weighs in at 2,077 pounds, can get from zero to 60 mph in 4.1 seconds (nearly a second faster than the base model) and to 100 mph in 11 seconds, under the command of a six-speed tranny. Top speed is 148 mph. The model also gets variable-revs cam switching, by way of its T4e engine control system. For you? $56,990. Operators are standing by. More »
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Engineers at NexxtDrive say they're ready to roll out their SuperGen i-Hybrid unit, which combines a hybrid-drive kit with a manner of blower (sorry, "advanced pressure boosting technology"). They say the system will crank 170 hp out of a low-emissions 1.4-liter gas engine. The unit includes a compressor, two electric motor-generators and a gearing system that can adjust compressor speed from zero to up to 150 times crank rotation. Up to 14kW of electrical energy can be allocated to either direct torque assistance or boosting pressure to improve torque output from the engine. It's all controlled algorithmically, natch. Dyno testing to follow. More »
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It was bound to happen. Texas's Utah's own Subaru tuning specialists, Cobb Tuning have turned their attentions to the divisive Tribeca SUV. The company's engineers worked up a supercharging system for the ungainly ute with an eye toward improving what many consider to be lackluster performance from the stock 'beca. Cobb's team fashioned the system around a Rotrex compressor, adding an air-to-air intercooler and a custom mounting scheme that dampens sound and squelches harmonic dissonance. The result is a dyno'd 320hp and 270 lb-ft torque from the Subie's 3.0L flat-six. Suspension tweaks and some cosmetic upgrades complete the picture, which, for all purposes, is far prettier than it was before they started. More »
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Most hot rod mills are pretty elementary. Sure, there's definitely science involved, as well as a wee bit of black art. But they're basically pretty simple. One cam, eight cylinders, valves, rockers, etc. And if you're lucky, there's a big, honkin' Roots-style supercharger bolted to the intake manifold. For y'all with Masters Degrees in Twin-Turboage, this is pretty elemental, but for those of you who are curious about the basics of forced induction, it's definitely not a bad place to start. More »
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Good news, street-racing kids rolling for team Scion. You need not void your warranties in the name of power boosting any longer. Toyota Racing Development (TRD) and Scion announced a new dealer-installed centrifugal supercharger that will increase horsepower of 2005 and 2006 Scion tCs (with five-speed manual) 2.4-liter four from 160 to 200, and torque by 13 percent. The down side is it'll cost more than a few trips to Jakob the Jeweler: the MSRP is $3,200, not including installation. Alles klar, herr kompressor? More »
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Earlier this month, we reported on a new Golf GT for Europe that will employ both a supercharger and turbocharger to round out the car's performance band, while preserving the small motor's fuel economy. Now, AutoWeek profiles the twin-boost system, called SuperTurbo, which is built by longtime supercharger supplier, Eaton. The key to managing the machinations of intake and outflow compressors is the computer, which makes the byzantine system seamless to the driver, the supercharger increasing low-rev torque and the turbo kicking in for higher-end boost. VW plans to roll out the system on a range of engines bound for Europe, but could bring it to the US if the market (read: gas prices) warrant. [Update: If you saw this post before we changed the photo, you would have seen the thumbnail from AutoWeek's article, which incorrectly shows a VW Polo charging stealthily toward the horizon, not a Golf. We changed it to show a Euro-spec '06 R32, which we know isn't equipped with a SuperTurbo motor, but we love it just the same.] More »
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It's not often when the closing of loopholes reveals good news for a company. In Cadillac's case, it resulted in a horsepower bump for its 4.4-liter supercharged Northstar V8. GM announced back in April it was the first automaker to follow the SAE's new voluntary, third-party power and torque testing and certification procedure, which was designed to eliminate automakers' use of "best-case" scenarios when rating horsepower, making the results more likely to be repeatable in the smoggy, humid environs of the real world. For the Chevrolet Corvette Z06, the first GM car to be tested using the new procedure, the result were a rating of 505hp from its 7.0-liter powerplant. In the case of the Cadillac STS-V, the SAE results topped GM's estimated figure of 440hp, with ratings of 469hp at 6,400 rpm and 439ft/lbs of torque at 3,900 rpm. More »
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