In /Drive’s latest series, Betim Berisha, an engineer responsible for some very fast Porsches tells you all about temperature management when it comes to increasing horsepower.
You have a huge radiator and enough holes in your wheels to cool the brakes sufficiently. Fair enough, that should keep you in the green as long as you don’t take your car to the next level, aiming for some intensive track action.
A Porsche 911 tuned to 1,500 horsepower for drag racing needs less cooling than a Porsche 911 tuned to 500 horsepower for endurance racing mainly because it all comes down to how much power you want to make for how long. The more cycles the fluids have to complete, the more heat there is to take care of.
That why you have to take into account the air density, the positioning of your radiator, heat exchangers, oil coolers and other surfaces in regards of the airflow, fluid pressures, pump cycles and everything else that need liquid cooling and gets worked hard, be that the transmission, the differential, the power steering unit or the engine itself.
If your car is overheating, I guess it’s time to look at the airflow, your surface area or the volume of the radiator(s). Reliable horsepower starts with stable temperatures.
Photo credit: Getty Images
Contact the author at mate@jalopnik.com.