I will be the first to admit I was all gloom and doom over stricter fuel standards. I thought for sure we were going to witness the death of the sports car. But every cloud has a sliver lining.
Things have been great as a sports car aficionado in recent years. The big 3 were in an all out war to make the meanest retro muscle car and stuffing huge V8's in just about anything that they could. The Japanese have picked a fight with the Europeans and are more than holding there own (GTR, LFA). There were rumors of a new Supra and a New RX7, life was good.
Then along came Al Gore and his movie and all of the sudden new cars will have to average a 35mpg by 2020. I thought for sure this would kill the sports car and we would be in some kind of bad 70's flashback where gas shortages basically killed the muscle car and people actually wanted a Pinto.
Instead of raising the white flag and pumping out station wagons the auto industry has unveiled its secret weapon, THE TURBO.
To quote Jeremy Clarkson "A turbo: exhaust gasses go into the turbocharger and spin it, witchcraft happens and you go faster." Turbos have been pooping up in everything from little sports cars like the genesis coupe to giant trucks like the F150. There are even rumors of Ford offering an Ecoboost engine in the mustang line up.
This is a tuner like mines dream come true. Turbo platforms are so much fun to work on, getting big HP is sometimes as easy as a chip or ecu reprogram. There is so much to improve upon a stock turbo setup that the possibilities are endless.
I don't think it will be long before your start hearing that lovely whine out of a lot more cars, and that is music to my ears.
This piece was written and submitted by a Jalopnik reader and may not express views held by Jalopnik or its staff. But maybe they will become our views. It all depends on whether or not this person wins by whit of your eyeballs in our reality show, "Who Wants to be America's Next Top Car Blogger?"