Billy are there any enduro type races where efficiency becomes a factor like at Indy500 for example? I would imagine that one thing that is overlooked that is in turbo's favor is that it is a more efficient motor than a SC'ed one. I would guess there is nothing in road racing like there in the Indy500 or F1 where one less pit stop or a bit less fuel use (less weight too) would make a difference in winning or losing.... Is there?
I would imagine on a daily driven car with your foot kept out of the gas, the turbo car will return a few more MPG. I mean this is why all of a sudden so many manufacturers are making turbos. 10 years ago you couldn't find a single turbocharged car. Now look... they are everywhere. The one thing I don't miss with my turbos is that dam turbo timer.... car running for 3 minutes after every shut off for bearing cooling. That sucked.
That's a long conversation, but yes, Indy Cars, Champ Cars, F1, Trans Am, etc... all had turbos and it was very popular (but hard to police and manage) in the 80's.
When you make more power, you consume more fuel. But yes turbos take wasted exhaust gasses to make power while supercharger have parasitic losses and that is a good point/reason many of said series used turbos instead of superchargers.
Low-displacment turbocharged or turbodiesel cars have been popular for a long time in Europe, but its finally starting to catch on here in the States. For street car use, you can have the power of a much larger displacement motor as well as the economy of a smaller motor when you're not 'on it'.
The series I race in: Grand-Am Continental Tire Sports Car Challenge (airs this Saturday at 1pm EST on SPEED Channel - we won that race) is a neat example of showroom stock racing with NA cars (Porsche 911, Cayman S, M3, Camaro, Mustang) vs. Supercharged V6 Audi S4, and turbocharged Subaru STI. In the lower ST class you have NA and FI: Cobalts, Civic Si, VW GTIs, BMW 330s, etc...
-Fuel economy, gas take size, pit stops, power, weight, are all factors that come into play. Another interesting series (but less cars) is the ALMS P2 class where you have V8 P2 cars and Turbocharged 4-cylinders in the same class, making about the same power. Either way you dont see too many superchargers in road racing.
Turbo Timers: Completely unnecessary for street use. Unless you drive illegally at high speeds and constant load all the way to your house and shut the car off immediately, you don't need a turbo timer on the street. Simply your normal drive from the freeway to your house like a regular civilian is more than enough to cool down the turbo. On a track, if you do a cooldown lap, you don't need a turbo timer either. Simply put, there are rare situations on street or track where you would actually even need a turbo timer.
Billy
