"It is war that shapes peace, and armament that shapes war." -Thomas Fuller After war, the advancements of engineering can be seen all around and no war better exemplified this than World War II. After World War II the Germans became know for a few things, their best being their engineering. Cars, planes and space travel were all affected by the Germans’ engineering. Engineering is a highly respected profession and German cars have long had an enviable reputation. But there's one U.S. company that has been imporving the abilities of the German engines for over ten years and they make alot of German car owners smile.
For car enthusiasts around the world, German engineering has always stood out. For some reason they’ve always had a solid demeanor that seemingly could not be immolated. It hasn’t always been for their flashy designs, but the cars have always been built like a bullet. Everything from their engines to their interior seem to be built the way they should be. Solid.x
BMW and Porsche both shared in the spoils of war by contributing to the Third Reich’s need for mechanical engineering of their
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Supercharger vs Turbocharger
Why a supercharger rather than a turbocharger? Turbochargers are inherently more difficult to control due to the tremendously high temperatures they generate and the way they produce a dramatic rise in air pressure, resulting in instantaneous large horsepower increases. Although this may sound ideal it usually results in uncontrollable wheel spin and loss of handling to the point of making driving dangerous, forcing the driver to back off and losing the benefits of all this power, always assuming he's still on the road. All these problems of a turbocharger can be tamed to a certain extent but it involves much extra technology and cost. Apart from this drivability problem the other downside is that this sudden rise in pressure, means very careful engine management adjustments to set the fueling and ignition correctly to avoid engine blow ups. Several Saxo turbo's that we have heard of produced reasonable power but destroyed themselves and the installer then rebuilt them with lower boost to preserve the engine. This did cure the reliability but then power was way down. Another example of this was a turbo conversion on a Ford Fiesta done by a well know company, the result was only 30% increase in power, in our opinion not worth the bother or expense. Another downside of turbo's due to the very rapid increase in power, is the effect on the transmission components, all turbo's wear out clutches and gearboxes more quickly. These components like gradual torque increases not sudden violent increases.
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weapons. BMW designed the BMW 003 axial-flow turbojet, whiche powered the Messerschmitt Me 262. The Me 262 was the worlds first operational turbojet fighter aircraft ever produced. And while BMW was powering the war in the air, Porsche was at work developing the Panzer and Tiger I tanks, and of course the famed VW Beetle. German engineering was even further spread after the Third Reich fell and U.S. and Soviet forces seized as much of the engineering talents as they possibly could.
While BMW and Porsche’s military contracts expired along with the Nazi’s WWII loss, their automotive innovation continued. Their reputation for innovative engineering still is evident in the vehicles produced today by BMW, Porsche, and VW. Much comes as a result of German’s safety standards being much higher than other countries as Germany has long had side impact safety regulations and of course they have had to design cars fit for the Autobahn.
Ahhhhh, the Autobahn. Yes, the envy of the “Speed Limit Strapped” nations of the world. This is where the German cars and their engines are allowed to roam freely at speeds of their own choosing. The engines are solid and packed with torque. What is torque? It’s what you feel when the car’s power pushes you into your car seat. This is what every car lover really wants, more torque. How can we put more torque and horsepower into our cars? This is always the question.
If you’re a German engineer, there’s only two choices; more cylinders or through a supercharger. Since we don’t have the liberty to expand our engine-bay, the supercharger allows the German engineered car to maintain the German engine feeling with power on demand and on-tap whenever you need. One company has honed their supercharger skills while focusing on the German car segment. That company is VF- Engineering. Although VF- Engineering is American, their love for cars remains German. The VF-Engineering management and engineering team derive their experience of high performance supercharging since 1996 in the UK. Working on modern sports cars such as Audi, BMW, Lotus, Porsche and VW in joint and proprietary projects and partnerships with firms in the UK, Switzerland and USA has given VF the opportunity to market product in European, USA and world markets. VF obtains the latest information and has access to new model vehicles as they roll off the production lines in Germany through OEM connections, clients and manufacturers' organizations.
The centrifugal design supercharger was chosen for its power delivery characteristics and flexibility for retro-fitting. The centrifugal unit gives a strong almost linear power delivery characteristic making it safe for automatic transmissions and high compression ratio engine as boost is introduced into the manifold gradually. The progressive increase in boost gives a feeling similar to that of a, much larger capacity engine, thus maintaining the German feel to the German power.
To learn more about VF – Engineering products or to purchase them, click below!
