Since man (or woman) was created there has always been a competitive spirit to go faster, further or higher. With the advent of the new horseless carriages this quickly translated to making them go faster. Initially on the road, then leading to racing as we know it. This issue is our annual look at increasing performance – whether it be for racing on the track or just between the traffic lights, although on road it is more about response to catch that traffic gap than for outright speed.

We often lament how complex cars have become with all the modern electronics, but really the fundamentals on increasing engine performance have changed little – one of the keys is getting more air in and out of the engine.

More airflow can come from a number of sources – one of the more common in days gone by and still popular is to shoehorn a larger capacity engine in resulting in immediate gains in airflow and power. Back in the 70’s when I was growing up this usually meant dropping large American V8’s into unsuspecting British cars – V8 Cortinas, Escorts and Zephyrs abounded in the Ford camp and a number of Holdens and Vauxhalls in the GM garages. The Europeans were
not neglected with even a small block
Chev-powered VW Beetle lurking in the Waikato, not to mention a VW-powered Fiat Bambina that popped great wheelies with all that weight at the back. Often the builders were agnostic to the engine vs car brand with the GM Buick and Oldsmobile alloy V8’s (later used by Range Rover) commonly appearing in small Pommy Fords. Nowadays Chev, Ford, Mopar, Lexus and Infiniti V8’s still get used in these sort of swaps.

We cover some of the other key performance
areas in our feature.

Best wishes,

Cathy