Supercharger at the Road Course?

[CornerCarver15]

Hey Guys.

Has anyone with a Whipple or Roush supercharger taken their car to an open track even an run it hard all day (5+ sessions @ 20-30mins each)?

If so are you guys having any heat issues? Other issues?

Thanks!

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[Grim12]

Very curious about this myself. I know the common wisdom is that a PD blower is not good for those type of track sessions but I am wondering if things have changed with improvements in technology. If not a Whipple or Roush is there another type of FI that's more suited for these type of track events?

 

[whatsup62]

Very curious about this myself. I know the common wisdom is that a PD blower is not good for those type of track sessions but I am wondering if things have changed with improvements in technology. If not a Whipple or Roush is there another type of FI that's more suited for these type of track events?

Well I don't road course, but when I was talking to Steeda about a tune and mentioned that I was planning on FI in the near future their tuner gave me some advice.
Drag racing - PD SC
Road Tracking - Centrifugal SC

For the very reason you mentioned.

 

[H1 GT]

Best bet is to keep it N/A from my experience and what I've been told. I've been on the track with a lot of last generation Mustangs that were supercharged and they all got hot after 3 or 4 laps and had to slow down. I spoke with someone that had a twin turbo hellion car at the track and he said it was just too much and didn't care for the way the power was delivered.

I've been convinced to keep mine N/A for reliability and to have more fun.

You only ever read about big power numbers online, its surprising how wonderful this car is on the track with a bone stock powertrain. When I finally dig into my powertrain I'm gonna hope to maybe go for 500 to the wheels and never have cooling issues through intake, intake manifold, throttle body, headers, and cams...when the money comes...

 

[908ssp]

The heat is directly related to the amount of boost pressure. It is a law of physics that when air is compressed it gets hot doesn't matter if it is a PD or centrifugal. If I remember correctly for every pound of boost air temperature raises 10 degrees.

For road course work you are better off staying NA. Lighten the car, tune the suspension and learn to drive you will have more fun and have less problems by far.

 

[beefcake]

for drag strip, any application is good, we prefer the centri just because the initial hit isn't as hard on the irs.

for the road course and heat soak, we love the paxton vortech or prochargers, very minimal impact with the large air to air intercoolers

 

[LHousePhoto]

The heat concern of PD vs Centrifugal is referring to the heat of the PD sitting on top of the engine, heat soaking the block, not the heat caused from running FI.

Steeda seems to be doing okay running their Vortech equipped car on a road course.

 

[thedalejrfan]

I had my Whipple car out for a day last summer. Ran 5 or 6 hard sessions at 20-30 minutes each with zero issues. I agree, if I were to make this a regular thing, I probably would have left the car NA.

My road course car will be my new RS when it arrives...

 

[jwhite]

Went to an open airport run ran probly 10 times 15 min sessions at speeds well over 140mph. Let's just say I burned an entire tank of gas only at very high speed, no issues at all. In fact got stronger as the day went! Brenspeed had one of his cars also Roush SC'ed there with no complaints

 

[Z_Rocks]

Look what ford built for road course racing, a N/A hi rev, 350GT and not a F/I GT. That should tell you something.

I know a reputable S/C kit Vendor where the do a lot of Corvette S/C, yet their shop road race car, is a N/A with good internals and lots of engine, oil coolers.

Get a Gt350 and be happy... :-)

 

[jwhite]

I'll agree with everything Zrock said for a professional track only car. high rev,light weight N/A cars with very similar horsepower and suspension and professional drivers getting every ounce of horsepower to the track. But for us weekend warriors who just want to go fast for limited runs and keep up with the new Z28's the Audi R10's and even those turbocharged Subaru's for example you need to SuperCharge.

 

[Whipple SC]

Shelby runs nearly every car at the track with our SC, heat is the biggest issue with a power adder and track days.

 

[Grim12]

I'll agree with everything Zrock said for a professional track only car. high rev,light weight N/A cars with very similar horsepower and suspension and professional drivers getting every ounce of horsepower to the track. But for us weekend warriors who just want to go fast for limited runs and keep up with the new Z28's the Audi R10's and even those turbocharged Subaru's for example you need to SuperCharge.

That's good to hear. How did the MT-82 do that day? And in general with all that added power?

 

[Grim12]

Shelby runs nearly every car at the track with our SC, heat is the biggest issue with a power adder and track days.

Whipple, can you give us some more details?

 

[CornerCarver15]

I would be interested in more details from whipple's testing as well.

I've run my stock GT at the track some this last year, but I really miss the flat torque curve my 03 Cobra and 09 CTS-V had at the track. I'd love to run a low boost whipple setup if heat won't kill the motor.

Also, are the computers in these cars smart enough (even with an after market supercharger and tune) to recognize the extra heat and pull timing? Or does the after market tune interfere with that?

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