Power Unleashed

by Karl Ludvigsen

ISBN: 9781910505373

Published: 2025-07-15

Supercharging in all its forms is the most exciting feature ever created to go under the bonnet of a motor car. Blowers were rare yet highly desirable devices in their early heyday of the 1920s and '30s, an era in which compressors graced supremely glamorous and race-winning cars. They also won respect from aviators eager to exploit high altitudes and this led to prolific use of forced induction in the air in World War II and brought forth many of the engineering geniuses who populate the pages of this scholarly work. Having seemed abandoned on land, supercharging found new acolytes who perfected blowers for road and track. They rescued the turbocharger to open new avenues for high-pressure boosting in the 1970s and '80s. Into the 21st century turbocharging has found its way into more and more cars to enhance both performance and fuel efficiency. Volume 1, "Rushing toward the racing zenith, 1890s to 1950s," begins by introducing the bold pioneers who first won races with blowers in...