Nice thread...
IMO, nitrous isn't cheating, or unfair, or cheesy. Who cares about the method used when the results are the same? It's rediculous to discredit one power adder over another just because you don't approve of the method that the power is added.
Doesn't matter what the car came with from the factory. Very few people leave their cars 100% stock. Besides, you couldn't get approval for a nitrous system on a production car. Many a guy wouldn't know how to use it and probably wreck their engine, sending warranty costs skyrocketing. A factory turbo or supercharger is pretty much idiot proof, with no instructions for use needed.
Sure, my bottle might go empty, but I've seen wastegates fail and blower belts get tossed.
My car might be slower off the bottle, but a turbo/blower car will be even more of a pig with a broken belt or stuck wastegate. Most nitrous motors are quite stout even naturally aspirated, generally having much higher compression than a comparable turbo or blown motor.
Yeah, it's cheaper, so what?
Yeah, the bottle gets empty. So what? Throw in another full one. Do you think I'll be going to any race with only one bottle? Probably not. Try 6 or 7.
It also has some advantages:
No blower belts to break/slip.
No worrying about belt alignment.
No excessive load on the front of the crank.
No bearings to fail, and near zero moving parts.
WAY less maintenance(tell me how much it costs to get a blower or turbo rebilt/refurbished, and I'll laugh when I say it costs near nothing to rebuild a solenoid).
What do you do when the turbo/blower is maxed out, way past its efficiency range? You gotta get a new turbo or blower or get an upgraded impeller. Way more expensive than changing jets or buying a couple new solenoids and a bigger feed line.
Generally it has less of a tendency to blow head gaskets.
It doesn't affect a damn thing when it's off.
Makes the fattest torque curve of them all.
Nitrous doesn't heat the intake charge like a blower or turbo.
Cheaper initial cost.
Jet changes are a snap(much quicker than a pulley change, but adjustable boost controllers make it just about as easy).
Doesn't rely on engine oil to keep it alive.
Much easier to install for someone who may not be so mechanically inclined.
On another note, it's common to refer to a "power adder" as a blower, turbo, or nitrous/propane injection. This is common lingo. Any motor without any of the above would be considered naturally aspirated, regardless of what airflow modifications it has.
|