The Smoking Tire heads out to Spring Mountain Motorsports Ranch, where VF Engineering has provided us with an entire fleet of supercharged sports cars. Matt Farah takes a 510hp blown Porsche 911 and a 620 hp blown wide-body M3 out on the track to see what 30% more power does to two already great cars.
Video after the jump.
I went to the VF website, They only support older gen BMW M3s, E36 and E46. What's the deal? Do you have to call to get the newer kits?
This is awesome!
Phil
if you go to their site and click on "superchargers," there is a whole list of cars they make kits for.
I would of never even thought to supercharge a Porsche.. Lol.
You said it's a Vortech, I'm guessing a centrifugal, especially since I dunno too many Twin screws for Boxer engines.
I've never been a fan of Centrifugal chargers, not for any particular reason.. it's just that I love the whine of a twin screw like say a whipple or a kenne bell on a Cobra.. that's badass. But definitely, the supercharger on a Carrera S seems like a great idea.. so much so that it should come like that from the factory (FOR THE SAME PRICE Lol).
I had never even thought to supercharge one either, but when you look under the hood (centrifugal, yes) it really fits great in there, and retains a very stock feel aside from the power boost. I love whine too, but it's nice to not hear the blower in the 911.
I totally understand what you're saying.. sort of a $80,000 sleeper sports car.. Lol.
But really, maintains it's luxuriously elegant yet sporty (relatively humble porsche) persona just with an added kick in the ass when you floor it. I'd love to see one of those vs a Turbo in a video comparison.
Yeah, my guess is that they had to use a centrifugal supercharger for packaging reasons, it is very similar to a turbo in shape after all. A twin scroll unit is probably too big to fit under a 911's hood. Woulda made a great excuse for an obnoxiously large spoiler though
. By the way, a twin screw is the same a roots type supercharger, right?
right.
Actually, wrong. Roots type superchargers are what are called "external compression" pumps and builds pressure by pumping bursts of air into the intake, which causes pressure pulses and is very relatively inefficient (relative to twin screw supers, turbos, and even centrifugal supers). Twin scrolls on the other hand are "internal compression," meaning they pressurize the air in the intake, and inside of the super (where the internal part of internal compression comes from), meaning they deliver a steady level of boost. This is far more efficient than roots type compressors, albeit far harder and therefore more expensive to produce.
dam the hips on that M3 is just crazy sexy
Word Up Alex….Hey Matt Nice very Nice episode that is…
Swish episode. any idea when the mini reviews are gonna show up on VF's website, cant seem to find them
next week, we wanted to get this one out first.
Let me just say I hate you! I could only hate you more if you were quality control tester at the Playboy Mansion! LOL. Seriously WOW! Keep living the dream Matt. I have a question though why two of the same make radar detectors? I could understand if they were different. You have a new fan…
we were just making sure they are identical. we don't run both at once. one is just a backup in case the cops take the primary.
Hey Matt, any worries with pushing that much Hp/Tq through a stock tranny on the M3? I saw it was the flappy paddle I'm just wondering if they have grenaded any internals or if it can handle all that extra power.
they only have about 3,000 miles on that car since the supercharger went on it, but all VF's kits are designed to work with otherwise stock vehicles without any additional upgrades. So far, they say, they haven't blown any transmissions in any of their cars as a result of the added power.
hey, i recently got an E46 M3. how was it with the vortech supercharger, and wich stage was it. i cant seem to find the mini review of it anywhere.
they aren't posted yet. VF was so excited with this video they wanted us to post it ASAP, and the mini-reviews will be posted on their site in the next week or so. we're trying to edit them all while preparing for Bullrun
This one was the Stage 2 package, and it was very, very quick. The chassis is set up perfectly for that amount of power.
how did they guy from the pokerfarm get to go in the car. what a ;lucky car
NICE episode!
They probably used a centrifugal supercharger on that 911. The compressor on centrifugals is like that of a turbo, so it gains a lot of efficiency at higher RPMs like a turbo, it is just driven by a connection to the crank instead exhaust pressure. You sound like you are used to a either a roots or twin-screw type supercharger which have more even power curves. (I just did some further research, and the Vortec superchargers do look like they are centrifugal type superchargers)
Cool to see Darren's 997S! Super nice guy too… We built that car back in 2006 before he moved down South. Great vid!
When are we going to get the full spec sheet!
what exactly is done to the M3?