THE SCIENCE OF SPIN
EDUCED TO its simplest form, a turbocharger isn’t hard to understand. Two fans sit at either end of a metal shaft so that both spin around in unison. One of these fans, the turbine, sits in the stream of exhaust gases exiting the cylinders. As the engine blows hot gas past the fan blades, they spin up, in turn rotating the shaft and the other fan, called the compressor. This fan is mounted in the car’s air intake so, as it spins faster and faster, it sucks more air into the vehicle’s cylinders. With more air in, you can throw in correspondingly more fuel. Bingo! More power.
