Power Unleashed

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 1910 and then took to the air to gain altitude with supercharging in the Great War. Inventive ideas for piston-type blowers, Roots-type, centrifugal, screw-type, vane-type, exhaust-driven turbos and other new compressor technologies. How Fiat, Mercedes and Duesenberg vied to be first in racing with blowers in the early 1920s, sparking a world-wide swathe of interest in exotic supercharged road and track cars that also embraced the likes of Alfa Romeo, Bentley, MG, Miller, Sunbeam and many more. As befits its title, “Wartime boost to forced induction, 1930s to 1970s,” Volume 2’s focus is on the huge strides made in supercharging and turbocharging in World War II by Allied and Axis combatants. Post-war, America powered ahead with turbocharging’s proliferation in racing at Indianapolis followed by wider use from the 1970s for passenger cars and racers, most notably Formula One’s 1,500-horsepower projectiles. Volume 3, “Turbo triumphs on road and track, 1970s to 2020s,” introduces the many and varied applications of boosting for petrol and diesel engines through to the present day. Why and how the 21st century sees sweeping conversion of both road and racing cars to forced induction for higher efficiency and the ultimate in road-burning performance. All told this mighty work contains over 3,500 rare and historic images of superchargers and turbochargers along with their designers and the sensational cars and aircraft that have carried their creations. Power Unleashed is a work of astonishing depth and detail. Greatly respected for his ability to communicate information while telling a compelling story, Karl Ludvigsen explores the global saga of supercharging and turbocharging. Complete with reader-friendly technical descriptions and magnificent illustrations, he introduces the fascinating individuals who bet their businesses on boosting. This is a landmark work in the histories of the automobile and airplane.