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Retro

tech From creator of huge power to perfect hybrid bedfellow,

the turbo’s come a long way. Ben Miller tells its story

The turbo: a history

1973

1977

1986

2019

2013

1973 2002 goes turbo

GM dabbled with turbos in the early ’60s, but the ’70s

marks their mainstream adoption. BMW uses a KKK

blower for the 2002 Turbo, giving the sweet little four-

banger a 167bhp kick. But its timing – just as the oil

crisis bites – couldn’t be worse. Later F1-spec BMW

turbo fours make 1400bhp.

1986 Porsche’s sequential thinking

Big turbines give huge power but huge lag; smaller

ones good response but meagre boost. Cue

Porsche, by now fluent turbo speakers, and the 959’s

sequential blowers: as revs rise, the smaller turbines

hand over to the big ’uns to deliver 450bhp without

any infuriating low-rev nothingness.

2019 Porsche nails the blown motor

As a measure of how far the technology’s come,

‘normal’ 911s got down-sized turbo engines with the

991.2 facelift. Mankind threatened global anarchy

until it drove one, and quite liked it. Evolved 3.0-litre

9A2 Evo engine (right) in the new 992 is even better.

1977 Renault turbocharges F1

Blinded by the ongoing brilliance of Ford’s evergreen

DFV V8, F1 teams ignore the bit of the rules that

permits 1.5-litre turbos to run with naturally-aspirated

3.0-litre engines. Bravely, Renault doesn’t. It debuts

the RS01 hand grenade in ’77. Two years later, its

RS10 (above) successor wins its first race.

1920s Aero engineers rejoice

Since turbo engines laugh in the face of thin air

at altitude, speed-hungry aero engineers get

busy bolting on blowers. Come WW2, turbo-

superchargers give American bombers and fighters

in particular astonishing performance at altitude.

2013 Turbos and hybrids fall in love

McLaren’s P1 goes on sale, in which a turbo V8 and

hybrid system work in stunning concert. BMW also

unveils the production-spec i8 (above), albeit with a

more modest hybrid three pot. Now Aston, Ferrari

and McLaren are all working on turbo V6 hybrids.

1905 Good idea patented

Forced induction via

a mechanically-driven

supercharger is almost as old

as the engine itself, but it isn’t

until 1905 that a patent’s filed

on a turbine-driven compressor.

The phrases ‘vicious lag’ and

‘uncontrollable wheelspin’ enter

common usage around the

same time.

Evolved 911

Carrera S six is

good for 444bhp

from 3.0 litres –

and negligible

1905

1920 S

NEW