Those days are gone, absolutely blown away by today's technology. Modern turbo systems are so good, so quiet, it's virtually impossible to tell a boosted car from a naturally aspirated one.
Do I miss those 'old' days? About as much as I miss bias-ply tires. Sure, driving an old-school turbo car is a riot-for about an hour. And then you become exhausted from simply trying to stay alive. I remember someone describing our Shelby Daytona Project Car (Popular Hotrodding, Feb, 1990) as "the Molotov cocktail of sports cars." Yeah, not exactly a glowing endorsement.
It's a forgone conclusion that the future will hold more turbocharged vehicles than ever. Small-displacement engines (diesels too) fitted with an efficient turbo (or turbos) is the direction we need to go. Europe is there already and it seems to be working quite well.
Despite what you may hear, the future for performance vehicles is very bright. We just need to think smarter, think smaller, think lighter.Good times indeed.
Les Bidrawn
Editor
europeancar@primedia.com