Please forget about WRCs for a minute. These cars are race cars and need race car budgets. The average cost of a WRC is 350,000 pounds (GB) and the running costs of one car for one season are 1,000,000 pounds (GB). Even if you had the money to build the engine (with or without restrictor) then you would fine that you would spend more time rebuilding it than using it. The supercharger/turbo systems that I have seen just use the supercharger as a CC increaser until the turbo takes over and are much more practical and reliable on the road than anti-lag (not mater what system used).

P.S. I agree with what you are saying 100% and it would be nice I we could all run ALSs, but in the real world we cant.

 

My point is that yes you can use it for short periods of time on the street. Group N cars also run ALS many run pretty aggressive profiles for over two years on the same engine and turbo. I am not saying that it is a solution for everyone or one for a car that you intend to keep for 150K miles. But people have used it on the street. Not all systems are the same. The toyota developed system is supposed to be the most violent. The Mitsubishi based systems are one of the least damaging systems. Remember that mitsubishi developed it not only for the WRC cars but also their large Group N program.

The Mitsu ALS is controllable and can be tuned for milder response and to minimize turbo stress. I would not assume that it is much worse that smaller shots of nitrous. It is switchable in any event. I know several people using mild ALS on the street with WI and race gas.

The problem with a supercharger is that with small engines low rpm and high boost it is not very efficient.

 

Here in the UK the group N scene is properly larger than the Group A/WRC crowd and in a formula where you have almost no room to mod the engine, and smooth and consistent driving is the key, ALSs work well. I have heard of some systems that don’t use the manifold as a combustion chamber. One system was on Mach 2 racing’s Ford RS200 (used at Pikes Peak). It vented the pressurised inlet air into the exhaust manifold. This car was tested by a mag in the UK and they said it was the best system they had tried, (when they started to pump fuel in with the air that is!!!!). I have also heard of something like exhaust recirculation systems that are not supposed to damage the turbo at all. Not shore how they work though. Any ideas?

 

I just saw an article in racecar enginearing saying that one of the WRC teams basicaly had an accumulator tank plumbed into the intake system. So that when they came off throttle and the anti-lag kicked in they could pressurize the tank and have a **** load of boost when they got back on the gas.

 

That sounds like a great idea. You don't have a copy of that article you could scan do you?

 

We call them stutter boxes, and yes you can purchase these out of japan with limited install time or price...downside is it will burn up the turbo much faster.

We have been using these in turbo hondas to drag...You can launch @ 3.5K-4k and already be at 7-9lbs boost.