Twin turbos

This is a turbocharger, or “turbo” engine. Originally developed primarily for airplanes, it made a splash in motorsports in the 60s and 70s, going on to dominate and become an essential part of the industry.

In short, a turbo engine works by feeding a combustion engine’s output gases back into the engine to provide more input, and thus more power.

A key problem in turbo engines is turbo lag - the engine needs to operate for a bit within the optimal range in order to generate enough power. In driver’s terms, you press on the gas, car responds normally for a bit, then after a few seconds you get an unexpected boost of power. This can be dangerous, unpredictable, and having to drive around this can often negate the benefits of a more powerful engine.

➡️ You can see (and listen!) to this effect in this trashy YouTube short: https://youtube.com/shorts/ET47FJBfDAQ

One of the most successful solutions to the turbo lag problem was connecting two turbo systems to an engine, either sequentially (with a different capacity), or in parallel  (with a smaller individual capacity).

In other words: You may already have a powerful engine, but with some adjustments you can make its output more predictable, controlled, and overall faster.