NA engine vs TT

[NetViper]

With all this discussion about Lotus vs NSX, I got to wondering. Yes, the Lotus has a V8, but it needs twin turbo's to get 350HP out of it. The NSX is NA with 290 HP.

If the Lotus used a NA engine with the same amount of HP, would it be just as fast, or do the turbos help make a car faster than a NA car with the same amount of power?



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1993 White NSX, 70K miles and running STRONG!

 

[burbel]

The speed (or, rather, acceleration) would depend solely on the torque curve, if all other things were equal.

If you could create an NA tuned engine that had an identical torque curve to the turbo engine, then it would accelerate the exact same.

One of the tricks of a turbo, from what I have found, is that it makes a high-powered engine have a broader torque curve, vs. an engine that has been modified/tuned for a high top end. The NSX went a different route, and essentially put two decent torque curves together in the NSX.

Again, it's not the peak numbers that tell, it's the entire torque curve.