Corvette vs Viper: supercharged or sprayed?

The Corvette vs. Viper race is one of long legendary American lore, a classic comparison of muscle car performance capabilities. The question arises, shall one be supercharged, or sprayed? The following race between a supercharged Chevrolet Corvette and sprayed Dodge Viper illustrates just how potent NOS can be with a large displacement motor. NOS, or nitrous oxide works on the principle of allowing oxygen to enter the combustion chamber in a more dense order, similar to supercharging but without the heat. So naturally, a larger displacement motor on NOS is going to be world's better than any forced induction motor of smaller displacement.

The problem with running boost instead of NOS is that boost creates heat. During the compression stage of the forced induction system, the air molecules are rubbed together and create friction. A turbocharger also is subject to heat soak from hot exhaust gas temperatures used to spool the turbine. This is why some supercharged systems do not have intercoolers, and most turbocharged systems do. EGT's can reach up to 1600 degrees Fahrenheit, combining that heat soak with the compression heat generated by the turbo creates an average discharge temperature of around 300 to 400 degrees. Once the air hits the intercooler, it's typically reduced to around 100 degrees depending on the quality of your intercooler.

When you spray NOS, you avoid the massive amounts of heat generated by forced induction systems and in effect NOS still accomplishes the same task of compressing the oxygen. However, adding NOS to a forced induction system compresses and cools the air even further. This is why NOS is so popular with forced induction vehicles! Another method of cooling down the compressed charge is to inject water or methanol.

Most enthusiasts sit on the fence when it comes to picking NOS, forced induction, or both. Most small displacement four cylinder engines prefer a turbocharger, while larger displacement V6 and V8 engines will choose the supercharger. The reason being is that the supercharger requires torque from the engine to operate, of which the smaller four cylinder engines lack. However, due to the high revving nature of the four cylinder, ample amounts of exhaust gas is created which is ideal to spool a turbocharger. Enjoy the following footage of NOS superiority, at least this one doesn't explode.

Video content: Corvette vs Viper, supercharged or sprayed?

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