road runner

Surat, October 15: Move over Dhoom-style superbikes, the latest craze to hit the Surat roads is four-wheelers modified into turbo-charged sports cars that run on Nitrous Oxide (Nitro) for that speed down the expressway.

‘‘Modifying one’s four-wheeler is a fad in countries outside India. Here, the trend is new and has just begun to catch up with youngsters. If one is a good driver, these enhancements not only improve a car’s performance but also give better power while increasing its mileage,’’ says Sahil Parekh, owner of Racing Lab on Ghod Dod Road. Explaining, he says for instance, changing into K&N performance airfilters can give up to 8 per cent boost to the horse power of any car and it costs about Rs 5,000, whereas changing over to a freeflow exhaust system improves the horse power further by 10 per cent.

Parekh’s Racing Lab is one of the two city-based car modifiers, who put on a display their exhibits at the recently held SVNIT Autoexpo. His personal Mitsubishi Lancer features a turbo-charged engine and is equipped with Nitro boosters.Nitrous Oxide boosters are, however, for use in racing cars only and are banned for normal street use. These fitments are available for a little over Rs 50,000 though can be used by experienced drivers able to take high G-force involved with these. ‘‘One can release the nitro button only in short spurts of two to five seconds once the car is in third gear and the engine is running at more than 7,000 rpm. This is because at 7,000 rpm the throttle is fully open and can take in accurate air to fuel and nitro mixture for an exhilarating performance. I had a case where a novice driver after getting the fitment done at my lab, released the booster at a lower rpm and his engine went haywire,’’ he says.

After completing a training in enhancing performance of Indian street cars at his Delhi-based auto engineer friend’s, Parekh opened his showroom on October 2. ‘‘I got many clients just after opening the showroom. Most want partial makeover while others go for a complete overhaul, so that their cars can compete in car rallies,’’ he says.

As per his estimates, transforming a car into hot wheels can cost anywhere between Rs 2.5 lakh and Rs 5 lakh depending on the nature of change. But once fully transformed, these cars are not fit for normal use. Still, many prefer to go for that sporty look, even if it’s partial.

For die-hard performance car fans, available here are Garett turbo charger set with intercoolers. These can be installed in any car having an engine capacity of 1300 cc at a cost of Rs 1.2 lakh. ‘‘Even with turbo- charger on, you can drive around in the city. The charger begins to work after the engine rpm crosses 2,500-mark. We make adjustments to the turbo charger depending on the capacity of a car,’’ explains Parekh., adding that special Iridium spark plugs and imported synthetic engine oil improve the BHP, torque as well as mileage of a car.

Source: http://cities.expressindia.com/