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Car Performance Modifications
When a road car is designed, many compromises
must be made in order to satisfy a wide audience. For some people
the most important aspects of a car are its reliability and economy,
while others are more concerned about its performance and raw
power. There are also legal considerations that a manufacturer
must take into account, for instance all new cars must be detuned
below 3,000 rpm in order to reduce emissions.
The result of this is that there is a (sometimes
very substantial) margin for enhancing the performance of car.
It is also true that there are compromises
that go alongside the gain. If you increase the car’s performance,
then you will be inducing more stress on various components of
the car as you use them to increase performance. Fundamentally,
everything will wear out at a faster rate.
Also, if you increase the performance of
the car in terms of speed and acceleration, you should also take
account of the need to improve the performance of the brakes and
suspension concomitantly. If your modified car has more power
in terms of speed, it should have more stopping power too.
The kinds of modifications you can make
are tuning the engine, by modifying its mechanics, electronics
and airflow, modifying the handling characteristics of the car,
by upgrading the brakes and lowering and stiffening the suspension,
modifying the drive train, for instance by installing a low ratio
gearbox and maybe a limited slip differential, and, finally, upgrading
the car’s aerodynamics by adding a body kit that incorporates
a wing or spoiler and side-skirts.
Some cars are particularly amenable to
modifications and even simple modifications can add a huge performance
benefit. One popular car with a 1.8 litre engine can be readily
tuned to deliver 240 bhp.
If you do carry out any car modifications
then it is very important that you inform your insurance company
that you have done so. Failure to do this is likely to invalidate
your insurance with potentially serious consequences. Although
some modifications, such as remapping your car ECU, are very difficult
to detect, it is still worthwhile telling your insurance company
that you have done so.
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