The
technology used in the VIPER was first seen on the Lotus 340R,
but now Pipercross are making it available for an ever increasing
range of popular road cars. The cold air feed takes air from
behind the grill straight into the VIPERs 100mm diameter
inlet, swirling it through a unique Pipercross velocity filter
contained within a carbon fibre heat shield, and then into
a ram pipe to increase its pressure before feeding it
into the induction system.
More
power is achieved using the Viper compared to other induction
kits because of two things. First, with the cold feed being
at the front of the car, you benefit from the ram effect of
the air being forced into the tube. This goes up as the square
of the road speed. So you get four times the pressure force
at twice the speed. What this really means is that the engine
has an easier job sucking the air in, hence making it more
efficient and therefore more powerful.
The
second benefit of the Viper is that cold air is fed into the
engine from outside the car instead of under the bonnet where
temperatures are high. Also, the carbon fibre heat shield
protects the air charge from under bonnet heat. This means
that the air entering the engine is more dense because it
is colder and again it is then easier for the engine to suck
in the amount of air it needs. So, in summary, what the Viper
does is help the engine to gulp in the air more efficiently
- hence more power.
This
may all be a bit academic but the increase in power using
a VIPER against a standard air box will be immediately evident.
Just as obvious will be the VIPER's stunning looks - the carbon
fibre heatshield connecting the polished alloy inlet to the
150mm rampipe will be the focal point of any engine bay! |