The Porsche 935 turbo racing engines of the late 1970s could produce over 850 horsepower in qualifying trim, but teams discovered they could extract an additional 50-100 horsepower by deliberately running the turbocharger at boost levels that would cause micro-fractures in the compressor wheel—cracks so microscopic that they wouldn’t cause catastrophic failure during a single qualifying run, but the engine would be completely destroyed afterward, making the technique viable only for one-lap qualifying attacks where the entire powerplant could be rebuilt immediately before the race.
Car Fact #64 — August 19, 2026
