Switzer Porsche 997 GT2

No fancy aero packages, no new rims, or ungodly alterations but this Switzer-tuned Porsche 997 GT2 will beat any stock Porsches like a rented mule anytime. Called the “P800″ package, this modification is a full bolt-on turbo cranking the engine’s power up to 800 horses all while using ordinary, 93-octane pump gas. The secret of the package is the Garrett GT30R-based turbochargers, heating huge quantities of air that’s then directed to the Switzer MONSTER intercoolers. The engine is fed by air and fuel by larger injectors with an oversized throttle body. All the hardware is managed by the stock ECU running on DME software calibrations. With all the modifications hidden deep in the engine bay, the car may look stock but it will accelerate it to 62 mph from a standing start in under 3 seconds onward to 132 mph in 10.66 seconds.

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What does octane mean?

If you've read How Car Engines Work, you know that almost all cars use four-stroke gasoline engines. One of the strokes is the compression stroke, where the engine compresses a cylinder-full of air and gas into a much smaller volume before igniting it with a spark plug. The amount of compression is called the compression ratio of the engine. A typical engine might have a compression ratio of 8-to-1.



During World War I, it was discovered that adding a chemical called tetraethyl lead (TEL) to gasoline significantly improved the gasoline's octane rating.

The octane rating of gasoline tells you how much the fuel can be compressed before it spontaneously ignites. When gas ignites by compression rather than because of the spark from the spark plug, it causes knocking in the engine. Knocking can damage an engine, so it is not something you want to have happening. Lower-octane gas (like "regular" 87-octane gasoline) can handle the least amount of compression before igniting.

The compression ratio of your engine determines the octane rating of the gas you must use in the car. One way to increase the horsepower of an engine of a given displacement is to increase its compression ratio. So a "high-performance engine" has a higher compression ratio and requires higher-octane fuel. The advantage of a high compression ratio is that it gives your engine a higher horsepower rating for a given engine weight -- that is what makes the engine "high performance." The disadvantage is that the gasoline for your engine costs more.

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