Eli5 what makes a car fast?

Question

Tittle says it all how does a mechanic modify the engine/car components to make it faster.

In: 0

Answer 1

Generally, cars use internal combustion. This involves mixing air and fuel, squeezing it, and making it explode. The more force the explosion makes, the more power. In theory, this means the more air/fuel mixture you can cram into each cycle, the more powerful the explosion. To add power to an existing engine, generally you can add forced induction. Turbos or superchargers are most common. This compresses the air to allow higher density, allowing the addition of more fuel.