Power Unleashed

Karl Ludvigsen is widely known and respected in the automotive world for his research and reporting on all aspects of motoring and motor sports. This has come about through his studies of engineering and industrial design as well as his senior positions with GM, Fiat and Ford and his leadership of a motor-industry management-consulting company.  Active for over 70 years as an author and historian, Ludvigsen first studied supercharging applications in 1955 while attending Brooklyn’s Pratt Institute. He has meticulously researched the subject ever since, building upon a landmark piece published by Automobile Quarterly in 1970 entitled ‘The Origins of Supercharging’, for which he interviewed many pioneers of the art. As author, co-author or editor Karl has some six dozen books to his credit, among them titles about engine topics such as The V12 Engine, Classic Racing Engines and Bentley’s Great Eight. Ludvigsen has received 73 awards for his high standard of writing and research. He lives in Suffolk.

Key content
• Volume 1, ‘Rushing toward the racing zenith, 1890s to 1950s’, begins by introducing the bold pioneers who first won races with blowers in 1910 and then took to the air to gain altitude with supercharging in the Great War.
• Inventive ideas for piston-type blowers, Roots-type, centrifugal, screw-type, vane-type, exhaust-driven turbos and other new compressor technologies.
• How Fiat, Mercedes and Duesenberg vied to be first in racing with blowers in the early 1920s, sparking a world-wide swathe of interest in exotic supercharged road and track cars that also embraced the likes of Alfa Romeo, Bentley, MG, Miller, Sunbeam and many more.
• As befits its title, ‘Wartime boost to forced induction, 1930s to 1970s’, Volume 2’s focus is on the huge strides made in supercharging and turbocharging in World War II by Allied and Axis combatants.
• Post-war, America powered ahead with turbocharging’s proliferation in racing at Indianapolis followed by wider use from the 1970s for passenger cars and racers, most notably Formula One’s 1,500-horsepower projectiles.
• Volume 3, ‘Turbo triumphs on road and track, 1970s to 2020s’, introduces the many and varied applications of boosting for petrol and diesel engines through to the present day.
• Why and how the 21st century sees sweeping conversion of both road and racing cars to forced induction for higher efficiency and the ultimate in road-burning performance.
• All told this mighty work contains over 3,500 rare and historic images of superchargers and turbochargers along with their designers and the sensational cars and aircraft that have carried their creations.