Re: A4 Turbo at Altitude

["David L. Rowney" <daver@uclink.berkeley.edu>]

I'd also be very interested to find out if the A4 Turbo has absolute
pressure reference.  Turbo superchargers were originally developed just to
overcome the altitude problem (in piston-engine aircraft).  I would find it
hard to believe that a car developed in Europe would not have this feature.

One way to tell (other than performance testing) - do you 1.8T owners
notice more turbo-lag when driving in high altitude compared to low?  You
should get more lag with the absolute system at altitude, as the turbo will
have more relative effect with more throttle (at light throttle, when
little or no boost is being developed, the motor is developing less BHP
than at sea level).  My girlfriend's Volvo 940 Turbo shows this effect when
driven at 7000' compared to sea level.

Dave

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*                        Dave Rowney, Hopper Racing                    * 
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