Kelby Krahn, a car enthusiast, got his hands on a B5-generation Audi A4 that someone had previously swapped to a VR6 engine. He enjoyed the swap on the whole, but couldn’t stand the turbo lag, so he used an actual gas turbine from an airplane to eliminate it.
The giant part weighs 145 kilograms (320 pounds) and runs in a manner similar to that of a supercharger – which is to say, it doesn’t work off exhaust gases and instead spins up using fuel to generate its own boost. Even with the throttle valve ajar, it feeds a constant 12 psi into the charge pipe, ruling out any chance for the turbo lag. Krahn estimates that it adds 60 horsepower to the engine output, but “provides 1500hp worth of air.” Sounds enough to boost a modern hypercar!
As one would expect from a highly experimental project like this, there are numerous issues arising from the simple fact that the A4 simply wasn’t designed to handle this kind of load. When testing the turbine, the tuner almost immediately blew the second gear and spent a lot of time repairing it. He then had a subframe bolt that tore itself out under the sheer load. During the first actual road test, the A4 broke its front axle in half – you can see it for yourself in the videos above.
Despite everything, Krahn seems to be full of hope for this unhinged build. His current plan is to continue swapping out any parts that break down until the car is finally stable enough to run with an aircraft-grade gas turbine on board.