Imagine a forced-induction car with high boost all the way across the rev range. How'd they do that? By being damn clever, that's what: They bolted a tiny gearbox to a supercharger, with tremendous results!
It is bleedingly obvious when you think about it. When they discovered that internal combustion engines were only efficient at certain revs, they bolted on a gearbox to be able to drive a car at different speeds. So why has it taken so long to do the same to a supercharger? Beats us, but we're damn pleased that Atonov has seen the light, and paired a high-capacity supercharger with a tiny gearbox.
Atonov is showing off the world's very first two-speed supercharger, allowing the efficiency of the supercharger to remain high at all engine speeds. What they have done is to take a highly efficient centrifugal supercharger, and pair it with a tiny automatic gearbox. The result is a tremendous boost right from the lowest revs all the way through to redline, and no lag to get to the power, either.
The new supercharger setup ain't cheap (you are looking at between £3,000 and £4,000, once it's on the market), but it promises to pack a wallop of power unseen in this end of the market: Normally, you'd expect up to 50% efficiency out of a supercharger, but this setup promises up to 85%! According to the manufacturer, an engine with their two-speed supercharger fitted can exactly match the torque curve of a much, much larger naturally aspirated engine.
Car manufacturers are excited because it would allow them to use smaller engines to get better performance. We are excited, too. Bolt one of these muthas to a big-ass engine, and it'll send it flying like a pissed-off banshee. Wicked!