Warpspeed, i would be very interested in knowing some more about the VNT turbo's that you have played with. I spoke to garrett australia about these a year ago, and they told me that they had not yet reached the development level for high performnce petrol engines, as they could not get the VNT to be reliable with the ex temps. Why is there a problem with also runnung a wastegate if necessary, or alternatively as a diesel runs, just use a tuned size exhaust housing, and then use the vnt to spool it up nice and early. Have you considered the possibility that the overall size of the ex area was too small and thats why the top end sucked? I havent looked into these 100% yet, due to the lack of range of availability, but i can say for sure the vehicles i have driven with VNT turbo's(BMW X5 and Merc 4wd diesel thing)i have been incredably impressed with given their small capacity diesel motor. I believe these have totally revoloutinised diesels along with single rail direct injection. I believe the ideal turbo for a petrol engined car, would have VNT, possibly a wastegate if necessary, and definately anti surge ports to reduce the surge caused by being able to deliver such high pressure ratios at small flow rates. Imagine a t04z that could spool up as though it had a 0.4 exhaust housing, and then open up to a 1.2 exhaust housing progressively. The only electronic control that i believe would possibly be wanted is to open up the housing when under a certian throttle to reduce ex backpressure when at light/mid throttle, to improve drivability and fuel economy. Maybe VNT isnt the answer, but maybe the sliding partition steup that Holset are also diong would work just as well with better life expectancy. I believe that the reason these turbos aren't on drag cars is because they arent needed, it it easy to spool up enormous turbos these days with electronics, anti lag, high stalls and launch control, but how drivable is a 9 second drag car in terms of lag and rpm/boost threshold, who cares, thats not what its designed for. As for the technology being around for 20 years, not that i dont believe you, but 20 years ago, manufacturers couldnt keep ex housings in 1 piece on pertol cars let alone something this complex, and when they work so well on diesels, why have they only been fitted for the last 3 years? These really are questions i would like answers to, im not trying to be a smart arse, and if you could point me in the direction of where to find imfo about this it would be much appreciated.
end rant