Aaaah yes, our friend Modern Horsepower. Anyone skeptical of computer-controls and engine management had right to be so in, what, 1967 or so, as it was new, and why would you bother - Gas was cheap, plentiful, and 'Mericuh didn't need innovation or pesky nerd-types messing with their carbs and such.
Although there are a variety of technological innovations that allow an absurd level of horsepower to be generated via modern engines-- Turbos, metallurgy, variable-valve technology, levels of analysis previously unavailable, etc., we really owe it all to our friend EFI, and the advances within which that have allowed fuel and timing delivery to work together in harmony to create unheard-of levels of power.
Fuel Injection itself is not a new concept; it's essentially as old as our friend the ICE. From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia:
1870s – 1920s: early systems
Air-blast injection system for an 1898 diesel engine
In 1872, George Bailey Brayton obtained a patent on an internal combustion engine that used a pneumatic fuel injection system, also invented by Brayton: the air-blast injection.[20] In 1894,[21] Rudolf Diesel copied Brayton's air-blast injection system for the diesel engine, but also improved it. Most notably, Diesel increased the air-blast pressure from 4–5 kp/cm2 (390–490 kPa) to 65 kp/cm2 (6,400 kPa).[22]
The first manifold injection system was designed by Johannes Spiel at Hallesche Maschinenfabrik in 1884.[23] In the early 1890s, Herbert Akroyd Stuart developed an indirect fuel injection system[24] using a 'jerk pump' to meter out fuel oil at high pressure to an injector. This system was used on the Akroyd engine and was adapted and improved by Bosch and Clessie Cummins for use on diesel engines.
A manifold-injected Antoinette 8V aviation engine, mounted in a preserved Antoinette VII monoplane aircraft.
In 1898, Deutz AG started series production of stationary four-stroke Otto engines with manifold injection. Eight years later, Grade equipped their two-stroke engines with manifold injection, and both Léon Levavasseur's Antoinette 8V (the world's first V8 engine of any sort, patented by Levavasseur in 1902), and Wright aircraft engines were fitted with manifold injection as well. The first engine with petrol direct injection was a two-stroke aircraft engine designed by Otto Mader in 1916.[25]
Another early use of petrol direct injection was on the Hesselman engine invented by Swedish engineer Jonas Hesselman in 1925.[26][27] Hesselman engines use the stratified charge principle; fuel is injected towards the end of the compression stroke, then ignited with a spark plug. They can run on a huge variety of fuels.[28]
The invention of the pre-combustion chamber injection by Prosper l'Orange helped Diesel engine manufacturers to overcome the problems of air-blast injection, and allowed designing small engines for automotive use from the 1920s onwards. In 1924, MAN presented the first direct-injected Diesel engine for lorries.[4]
1930s – 1950s: first mass-produced petrol direct injection
Direct petrol injection was used in notable World War II aero-engines such as the Junkers Jumo 210, the Daimler-Benz DB 601, the BMW 801, the Shvetsov ASh-82FN (M-82FN). German direct injection petrol engines used injection systems developed by Bosch, Deckel, Junkers and l'Orange from their diesel injection systems.[29] Later versions of the Rolls-Royce Merlin and Wright R-3350 used single point injection, at the time called "Pressure Carburettor". Due to the wartime relationship between Germany and Japan, Mitsubishi also had two radial aircraft engines using petrol direct injection, the Mitsubishi Kinsei and the Mitsubishi Kasei.
The first automotive direct injection system used to run on petrol was developed by Bosch, and was introduced by Goliath for their Goliath GP700, and Gutbrod for their Superior in 1952. This was basically a specially lubricated high-pressure diesel direct-injection pump of the type that is governed by the vacuum behind an intake throttle valve.[30] The 1954 Mercedes-Benz W196 Formula 1 racing car engine used Bosch direct injection derived from wartime aircraft engines. Following this racetrack success, the 1955 Mercedes-Benz 300SL, became the first passenger car with a four-stroke Otto engine that used direct injection.[31] Later, more mainstream applications of fuel injection favored the less-expensive manifold injection.
However slowly it took, the science, foresight, and scale was there, and there's really no debating the superiority of where things have arrived as far as the piston engine is concerned. See this Wiki post on Bosch Jetronic, the first production-ready EFI system rolled out and used in full production.
The history of EFI is out there for anyone to search, but one of the most interesting parts of this is that mechanical fuel injection had been in use for quite some time, and the Bendix Electrojector EFI system pre-dates the Bosch EFI system for almost 10 years. From "Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia"
The Bendix Electrojector is an electronically controlled manifold injection (EFI) system developed and made by Bendix Corporation. In 1957, American Motors (AMC) offered the Electrojector as an option in some of their cars; Chrysler followed in 1958. However, it proved to be an unreliable system that was soon replaced by conventional carburetors. The Electrojector patents were then sold to German car component supplier Bosch, who developed the Electrojctor into a functioning system, the Bosch D-Jetronic, introduced in 1967.[1]
The Electrojector was first offered by American Motors Corporation (AMC) in 1957.[3][4] The Rambler Rebel was used to promote AMC's new 327 in3 (5,359 cm3) engine.[5] The Electrojector-injected engine was an option and rated at 288 bhp (215 kW).[6] It produced peak torque 500 rpm lower than the equivalent carburetor engine[7] The cost of the EFI option was US$395 and it was available on 15 June 1957.[8] According to AMC, the price would be significantly less than Chevrolet's mechanical fuel injection option.[9] Initial problems with the Electrojector meant only pre-production cars had it installed so very few cars were sold[10] and none were made available to the public.[11] The EFI system in the Rambler worked well in warm weather, but was difficult to start in cooler temperatures.[8]
Chrysler offered Electrojector on the 1958 Chrysler 300D, DeSoto Adventurer, Dodge D-500, and Plymouth Fury.[9] The early electronic components were not reliable in an underhood environment and were not easily modified as engine control requirements advanced. Most of the 35 vehicles originally equipped with Electrojector were retrofitted with 4-barrel carburetors. The Electrojector patents were subsequently sold to Bosch.
Bosch developed their D-Jetronic (D for Druckfühlergesteuert, German for "pressure-sensor-controlled"), from the Electrojector, which was first used on the VW 1600TL/E in 1967. This was a speed/density system, using engine speed and intake manifold air density to calculate "air mass" flow rate and thus fuel requirements. This system was adopted by VW, Mercedes-Benz, Porsche, Citroën, Saab, and Volvo. Lucas licensed the system for production in Jaguar cars, initially in D-Jetronic form, before switching to L-Jetronic in 1978 on the XK6 engine.
So all of that history and garble leads up to this post-- One 1348 WHP Shelby Mustang...