I never really understood why I saw boosted civics (etc) with huge ass intercoolers that took up the entire stock bumper space, yet saw insane cars at the track running smaller, more efficient units....

I thought there was something I might not have known but I haven't gotten a good explination yet on why

All I can really see is;

-bigger cooling 'catch' area
-more air/cooling capacity needed for higher bar


Yet, I see 700+hp cars with a regular sized unit that fits perfectly