Hood scoops are an easily recognizable sight on any number of vehicles, but their intended purpose may not be immediately obvious. Here’s what they’re for.
Hood scoops have been a perennial staple of powerful sports cars and muscle cars with wild hoods for decades. And from the early post-war era right up to today, they all served a similar purpose: allowing more air to enter the engine bay. Most of these scoops provided fresh air for the car’s intake, such as ram-air ducts, cowl induction, and shaker hoods. Others redirected air to assist with a car’s forced-induction system, like a NACA duct leading to a turbocharger, or a cutout for the intercooler. We’ll discuss the purpose and fundamental principles behind each of these types, but ultimately, most of them serve the same basic function as a cold-air intake. That is, rather than receiving hot air from an engine bay, a scoop instead draws in high-pressure, cooler air for the intake to use. They’re distinctly different from a blower sticking out of the hood in that they channel the air using the hood’s geometry, rather than simply cutting a hole for the engine to fit through.
Of course, all this relies on the scoop itself being functional. It’s not uncommon to see cosmetic scoops on some cars’ hoods, along with similar additions like nonfunctional side vents and so on. Hood scoops can enhance a car’s performance image more so than actually providing fresh air to an engine, so this article will only discuss functional hood scoops and other elements present on a car’s hood that serve similar purposes.
