Motorcyclists and car enthusiasts use the term airbox for what might more properly
be described as an air intake chamber. Older engines drew air directly from the
surroundings into each individual carburetor. Modern engines instead draw air
into an airbox, which is connected by individual hoses to each carburetor, or
directly to the intake ports in fuel-injected engines.
This allows
the use of one air filter instead of many, and allows the designers to exploit
the properties of air to improve performance. For example, modern high-performance
motorcycles have the airbox draw air from the front of the bike, so that air
is forced in, rather than having to be sucked in. To the same end, designers
exploit a property of air cavities known as Helmholtz resonance.
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