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

Carburetor

A carburetor , carburettor, or carburetter is a device that blends air and fuel for an internal combustion engine. It is sometimes shortened to carb in North America and the United Kingdom....

. 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

Air filter

A particulate air filter is a device composed of fibrous materials which removes solid particulates such as dust, pollen, mold, and bacteria from the air. A chemical air filter consists of an absorbent or catalyst for the removal of airborne molecular contaminants such as volatile organic compounds...

 instead of many, and allows the designers to exploit the properties of air to improve performance. For example, modern high-performance motorcycle

Motorcycle

A motorcycle is a single-track, two-wheeled motor vehicle. Motorcycles vary considerably depending on the task for which they are designed, such as long distance travel, navigating congested urban traffic, cruising, sport and racing, or off-road conditions.Motorcycles are one of the most...

s have the airbox draw air from the front of the bike, so that air is forced in, rather than having to be sucked in. An example of this is in The BMW S1000RR

BMW S1000RR

The BMW S1000RR is a sport bike initially manufactured by BMW Motorrad to compete in the 2009 Superbike World Championship, that is now in commercial production...

. To the same end, designers exploit a property of air cavities known as Helmholtz resonance

Helmholtz resonance

Helmholtz resonance is the phenomenon of air resonance in a cavity, such as when one blows across the top of an empty bottle. The name comes from a device created in the 1850s by Hermann von Helmholtz, the "Helmholtz resonator", which he, the author of the classic study of acoustic science, used to...

.