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Hood Louvers help by allowing hot air to escape the engine bay. If you've ever driven upwards of 70 or 80 miles per hour in your car and paid attention to the hood it is moving and flexing at that speed. Air comes into the engine bay through the grill, is absorbs heat from the radiator and other coolers you have in the grill and joins the ambient hot air created by the engine. The main cooling benefit of the louvers is allowing the hot air to escape. It increases the efficiency of the radiator, intercooler, oil cooler and allows the hot air to escape.
They additionally have rather substantial aerodynamic benefits as the air under the hood causing it to move around creates what is likely a substantial amount of lift, reducing the traction of the front tires.
You see a lot of modern performance cars with hood vents. GM found their benefit on the Camaro Z28 and applied them to all Camaros going forward. Porsche 911 GT cars have long had vents behind the heat exchangers. The Viper ACR, perhaps the most substantially aerodynamically optimized production car we've seen had hood vents and vents in the fenders to allow air caught in the wheel wells to escape.
I think functionally it is a no brainer modification for track performance, but it does compromise in the looks department as well as create the potential for the elements to get to something in the engine bay you'd rather they not get to.
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