acceleration.

[Boss 330]

Got this sent to me, thought some of you might be interested.


A lesson in acceleration
* One Top Fuel dragster 500 cubic inch Hemi engine makes more
horsepower than the first 4 rows at the Daytona 500.
* Under full throttle, a Top Fuel dragster engine consumes 11.2 gallons (51 litres)
of nitro methane per second; a fully loaded 747 consumes jet fuel at
the same rate with 25% less energy being produced.
* A stock Dodge 426 Hemi V8 engine cannot produce enough power to
drive the dragster's supercharger.
* With 3000 CFM of air being rammed in by the supercharger on
overdrive, the fuel mixture is compressed into a near-solid form before
ignition.
Cylinders run on the verge of hydraulic lock at full throttle.
* At the stoichiometric 1.7:1 air/fuel mixture for nitro methane the
flame front temperature measures 7050 degrees F ( 3900 degrees C ).
* Nitromethane burns yellow. The spectacular white flame seen above
the stacks at night is raw burning hydrogen, dissociated from
atmospheric water vapour by the searing exhaust gases.
* Dual magnetos supply 44 amps to each spark plug. This is the output
of an arc welder in each cylinder.
* Spark plug electrodes are totally consumed during a pass. After 1/2
way, the engine is dieseling from compression plus the glow of exhaust
valves at 1400 degrees F. The engine can only be shut down by cutting
the fuel flow.
* If spark momentarily fails early in the run, unburned nitro builds
up in the affected cylinders and then explodes with sufficient force
to blow cylinder heads off the block in pieces or split the block in
half.
* In order to exceed 300 mph in 4.5 seconds dragsters must accelerate
at an average of over 4G's. In order to reach 200 mph well before
half-track, the launch acceleration approaches 8G's.
* Dragsters reach over 300 miles per hour before you have completed
reading this sentence.
* Top Fuel Engines turn approximately 540 RPM's from light to light!

This one confused Stan, but stop & ponder the fact that the engine is
only used for apx 4 to 5 seconds.
* Including the burnout the engine must only survive 900 revolutions
under load.
* The red-line is actually quite high at 9500 rpm.
* The Bottom Line; Assuming all the equipment is paid off, the crew
worked for free, and for once NOTHING BLOWS UP, each run costs an
estimated $1,000.00 per second. The current Top Fuel dragster elapsed
time record is 4.441 seconds for the quarter mile 10/05/03, Tony
Shumacher). The top speed record is 333.00 mph (533 km/h) as measured over the last 66' of the run (09/28/03 Doug Kalitta).

Putting all of this into perspective:
You are riding the average $250,000 Honda MotoGP bike. Over a mile
up the road, a Top Fuel dragster is staged and ready to launch down a
quarter mile strip as you pass. You have the advantage of a flying start. You run the RC211V hard up through the gears and blast across the starting line and past the dragster at an honest 200 mph (293 ft/sec). The tree' goes green for both of you at that moment. The dragster launches and starts after you. You keep your wrist cranked hard, but you hear an incredibly brutal whine that sears your eardrums and within 3 seconds the dragster catches and passes you.

He beats you to the finish line, a quarter mile away from where you
just passed him. Think about it, from a standing start, the dragster had
spotted you 200 mph and not only caught, but nearly blasted you off the
road when he passed you within a mere 1320 foot long race course.

That, folks, is acceleration.

[sleekism]

Wow thats an expensive hobby!

[RG]

Sweeeet. Great read.

[El Sucio]

sh!t.

If I was to ever somehow get a chance to ride in a car that can do 500km/h in 4.5 secounds I would stop bothering with my street cars I reckon.

All street cars would feel like the blue car off Mr Bean in comparison, even a Lambo Murcielago. So what would be the point?

Perhaps that would be the key to reducing the incidence of hoon related road deaths...put all L platers in a 2 seater top fuel dragster for a couple of runs. :o)

[Rodp]

:

http://www.fordforums.com.au/showthread.php?t=2449

[Falc'man]

Half the members weren't members here when this was last posted.

Good read.

[dallasv8]

good read,some interesting stuff there

the drivers of them things must have huge kahoonas

[xbcool]

I don't give a rats if it is a repost ,it's still a great read.


the bit that spins me out is about the 426 hemi not making enough power to spin the supercharger.

[Chamelion]

Originally Posted by Rodp

:

http://www.fordforums.com.au/showthread.php?t=2449

Reposts don't count if there has been more than 12 months between posts. Everyone knows that! :

[EF Futura 07]

top read!!! anymore like that?

[alecrain]

That was a great way to put things in perspective

[1600GT]

fantastic read, and the info there is spot on.

Originally Posted by dallasv8

the drivers of them things must have huge kahoonas

agreed, but not all of them have 'kahoonas', but they are all individually braver than most of us put together.
MRSXR-8 is good friends with a well known, and very successful top fuel racer of the fairer sex, and she has told MRS about the cars she has had.
one was just pure evil, and u simply didnt know which way it was going to go after launching, and it would never do the same thing twice in a row, while another was, in her words, "an easier thing to drive than my road car in the carpark!!" she remembers well how it would launch dead straight every time, and she could go from light to light with one hand on the wheel and the other on the chute lever. and this is at over 300mph...
the saddest thing about top fuel is, as stated in the 1st post, the cost.
drag racing is massive in the states, with plenty of high quality tracks to race on, attracts big numbers of spectators, and even bigger sponsorship dollars, while here in australia, drag racing gets little (if none) media coverage, very few 'top fuel quality' tracks (jeez, we dont even have a full national series without melbourne and adelaide!!), the only spectators are usually real racing fans that go to every race meeting, and the money simply isnt there from sponsors, making it far too expensive for most...

[lamborghinifan]

Originally Posted by El Sucio

sh!t.


Perhaps that would be the key to reducing the incidence of hoon related road deaths...put all L platers in a 2 seater top fuel dragster for a couple of runs. :o)

ditto

[schnoods]

* Dual magnetos supply 44 amps to each spark plug. This is the output of an arc welder in each cylinder

44 amps I believe, but the output of an arc welder??? Not many rods out there that can burn at 44 amps (maybe its a tig welding 1.6 ss?) but saying that It is an impressive amount for a sparkplug indeed.

[amb1206]

I don't think the fuel consumption is correct either - otherwise they would need 250L tanks.