Real Acceleration

[clarkey]

Dunno if any one has seen this already but its worth reading.

One for the rev heads..........

Read on..........

A lesson in acceleration:

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First, some useful info:

* 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 1½ gallons of nitromethane 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 nitromethane the flame front temperature measures 7050 degrees F.

* Nitromethane burns yellow. The spectacular white flame seen above the stacks at night is raw burning hydrogen, dissociated from atmospheric water vapor 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 revolutions from light to light!

* 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 Schumacher). 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.

Cheers Alan

[Laurence]

Interesting though the MotoGP comparison was annoying and irrelevant

[Abo Bob]

Yeah but it's crazy good.

[Guest RedLineGTR]

Thanks for the post Al think I read this somewhere before but still a very good read, puts things in a good perspective. Cheers Rob

[Bass Junky]

"Cylinders run on the verge of hydraulic lock at full throttle. "

I love it.

[AutoTrust]

sounds just like mi dads 'ol valiant ute!!

[C_DawG]

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

What kind of girly arc is rated at 44 amps?

[Roy]

Thats all you need to weld stainless tube:)

[geno8r]

Thats f#arken amazing.... Top read...

I really liked

"Dragsters reach over 300 miles per hour before you have completed reading this sentence."

[inark]

haha thats awesome

[martydaman]

nice info there... didnt know that they consume as much fuel as a loaded boeing 747...scary

[NickR33]

If you haven't seen a Top Fueler in action LIVE... then you are missing out... TV does not do them justice...

[geno8r]

Yeh, they do look very fast on TV, but the fact they can do a 1/4 mile in 6 seconds.... That would be amazing to watch live, will have to go watch some oneday...

[NickR33]

its not so much the watching... its more the sound... and the bass like feeling you get in your stomach when they take off! makes you kind of want to beat your fists against your chest and grunt...lol

[wises]

mate thats nothing! my dawoe lanos will do that in reverse!!

[adznight]

What kind of girly arc is rated at 44 amps?

44 amps aint that girly when yo have a couple of hundred volts behind it, trust me my burnt little hand knew

[geno8r]

mate thats nothing! my dawoe lanos will do that in reverse!!

Speaking of reverse, we tried some reverse donuts / brakes in the wet yesterday but doesnt really work well with a locked diff & rear wheel drive... lol The old corolla did mad reverse dohies.

its not so much the watching... its more the sound... and the bass like feeling you get in your stomach when they take off! makes you kind of want to beat your fists against your chest and grunt...lol

lol Im so going to the drags then...