Acceleration! An awesome read..

[IntimidatorI]

This was contributed to me by my friend, Alex Borla. Enjoy! It is truely amazing to think about these details.
eric


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 dragster engine consumes 1-1/2 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 Hemi V8 engine cannot produce enough power to drive
The dragster 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 (stoichiometry: methodology and technology by
Which quantities of reactants and products in chemical reactions are
determined) 17:1 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 Â1/2
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
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 redline is actually quite high at 9500rpm.

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 Kalitta).

Putting all of this into perspective: You are driving the average
$140,000 Lingenfelter "twin-turbo" powered Corvette Z06. 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 'Vette hard up through the gears and blast across the starting line and past the dragster at an honest 200 mph. The 'tree' goes green for both of you at that moment. The dragster launches and starts after you. You keep your foot down 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

[Sal Gerace]

Very cool reading ! Thanks for sharing that!

[Lowell W]

Whew!!! Gives me goosebumps.

Thanks!

[RedBarchetta]

Everyone should experience an NHRA national event at least once in their lifetimes. Talk about being snake bit!

[Unique580hp]

WOW!

Can I shoehorn one of those engines in my Unique 427

[thorconstr]

I have a friend that drives an alcohol funny car, low 6's, 230 mph range. He says the launch is so violent G wise that the over pressure on your eyes causes momentary blackness then diminishing tunnel vision. I can't even begin to think of the things that happen on the ride you just described. Thanks for sharing that.

[IntimidatorI]

I am really pleased you all enjoyed this truely incredable article. I think the part that got me thinking the most was...
Top Fuel Engines turn approximately 540 revolutions from light to
light! *Including the burnout the engine must only survive 900 revolutions under load.
I know I think of a dragster doing the 7000 plus RPM and don't stop to realize that uses a ONE MINUTE measurement. Therefore the run is only 1/15th of the RPM rating, WOW! Anyway, really glad you liked this.

BTW, I have my car for sale or trade. I would like to get a Vintage Legal race car, like a GT350 but will consider almost anything INCLUDING a NASCAR.
Thanks in advance,
eric 805.377.2232

[flipper35]

To put that in perspective, the X-15 accelerates at 3.5g...... at idle. Nearly 6g at full throttle up to a few thousand miles per hour in 62 seconds.

How fast would a top fueler go in 62 seconds if it had a cvt?

[IntimidatorI]

Hmmmm, good question??