| Author | Message | ||
     Mountainrider |
A Lesson in Acceleration: Ø One Top Fuel dragster 500 cubic inch Hemi engine makes more horsepower than the first 4 rows at the Indy. 500. Ø Under full throttle, a Top Fuel dragster engine consumes 1 gallon of nitro methane per second; a fully loaded 747 consumes jet fuel at the same rate with 25% less energy being produced. Ø A stock Dodge 426 Hemi V8 engine cannot produce enough power to drive the dragster's supercharger. Ø 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. Ø At the stoichiometric 1.7:1 air/fuel mixture for nitro methane the flame front temperature measures 7050 degrees F. Ø Nitro methane 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. Ø Dual magnetos supply 44 amps to each spark plug. This is the output of an arc welder in each cylinder. Ø 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. Ø If spark momentarily fails early in the run, unburned nitro builds up in the affected cylinders and then explodes with sufficient force to blow the cylinder heads off the block in pieces or split the block in half. Ø 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. Ø Dragsters reach over 300 miles per hour before you have completed reading this sentence. Ø Top Fuel Engines turn approximately 540 revolutions from light to light! Ø Including the burnout the engine must only survive 900 revolutions under load. Ø The red-line is actually quite high at 9500 rpm. Ø 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. | ||
| Ezblast |
Cool! | ||
| U4euh |
Yes, everytime I think about it, I get excited. Man would I like to try that at least once. I even like to try the runnin start on the bike scenario, and have camera's mounted on the side of the bike to catch the A$$wippin I'd get.  Oh yea, did you post this just to get a 5 star rating? LOL (Message edited by u4euh on December 08, 2005) | ||
| Mountainrider |
I posted this because power turns me on. It would be great to set in the seat and just be a part of something that pulls so many Gs. | ||
| Midknyte |
As close as most of us mere humans will get... http://www.cedarpoint.com/public/inside_park/rides/thrill/ttd/index.cfm       | ||
| Mountainrider |
That would be fun !!!!!!!!!!!! | ||
| Fresnobuell |
I love reading facts like that. | ||
| Natexlh1000 |
The spoler makes it go 60 miles per hour faster. | ||
| Spreadem |
VROOM! | ||
| Blake |
Amazing stuff.  | ||
| Rocketsprink |
Yeah, but throw a few turns in there!! Sorry, I had to say that!  | ||
| Dana P. |
 | ||
| Rocketman |
Not to be to pedantic but, that RCV covering 293 feet a second would be hard to catch or pass unless you did the record run in the Fueler every time, but no way is it ever gonna pass the RCV in 3 seconds based on those figure posted. RCV 1320ft = 4.505 seconds TF 1320ft = 4.441 seconds (record) Rocket | ||
| Phonemanjustin |
If you stand REALLY close I highly recommend that you plug your ears  | ||
| Blake |
Good math Rocketman!  | ||
| Rocketman |
I wasn't looking to be a smart arse but those numbers posted jumped out of the screen at me. Still, I loved every second of Sammy Miller in Vanishing Point at The Pod. Met him once or twice too. What a loss to speed records. Rocket | ||
| Firemanjim |
One of my fireman friends also works the fire crew at Sears Point Raceway(Infineon) and we were able to get on the starting line at one of the NHRA nationals there.Ear plugs will do you no good,I felt like every bone in my body was turning to jello when they left on a pass.It was such a deep,low bass vibration/sound it was hard to breathe--what a rush. (Message edited by firemanjim on December 11, 2005) | ||
| Tramp |
Also- watch it if you wear a pacemeaker. the pulse EMF generated by the mags on those drag irons sets off camera flash slaves | ||
| Phonemanjustin |
You gotta love the smell of Nitromethane. |
