"DEFINITION OF ACCELERATION"
... Fun Stuff !
(courtesy of KB Performance Pistons)
One top fuel dragster 500 cubic inch Hemi engine makes
more horsepower than the first 4 rows of stock cars at the Daytona 500.
It takes just 15/100ths of a second for all 6,000+
horsepower of an NHRA Top Fuel dragster engine to reach the rear wheels.
Under full throttle, a dragster engine consumes 1-1/2
gallons 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 Hemi V8 engine cannot produce enough power
to drive the dragster's supercharger.
With 3,000 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) 1.7:1 air/fuel mixture of nitro methane, the
flame front temperature measures 7,050 deg F.
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.
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 halfway, the engine is dieseling from compression, plus the
glow of exhaust valves at 1,400 deg 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 9,500 rpm.
Assuming all the equipment is paid off, the crew worked
for free, and for once NOTHING BLOWS UP, each run costs an estimate
$1,000.00 per second.
The current top fuel dragster elapsed time record is
4.428 seconds for the quarter mile (11/12/06, Tony Schumacher, at
Pomona, CA). The top speed record is 336.15 mph as measured over the
last 66' of the run (05/25/05 Tony Schumacher, at Hebron, OH).
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 pass 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 yo
u. 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 1,320 foot long race course.
... and that my friend, is
ACCELERATION!
... Fun Stuff !
(courtesy of KB Performance Pistons)
One top fuel dragster 500 cubic inch Hemi engine makes
more horsepower than the first 4 rows of stock cars at the Daytona 500.
It takes just 15/100ths of a second for all 6,000+
horsepower of an NHRA Top Fuel dragster engine to reach the rear wheels.
Under full throttle, a dragster engine consumes 1-1/2
gallons 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 Hemi V8 engine cannot produce enough power
to drive the dragster's supercharger.
With 3,000 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) 1.7:1 air/fuel mixture of nitro methane, the
flame front temperature measures 7,050 deg F.
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.
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 halfway, the engine is dieseling from compression, plus the
glow of exhaust valves at 1,400 deg 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 9,500 rpm.
Assuming all the equipment is paid off, the crew worked
for free, and for once NOTHING BLOWS UP, each run costs an estimate
$1,000.00 per second.
The current top fuel dragster elapsed time record is
4.428 seconds for the quarter mile (11/12/06, Tony Schumacher, at
Pomona, CA). The top speed record is 336.15 mph as measured over the
last 66' of the run (05/25/05 Tony Schumacher, at Hebron, OH).
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 pass 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 yo
u. 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 1,320 foot long race course.
... and that my friend, is
ACCELERATION!
That was a GREAT READ!!!!