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Drag Racing Discuss Drag Racing here be it dirt or tarmac. Sponsored by Sydney Dragway. |
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04-11-2007, 01:00 AM | #1 | ||
miss my V8
Join Date: Feb 2006
Location: rollin wit da gnomies.
Posts: 243
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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. |
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04-11-2007, 01:07 AM | #2 | ||
1999 Ford Fairmont Ghia
Join Date: Mar 2007
Location: NSW
Posts: 1,162
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Wow thats an expensive hobby!
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04-11-2007, 01:12 AM | #3 | |||
Back to Le Frenchy
Join Date: Feb 2005
Location: Back home.....
Posts: 13,346
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Sweeeet. Great read.
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04-11-2007, 01:52 AM | #4 | ||
Regular Member
Join Date: Sep 2007
Location: Perth, WA
Posts: 186
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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)
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2002 AU III XR8 220kw Previous Rides: KH Laser TX3 EF Futura (RIP) EL XR6 AU2 XR6 BA XR8 BF XR8 BF Wagon (XR6 Lookalike supercharged) 2014 Ford Ranger XLT 2000 AU XR8 with all the options boxes ticked (RIP) 2005 BA Mk 2 Fairmont Ghia V8 2012 FG Mk 2 XR6T G.M.H. - Get a Mechanic...Hurry!! |
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04-11-2007, 02:04 AM | #5 | ||
Regular Schmuck
Join Date: Dec 2004
Posts: 5,640
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04-11-2007, 02:20 AM | #6 | ||
You dig, we stick!
Join Date: Mar 2006
Posts: 7,461
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Half the members weren't members here when this was last posted.
Good read.
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"....You don't put the car through engineering" - Rod Barrett. |
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04-11-2007, 04:23 AM | #7 | ||
5.8 litres of fun
Join Date: Oct 2005
Location: Cobar
Posts: 562
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good read,some interesting stuff there
the drivers of them things must have huge kahoonas
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2003 RTV 2015 Ranger XLS mk2 |
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04-11-2007, 08:18 AM | #8 | ||
dazed&confused
Join Date: Jan 2006
Location: in the shed of invention
Posts: 902
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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.
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ban frangipanis beauty is only skin deep. ugly goes all the way to the bone. |
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04-11-2007, 08:34 AM | #9 | |||
FF.Com.Au Hardcore
Join Date: Sep 2007
Location: Scarness, Hervey Bay.
Posts: 830
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Quote:
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04-11-2007, 11:27 AM | #10 | ||
14.915 @ 151 KPH
Join Date: Apr 2007
Location: Sydney, NSW
Posts: 995
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top read!!! anymore like that?
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:evil3: 96 EF2 Futura I6 Auto :evil3: EL XR Front, 16 inch Tickford's, Superlow's Front/Rear with Monroe GT Sport's : , XR6T Snorkle/Fram Filter, 4499's/Hi Flow Cat/2.5 inch Redback, 4.11's/LSD, 5% Tint, Sony Head Unit/ 6 1/2 Inch 190w Speaker's : 14.915 @ 151 kph 60' 2.254 : |
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04-11-2007, 12:52 PM | #11 | |||
'03 BA XT
Join Date: May 2006
Location: Berwick, VIC
Posts: 526
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That was a great way to put things in perspective
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04-11-2007, 01:19 PM | #12 | |||
Regular Member
Join Date: Sep 2006
Posts: 196
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fantastic read, and the info there is spot on.
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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... |
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04-11-2007, 08:58 PM | #13 | |||
Regular Member
Join Date: Sep 2007
Location: QLD
Posts: 392
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Quote:
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06-11-2007, 12:13 AM | #14 | |||
FF.Com.Au Hardcore
Join Date: Jul 2006
Location: Rockingham WA
Posts: 1,234
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Quote:
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06-11-2007, 01:43 PM | #15 | ||
Regular Member
Join Date: Apr 2006
Location: 5 mins from AIR
Posts: 34
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I don't think the fuel consumption is correct either - otherwise they would need 250L tanks.
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