Acceleration

[MrFlibbles]

This is a email that was sent to me from another site. an interesting read.



A lesson in acceleration:
------------------------------------

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
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.

* 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 1/2 way,
the engine is dieseling from compression plus the glow of exhaust valves at
1400 degrees F. Cutting the fuel flow can only shut down the engine.

* 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 redline 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 US$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 200mph 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.

[Smoked]

:

sorry, had to be done, was on ages ago!

[Charliewool]

: Sorry 1994xr6, But it must be a tossup between this and rumours of a V10 HO for the record of most Re-posts!! :

[AUIII XR8 MAN]

Like they say it's an old one sorry.

[champsky]

pfft everythings a repost these days hehehehe

but if thats all tru then .....DAYMN!!!!

[Smoked]

Originally Posted by champsky

pfft everythings a repost these days hehehehe

but if thats all tru then .....DAYMN!!!!

hahahahahahah, dude, you are guilty of hangin people for Reposting, and now you've jumped the fence and taken the otherside, my god man!!!!!!!

Was waiting for you to beat me to the REPOST-O-POST(tm).

[The Mighty Red]

First time i've read it , pretty awesome stuff, like the bit about the spark plugs.

[fairmont1998]

My first read too, amazing stats.

[YuGoStaR]

I would like to see what it feels like to be in the dragster once in my life.
8Gs wow !

[YOOT]

My Radio controlled 4wd dirt buggy runs on the same fuel, it make 2Hp though and only has one cylinder :king:

[Black XR6]

hmm.

Technically it isnt a repost as it is the first time its been posted on THIS forum.

[FordFan86]

Originally Posted by Black XR6

hmm.

Technically it isnt a repost as it is the first time its been posted on THIS forum.

He's got a point there ;)

[Charliewool]

Originally Posted by Black XR6

hmm.

Technically it isnt a repost as it is the first time its been posted on THIS forum.

Now this IS fact!... A Reliable source from Glenbarry Rd (well his best mates neighbour actually) informs me that for a Top secret XXX Special project happening there, All incoming ACL deliveries are to be "decimilised"... That is in lots of 10!
All piston sets, piston ring & oilrings, conrod sets etc, are now Grouped in sets of TEN... As are the lots of 40 off valves!!
Same sources inform that all paperwork numbers are prefixed with the letters HO

[paul7v7]

Originally Posted by YOOT

My Radio controlled 4wd dirt buggy runs on the same fuel, it make 2Hp though and only has one cylinder :king:

does it run the same mixture though? My RC car runs 15% nitro. In the funny cars they run 90% nitro :sm_drool: .

apparently the most common injury from top fuel racing is.....detatched retinas.

[Kapn_Kiwi]

Originally Posted by charliewool

Same sources inform that all paperwork numbers are prefixed with the letters HO

followed by "W FUNNY IS IT TO MESS WITH PEOPLE?"?

[YOOT]

Originally Posted by paul7v7

does it run the same mixture though? My RC car runs 15% nitro. In the funny cars they run 90% nitro :sm_drool: .

apparently the most common injury from top fuel racing is.....detatched retinas.

Mine is still new, I just finished with 5%, and am 1/2 way throught 10%... Looking forward to 15%, I wonder how hard she'd go if I ran 90% :

[paul7v7]

Originally Posted by YOOT

Mine is still new, I just finished with 5%, and am 1/2 way throught 10%... Looking forward to 15%, I wonder how hard she'd go if I ran 90% :

it'd go hard but for how long? hehe it wouldn't be able to cope with the heat...