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Acceleration explained...



* One Top Fuel dragster outfitted with a 500 cubic-inch replica Dodge Hemi engine makes more horsepower (8,000 HP) than the first 4 rows of cars at NASCAR's Daytona 500.

* Under full throttle, a dragster engine will consume 11.2 gallons of nitro methane per second;
a fully loaded Boeing 747 consumes jet fuel at the same rate but with 25% less energy being produced.

* A stock Dodge Hemi V8 engine cannot produce enough power to merely drive the dragster's supercharger.

* With 3000 CFM of air being rammed in by the supercharger on overdrive, the fuel mixture is compressedinto a near-solid form before ignition. Cylinders run on the verge of hydraulic lockup at full throttle.

* At the stoichio metric 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. Which is typically the output of an electric arc welder in each cylinder.

* Spark plug electrodes are totally consumed during a pass. After 1/2 way thru the run, the engine is 'dieseling'
from compression and the glow of the 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 explodeswith enough sufficient force to blow the cylinder heads off the block in pieces or split the block in half !!

* Dragsters reach over 300 MPH +... before you have completed reading this sentence.


* In order to exceed 300 MPH in 4.5 seconds, a dragster must accelerate an average of over 4 G's.
In order to reach 200 MPH well before reaching half-track, at launch the acceleration approaches 8 G's.

* 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 for, the pit crew is working for free,
& NOTHING BLOWS UP, each run will cost an estimated $1,000 per second.

0 to 100 MPH in .8 seconds (the first 60 feet of t he run)
0 to 200 MPH in 2.2 seconds (the first 350 feet of the run)
6 g-forces at the starting line (nothing accelerates faster on land)
6 negative g-forces upon deployment of twin 'chutes at 300 MPH


An NHRA Top Fuel Dragster accelerates quicker than any other land vehicle on earth . .
quicker than a jet fighter plane . . . quicker than the space shuttle....or snapping your fingers !!

The current Top Fuel dragster elapsed time record is 4.420 seconds for the quarter-mile (2004, Doug Kalitta).
The top speed record is 337.58 MPH as measured over the last 66' of the run (2005, Tony Schumacher).

Let's now put this all into perspective:

Imagine this. You are driving a new $140,000 Lingenfelter twin-turbo powered Corvette Z-06.
Over a mile up the road, a Top Fuel dragster is staged & ready to 'launch' down a quarter-mile strip as you pass.

You have the advantage of a flying start. You run the 'Vette hard, on up through the gears and blast across the starting line & pass the dragster at an honest 200 MPH.... The 'tree' goes green for both of you at that exact moment.

The dragster departs & starts after you. You keep your foot buried hard to the floor, and suddenly you hear an incredibly brutally screaming whine that sears and pummels your eardrums & within a mere 3 seconds the dragster effortlessly catches & 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 it not only caught, but nearly blasted you off the planet when he passed you within a mere 1320 foot long race !!!!

That, my friends.....is acceleration.


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fdvNMfYxNyo turn up the speakers it's sweet no talking

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hDT2RC5khRE
 
Too bad the don't run "the 1/4 mile" in the U.S. anymore.
Top Fuel class cars only run 1,000 ft now.

The total number of RPMs required to make a pass always amazes me. To release that much energy in that few firings is astounding.
 
NICE! Forwarded it to a USAF alumni board I'm on (I'm not a veteran myself, but this community is men my grandfather served with so they let me in as a "Legacy Member") where a lot of the members are gearheads...
 
Too bad the don't run "the 1/4 mile" in the U.S. anymore.
Top Fuel class cars only run 1,000 ft now.

The total number of RPMs required to make a pass always amazes me. To release that much energy in that few firings is astounding.

When was the last time you went to the nationals (yes they run the 1/4 mile) you must be thinking the 1/8th
 
I have a tiny model airplane engine that displaces .049 CC runs on 60% Nitro and 20% Methanol and 20% oil it turns 34,000 rpm and will pull its little airplane along at over 100mph
 
Wow! Pretty cool! When I was a young fellow there was much debate about whether a top fuel rail would ever crack 200mph! I reckon they managed it!
 
Fred, what were you trying to say??? I could not read it, for the Roar in my ears, I thought I was deaf, before this, but now, I know!!!!

What do the drivers use for Ear Protection, serious question !!!!

I can not imagine any substance that could keep the sound from bursting eardrums!!!

But an interesting pist, for sure!!!!

philip,
In the BoonDocks, the first noise in the morning are the roosters, they wake up the log truck drivers, who wake up the neighborhood :D
 
When was the last time you went to the nationals (yes they run the 1/4 mile) you must be thinking the 1/8th
A better question would be,...
When was the last time you looked at an NHRA rule book?

Competition Plus - Drag Racing Magazine - THREE YEARS LATER - 1000-FT. MORE ACCEPTED IN THE PITS
This weekend at the Mopar Mile-High Nationals is the three-year anniversary of the sanctioning body having both Top Fuel dragsters and Funny Cars race to 1000-feet, instead of the traditional quarter-mile (1,320 feet).

The move to 1,000 feet by the NHRA came shortly after Scott Kalitta, the legendary Connie Kalitta’s son, and a two-time NHRA world champion, died on June 21, 2008, during qualifying at Englistown, N.J.

As I understand it, they still race Top Fuel cars (Nitro F/C and T/F dragster) to 1,320' "down under," but I've never been to a race in OZ, so I can't say for sure.

Yes they still race for a quarter mile in the lower classes, but not the nitro classes.
They run to the 1,000' mark in the U.S.


Have a nice day.
 
I have a tiny model airplane engine that displaces .049 CC runs on 60% Nitro and 20% Methanol and 20% oil it turns 34,000 rpm and will pull its little airplane along at over 100mph
What engine would that be? What prop pitch? I have a few hot older RC engines that turn those kind of RPMs but only on a really flat pitch prop. The hard part is keeping bearings in them. I get 2 or 3 runs then its goodbye motor at 32k.
 
Actually it is 10,000 HP now. But I don't think your 11.2 gal a sec is right. Considering the burn out, idle time at the light and a 4 to 4.5 sec run they would have to carry at least a 55 gal barrel of fuel. I believe they have 15-20 gal fuel tank.
 
What engine would that be? What prop pitch? I have a few hot older RC engines that turn those kind of RPMs but only on a really flat pitch prop. The hard part is keeping bearings in them. I get 2 or 3 runs then its goodbye motor at 32k.

Its a Czech VA I run a 5" x 5p hand laid Carbon Fiber Prop A buddy makes for me.
 

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