This was an old story I ran across, still blows me away
heres some nice little tidbits of info on h.p. and acceleration.
r u ready ?
lets talk top fuel dragster
1.one top fuel dragster 500 cubic inch hemi makes more horsepower than the first 4 rows at the daytona 500
2.under full throttle, a dragster engine consumes 11.2 gallons of nitro methane per second, yes per second, in comparison a fully loaded 747 jet consumes jet fuel at the same rate with 25% less energy being produced.
3.a stock dodge hemi 426 engine cannot produce enough power to merely drive the dragster's supercharger
4. with 3000 cubic feet per minute of air being rammed in by the supercharger on overdrive, the fuel mixture is compressed into a near solid form before ignition. cylinder run on the verge of hydraulic lock at full throttle.
5.with the stichiometric 1.7:1 air/fuel mixture for nitro methane the flame front temperature measures 7050 degrees F
6.nitro methand burns yellow, the white flames seen above the stacks at night is raw burning hydrogen, dissociated from atmospheric water vapor by the searing exhaust gas
7.dual magnetos supply 44 amps to each spark plug making this the same output of an arc welder in each cylinder.
8.spark plug electodes are totally consumed during the 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.
9.if a spark momentarily fails early in the run, unburned nitro builds up in the affected cylinders and then explodes with such force to blow cylinder heads off the block in pieces and split the block in half.
10.dragster reach over 300 mph before you have completed reading this sentence.
11.in order to reach 300 mph in 4.5 seconds dragsters must accelerate an average of over 4 G's in order to reach 200 mph before half track the launch acceleration approach 8 G's
12 top fuel engines turn approximately 540 revs from light to light
13including the burnout the engine must survive 900 revs under load
14 redline is 9500 RPM's
extras.....
if you are a racer such as john force then.
assuming all the equipment is paid off, the crew worked for free, and nothing blows up, each run cost around $1.000 each SECOND.
now for the kicker...... yes it gets better
lets say duane is driving his $140,000 lingenflter twin turbo powred corvette z06, up the road one mile ahead is a staged and ready top fuel dragster ready to launch down a quarter mile strip as he pass's.
duane has the advantage of a flying start, he runs the vette hard up threw the gears like the busa and gets up to 200 mph at the same time passing the dragster sitting at the tree, in which time the tree goes green with the dragster lauching behind him and at the same time he hears an incredibly brutal whine that sears his eardrums, and within 3 seconds the dragster will catch him and pass him, he will beat the vette to the finish line a full quarter mile away from where he was passed,think about it,,,,,,......from a standing start the dragster has spotted him 200 mph and not only caught him but nearly blasted him off the road we he passed the vette at a mere 1320 foot long race.
this my friends is horsepower and acceleration.
heres some nice little tidbits of info on h.p. and acceleration.
r u ready ?
lets talk top fuel dragster
1.one top fuel dragster 500 cubic inch hemi makes more horsepower than the first 4 rows at the daytona 500
2.under full throttle, a dragster engine consumes 11.2 gallons of nitro methane per second, yes per second, in comparison a fully loaded 747 jet consumes jet fuel at the same rate with 25% less energy being produced.
3.a stock dodge hemi 426 engine cannot produce enough power to merely drive the dragster's supercharger
4. with 3000 cubic feet per minute of air being rammed in by the supercharger on overdrive, the fuel mixture is compressed into a near solid form before ignition. cylinder run on the verge of hydraulic lock at full throttle.
5.with the stichiometric 1.7:1 air/fuel mixture for nitro methane the flame front temperature measures 7050 degrees F
6.nitro methand burns yellow, the white flames seen above the stacks at night is raw burning hydrogen, dissociated from atmospheric water vapor by the searing exhaust gas
7.dual magnetos supply 44 amps to each spark plug making this the same output of an arc welder in each cylinder.
8.spark plug electodes are totally consumed during the 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.
9.if a spark momentarily fails early in the run, unburned nitro builds up in the affected cylinders and then explodes with such force to blow cylinder heads off the block in pieces and split the block in half.
10.dragster reach over 300 mph before you have completed reading this sentence.
11.in order to reach 300 mph in 4.5 seconds dragsters must accelerate an average of over 4 G's in order to reach 200 mph before half track the launch acceleration approach 8 G's
12 top fuel engines turn approximately 540 revs from light to light
13including the burnout the engine must survive 900 revs under load
14 redline is 9500 RPM's
extras.....
if you are a racer such as john force then.
assuming all the equipment is paid off, the crew worked for free, and nothing blows up, each run cost around $1.000 each SECOND.
now for the kicker...... yes it gets better
lets say duane is driving his $140,000 lingenflter twin turbo powred corvette z06, up the road one mile ahead is a staged and ready top fuel dragster ready to launch down a quarter mile strip as he pass's.
duane has the advantage of a flying start, he runs the vette hard up threw the gears like the busa and gets up to 200 mph at the same time passing the dragster sitting at the tree, in which time the tree goes green with the dragster lauching behind him and at the same time he hears an incredibly brutal whine that sears his eardrums, and within 3 seconds the dragster will catch him and pass him, he will beat the vette to the finish line a full quarter mile away from where he was passed,think about it,,,,,,......from a standing start the dragster has spotted him 200 mph and not only caught him but nearly blasted him off the road we he passed the vette at a mere 1320 foot long race.
this my friends is horsepower and acceleration.
