frayz

iTrader: (7)

* One Top Fuel dragster 500 cubic inch (that's 8.2 litres in new money) Hemi
engine makes more horsepower than the first 4 rows at the Daytona 500.

* Under full throttle, a dragster engine consumes 11/2 gallons of
nitromethane 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 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 nitromethane the
flame front temperature measures 7050 degrees F.

* Nitromethane 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. 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 revolutions from light to
light!

* Including the burnout the engine must only survive 900 revolutions
under load.

* The redline is actually quite high at 9500rpm.

* 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 US $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 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 past 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 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.

Kwik

iTrader: (10)

Is this what you're thinking about for your next project?

Maz

iTrader: (34)

And after all that some numpty fails to secure the steering wheel!

Kwik

iTrader: (10)

Not quite the same, but one of my favourite video's.

maff125

iTrader: (1)

* Dragsters reach over 300 miles per hour before you have completed this sentence *

I like this paragraph!!:-)

Moley

iTrader: (9)

I'd still beat one in the twisties

JohnD

iTrader: (5)

A clean top fuel dragster run is one of the things you MUST witness before you die!
If you stand trackside at say, Santa Pod, you must use ear defenders and be prepared to be hit in the chest by the sound pressure and have your eyes stinging from the unburnt vapour. If you've never seen it, nothing quite prepares you for that 4 secs!
The European drag finals are at Santa Pod in Sept.

JohnD

neil-h

Just for a bit of fun, try working out the miles per gallon (or perhaps more usefully, the gallons per mile)

chopperman

That's some interesting stuff. I also heard a Nitro rail dragster will accelerate to 100mph in less than its own length. And they start the engines with petrol and don't introduce the nitro until a certain RPM or the engine will explode like a bomb. Totally mad sport.

chopperman

I was at The Bulldog Bash several years ago at Shakespeare county raceway. They raced Fireforce 1 and Fireforce 2 together. The pressure as they go past is enough to knock you off your feet if you're planted

cster

What a classic!