leez Posted November 30, 2004 Report Share Posted November 30, 2004 Subject: Horsepower & Acceleration Some of us may think we have experienced acceleration g forces, but read this to get a grip of what real acceleration is. But first, some useful info: One Top Fuel dragster 500 cubic inch Hemi engine makes more horsepower than the first 4 rows at the NASCAR Daytona 500. Under full throttle, a dragster engine consumes 1 1/2 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 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 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 one pass. After half-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. With the enormous cylinder pressures generated by "top fuelers", at full throttle, it's not uncommon to replace the .625" & .750" cylinder head bolts after a few runs, to prevent cylinder leakage due to the bolts being "stretched". 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 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 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 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 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. yeah, extreme dynamics... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nurkvinny Posted November 30, 2004 Report Share Posted November 30, 2004 Old one, but a good one. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dave1647545494 Posted November 30, 2004 Report Share Posted November 30, 2004 repost still cool though Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DTM Brian Posted December 1, 2004 Report Share Posted December 1, 2004 My dyno Could handle it. graemlins/popcorn.gif Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dave1647545494 Posted December 1, 2004 Report Share Posted December 1, 2004 graemlins/thumb.gif Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dr. Pomade Posted December 1, 2004 Report Share Posted December 1, 2004 For some reason, the whole "dragster-will-outrun-Vette-starting-at-200mph" doesn't make intuitive sense to me. Granted, I haven't run the numbers (I'll leave that to the math gurus here), but it seems like, if the Vette were already traveling at 200mph as it passed the starting line, then the dragster wouldn't be able to make up the difference and pass the Vette in just the 1/4 mile. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest powers Posted December 1, 2004 Report Share Posted December 1, 2004 Originally posted by Venomss: For some reason, the whole "dragster-will-outrun-Vette-starting-at-200mph" doesn't make intuitive sense to me. Granted, I haven't run the numbers (I'll leave that to the math gurus here), but it seems like, if the Vette were already traveling at 200mph as it passed the starting line, then the dragster wouldn't be able to make up the difference and pass the Vette in just the 1/4 mile. AT 200mph yoru are covering 293 ft per second. Which mean you would cover the qtr mile in 4.51 seconds which is about what top fuel dragsters run. So if you had a really good time in the dragster you would in deed pass the vehicle doing 200 across all 1320ft of the pass. Edit: I just looked up the TF record holders Best is a 4.41 http://www.nhra.com/stats/natrecord.html Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dr. Pomade Posted December 1, 2004 Report Share Posted December 1, 2004 Originally posted by BIG PAPA: AT 200mph yoru are covering 293 ft per second. Which mean you would cover the qtr mile in 4.51 seconds which is about what top fuel dragsters run. So if you had a really good time in the dragster you would in deed pass the vehicle doing 200 across all 1320ft of the pass.Hold on, if the Vette would, at 200mph, do the 1/4 in the same time (4.51 or whatever) that a dragster would, then wouldn't they tie when crossing the finish line, if they both left the starting line at the same time? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NWill Posted December 1, 2004 Report Share Posted December 1, 2004 Assuming the dragster ran a 4.51 and the Vette stayed at 200mph throughout the 1/4, they would indeed tie. The fact is obvioulsy assuming a dragster time less then 4.51 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
suffocateXfaster1647545505 Posted December 1, 2004 Report Share Posted December 1, 2004 Originally posted by NurkVinny: Old one, but a good one.+1 I always enjoy reading it again. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dr. Pomade Posted December 1, 2004 Report Share Posted December 1, 2004 Originally posted by supraguy95: Assuming the dragster ran a 4.51 and the Vette stayed at 200mph throughout the 1/4, they would indeed tie. The fact is obvioulsy assuming a dragster time less then 4.51Okay, that was my thinking. So, I guess the article is a little misleading - making it seem like the dragster would blow by the Vette even before the end the of 1/4. That's the whole angle I was taking - it just didn't set well with me. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Total Sign Posted December 1, 2004 Report Share Posted December 1, 2004 Also- only 950RPM including burnout? They run upto 10k, granted it only is there for a tiny amount of time, but I would think it idles at least 950RPM? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DTM Brian Posted December 1, 2004 Report Share Posted December 1, 2004 Originally posted by supraguy95: Assuming the dragster ran a 4.51 and the Vette stayed at 200mph throughout the 1/4, they would indeed tie. The fact is obvioulsy assuming a dragster time less then 4.51 Article says the dragster passes in 3 seconds Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NWill Posted December 1, 2004 Report Share Posted December 1, 2004 graemlins/doh.gif Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest powers Posted December 2, 2004 Report Share Posted December 2, 2004 plus we all know vettes could never get up to 200mph much less hold it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SPLN SUX Posted December 2, 2004 Report Share Posted December 2, 2004 Originally posted by Assured Risk: Also- only 950RPM including burnout? They run upto 10k, granted it only is there for a tiny amount of time, but I would think it idles at least 950RPM? Not RPM, just rotations of the crank. The engine is only under load for about 6-8 seconds total. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Total Sign Posted December 2, 2004 Report Share Posted December 2, 2004 Originally posted by MRMEANR: Not RPM, just rotations of the crank. The engine is only under load for about 6-8 seconds total.My bad, meant 950 revolutions. Seems that it would do quite a bit more than that, burn out, stage, race. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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