Interesting e-mail this morning.

Acceleration explained.

Ever wonder why a Top Fuel dragster gets a rebuilt engine after each run?

Stay with this- even if you aren't a 'car nut', this is stunning

One Top Fuel dragster outfitted with a 500 cubic-inch replica Dodge (actually Keith Black, etc) 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 compressed into 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 explodes with 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 s trip 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.

Seen this before,
that is really fascinating and gets the blood pumping!

that my friends, is global warming!

truth...anyone can make something go fast for 5 seconds. it takes engine-eers some serious stuff to make something go fast for long periods of time at some gawd awful RPM's that even God is saying " I don't condone this"

Why all the dissing? The data is fun and exciting. I was checking the math, but it was looking like it checked out and I got distracted and didn't finish.....
Thanks, Kinetic......cool.

I find both equally impressive.

Top fuel is crazy horsepower like nothing else, and F1 engines are crazy engineering like nothing else.

Porsche's TAG twin-turbo F1 engine from 1988 was 1.5 liters and put out 1050 bhp in qualifying trim. They would run them for multiple 2-hour races plus qualifying. When I went to the Belgian GP in 2004, they were running 3 liter V-10's turning at about 19000 rpm with 900hp, and I seriously thought my ears were going to bleed from the shriek of the cars going by.

The most impressive thing in top fuel is the clutches. Making 8000 hp is one thing, getting it on the road is another. The decreased times in top fuel recently have come because of clutch development more than anything else . 8000 horse is still a punch in your face when they launch off the line, though.



How did the math pencil out, slabby?

334 MPH in a quarter mile is mind boggling.

334 mph is a quarter mile is scary!

I hope Slappy warned the others in the room before he took off his shoes to count to 11.

Fish on...

Todd

Wow! A sustainable living thread........
Oh well, not like I haven't done my part, and drag races are fun.

honestly...you just blew my mind...i never think about that...the pressure plate alone...it would have to be a crazy locking system...no pressure plate on this EARTH could sustain that kind of punch without NASA'ing into orbit...im going to have to look that up...my mind is still blown...

http://www.nitromater.com/nhra/22566-how-does-top-fuel-clutch-system-work.html

dear gawd...what a setup...an engineering feat of its own...

TF Hydros use the same motor... they only do 260+ tho

on water...


(this boat is the Problem Child, right now its king, the Spirit of Texas was fastest for a bit but lost to this guy... its drag racing tho, so its not always like this)

heres a better one..

That's f'n CRAZY! Are those single props?

most of em i think, there were a couple twin screws a while back, not sure if it hit it up or not... they stopped doing shows here except for the Columbia i think it is in the summer months...

i had a chance to drive an alchy one, but i decided that wouldnt be in my best interest... or his...

this is another bad boy, and this video is great, its teh Toxic Rocket vs the Problem Child

8k HP in a little boat like that, on water, for a quarter mile (or bracket racing, and the 1k foot races), takes skill... even in a straight line, you turn that boat at 250 just a slight too much, you blow apart...

turn it up, feel it

That takes some serious skills and nads! Years ago I had an 18' flat bottomed Jones Starfire hull that had a 327 v drive that did about 70mph...squirelly little [Bleeeeep!] even on flat water...we use to take it to Vantage all the time in the summer. My Sister got her beach towel caught in the drive shaft doing about 50mph...pucker factor of about 10.