Acceleration!

[54warrior]

One Top Fuel 500 cubic-inch Hemi dragster engine makes more horsepower (8,000 HP) than the first 4 rows at the Daytona 500.

* Under full throttle, a dragster engine consumes 11.2 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 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 lock at fullthrottle.

* 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 a pass. After 1/2 way, the engine is dieseling from compression plus the glow ofexhaust 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.

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

* In order to exceed 300 MPH in 4.5 seconds, dragsters must accelerate an average of over 4 G's. In order to reach 200 MPH well before half-track, the launch 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 off, the crew worked for free, & for once, NOTHING BLOWS UP, each run costs an estimated $1,000 per second.

0 to 100 MPH in 0.8 seconds (the first 60 feet of the 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 two in '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.

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).

Putting this all 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 & ready to launch down a quarter- mile strip as you pass. You have the advantage of a 200 mph flying start. You run the 'Vette hard 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 moment.

The dragster launches & starts after you. You keep your foot down hard, but you hear an incredibly brutal whine that sears your eardrums & within 3 seconds the dragster 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 & not only caught, but nearly blasted you off the road when he passed you within a mere 1320 foot long race!

That is acceleration!

[Blackbeauty]

Unbelievable facts! Now THAT's power!

[Timmyo2L]

simply.... wow

[stlblues]

Originally Posted by 54warrior

One Top Fuel 500 cubic-inch Hemi dragster engine makes more horsepower (8,000 HP) than the first 4 rows at the Daytona 500.

!

Thats all well and good, but can ya drive in circles for 3 hours straight?....left turns only.

[jbaltimore]

My family races Top Fuel Funny car. Any other facts you need to know?

[anmut]

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

PLEASE DO NOT TELL ANY EPA HIPPIES THAT!!!

[jbaltimore]

They go through a 10 gallons between burn out, staging, 1/4 mile run and shut down.Burn out is done with the thtottle only moving about a 1/4 inch

[vipzach]

That is amazing!!!

[anmut]

Forwarded to my NASCAR-crazy family. That's some REAL horsepower...

[titaninak]

just to cool the watch.......i know a guy who has multiple DUI's but yet has a license to drag. my point however is unrelated to thread. He can sure drive the 1/4 mi. mid nines @ about 180-190 mph.< if i remember correctly. I thought that was fast.

[anmut]

My question watching racing has always been - "HOW are these guys so lucky that their wives understand the dream of slipping into the future at 200mph+??!!"

[TitanLou]

That's almost as hard as the Titan accelerates.lol

[anmut]

I'd say it has to be close to the Titan in fuel consumption!

[jbaltimore]

Originally Posted by anmut

My question watching racing has always been - "HOW are these guys so lucky that their wives understand the dream of slipping into the future at 200mph+??!!"

My mom met him before he started racing professionally and i guess was slowly introduced to the increase in speed. Its kind of funny. He'll blow the car to peices and she doesnt even really flinch anymore. She just gets upset that we lost and the Crew Cheif missed it by a mile.

[anmut]

Originally Posted by jbaltimore

My mom met him before he started racing professionally and i guess was slowly introduced to the increase in speed. Its kind of funny. He'll blow the car to peices and she doesnt even really flinch anymore. She just gets upset that we lost and the Crew Cheif missed it by a mile.

Lucky bastard...