"DEFINITION OF ACCELERATION"

  .. Fun Stuff !

One top fuel dragster 500 cubic inch Hemi engine makes more horsepower than the first 4 rows of stock cars at the Daytona 500.

It takes just 15/100ths of a second for all 6,000+ horsepower of an NHRA Top Fuel dragster engine to reach the rear wheels.

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's supercharger.

With 3,000 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 (stoichiometry: methodology and technology by which quantities of reactants and products in chemical reactions are determined) 1.7:1 air/fuel mixture of nitro methane, the flame front temperature measures 7,050 deg 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 halfway, the engine is dieseling from compression, plus the glow of exhaust valves at 1,400 deg 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 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 9,500 rpm.

Assuming all the equipment is paid off, the crew is working for free, and for once NOTHING BLOWS UP, each run costs an estimate $1,000.00 per second.

The current top fuel dragster elapsed time record is 4.428 seconds for the quarter mile (11/12/06, Tony Schumacher, at Pomona, CA). The top speed record is 336.15 mph as measured over the last 66' of the run (05/25/05 Tony Schumacher, at Hebron, OH).

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 pass 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 1,320 foot long race course.

                       ... and that my friend, is ACCELERATION!

Mind blowing Stuff!!
So much power and it only go's in a straight line.







Cough..  Harley   Cough..   

Dear God, that's fast.

Thanks for the insight into topfuel dragsters!   

Quote from: big bear on June 12, 2008, 03:13:16 AM

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

Did anyone else try to re-read this sentence faster? 

Quote from: CairnsDuc on June 12, 2008, 03:16:40 AM
Mind blowing Stuff!!
So much power and it only go's in a straight line.







Cough..  Harley   Cough..   

So much power and it only go's in a straight line?
Harley? So much power?

I'm not too sure about that one boss...
Hell the VRSC only makes 125hp / 84 ft. lbs. of Torque.
(And it weighs 670lbs.)

I had read before that as much as 10 degrees of twist has been measured from the front to the back of the crank shaft.

They started grinding the cam's profile to account for that and keep the valve events in time

Dragsters at 1000 fpms! 

http://youtube.com/watch?v=V3yj_OGezWc&feature=related

If you've never witnessed a Top Fuel pass in person, I highly recommend that you do so. Watching it on TV does it absolutely no justice. It is truly something to behold (not to mention hear).

And my VRSCR makes 120.3 HP - at the wheel. 

top fuel cars are awesome.

We talked about them in hot rod U, one of the teachers worked on a team.

it takes something like 800 hp just to turn the supercharger.

If it drops a cyl, the loss of down force from the exhaust will cause the tires to spin, which will cause engine load to drop causing more misfires (you see this a lot when they burn the tires halfway down the track).

When they pull the parachute, its not uncommon for a drive to clear there bowels.   

I saw them in phx a few years back. absolutly insane. watching from the side of the track with earplugs, my ears still rang for about 3 days after. Walking threw the pits while there working on the engine, when they start them up to clear the fuel you get this huge cloud of yellow smoke.. makes it impossible to breath but smells strangely good 

I love it, I can't wait to get a chance to see them again.

good read....


on a side note... I saw the title and thought Randall might be back.

Quote from: CairnsDuc on June 12, 2008, 03:16:40 AM
...So much power and it only go's in a straight line...

If you're lucky!

Good stuff!

Funny story:

Years ago, went to the Winternationals with my (then) wife, who had never been to the drags.
Saw one team was about to warm the car up in the pits.
"Hey, honey, let's go watch." < >
They light the car off.
She's plugging her ears with her fingers, giving me the 'you're certifiable' look. 
The driver stabs the throttle "WHAPAPP!"
I swear she was 3 feet off the ground. 

Nitromethane is for fueling race cars, gasoline is for washing parts.

Interesting stuff, thanks for posting that!

Gives me a whole new respect for the drag cars.

Still won't watch it though.  Too f'n boring.


Braaaaaaaaaaaap.

5-10 minute wait.

Braaaaaaaaaaaap.

more waiting.


I went to the Nationals at Brainerd once.... never again.

Quote from: wbeck257 on June 12, 2008, 05:18:35 AM
So much power and it only go's in a straight line?
Harley? So much power?

I'm not too sure about that one boss...
Hell the VRSC only makes 125hp / 84 ft. lbs. of Torque.
(And it weighs 670lbs.)

Yeah I know, But someone had to have a go at Harleys
All go, No brakes and no handling
As we like to say here in Australia, I'm only taking the piss!