Wopstar

Just another little bit of info I ran across. Some of them I have posted before but some of them are new.

One top fuel dragster 500 cubic inch Hemi engine makes more
horsepower
than the first 4 rows of stock cars at the 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'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 worked 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 4.441 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, picture this scenario: 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

__________________
'98 YZ400F: Pro Tapers, Billet Triple Clamps, 4gal. Desert Tank, Custom Seat.

tigmaster

these facts are so great.

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