REAL Acceleration!!

[sptcoupe]

To all car nuts, I've seen this before but it put's things in perspective. I was never into drag racing but the power is almost unbelievable. Be sure to read the last paragraph.

"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 seares 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.

[azruss]

Now with all that, imagine the decibel level at the christmas tree.

[RRoller123]

pretty cool story.

[Gunsmith]

So what year was the FIAT? Must have been a pre big bumper car or had them removed to get that kind of acceleration?

[ga.spyder]

I worked for several years on a Top Alcohol dragster.We ran the same Keith Black Hemi(it was a Funny Car motor),same blower,same dual 44 mags.The difference between running alky as compared to nitro...about 5000 hp!!! We were making in the neighborhood of 3200 hp.There is nothing as loud and raw as a fuelie leaving the line.It shakes your entire body,and assaults your senses like nothing else on earth.If you have never seen them in person,you owe it to yourself to make a trip to the strip.
ps...as I love to tell people at the track,they are technically running a 'Fiat motor''

[BEEK]

ok, this will date me abit.
i went to the fram nationals at atlanta dragway many years ago. i am a circle track racer, i really never cared for drag racing, and still dont much. i want to race for hours at a time not a few seconds of shear terror. But Kenny Bernstein talked me into coming that weekend. i was his guest in the pits and watched everything they go through in a race weekend. what impressed me the most was when i was at 3/4 track, standing by the fence with some of the crew. a top fuel dragster went flying by at 300 or so mph. it rattled my body to the core. i have never felt such in my life, i could feel the air being drawn from around me. that engine was eating up such a volume of air you could feel it!. i was and still am very impressed with what they do to make those engines live in that environment.

[wikkid]

Source for OP?