| xoxoxoBruce |
02-12-2016 01:35 AM |
You may remember awhile back we had a discussion about drag racing, I think it stemmed from a post about the Don Garlits Museum in Florida. Anyway, after Scott Kalitta was killed at Englishtown, NJ, in 2008, the NHRA shortened the track from 1/4 mile to 1,000 ft. First to get the speed down, and secondly to give them more shutdown room. The record speed for top fuel at that time was 336.15 mph, and it did drop, but it's now 332.75 for the 1,000 ft. What's a mother to do?
I think this was posted before, but consider it a review for the final.
Quote:
TOP FUEL
* One Top Fuel dragster 500 cubic-inch Hemi engine makes more horsepower than the first 4 rows at the Daytona 500.
* Under full throttle, a dragster engine consumes 11.2 gallons of nitro methane per second; the same rate as a loaded 747 consumes jet fuel while producing 25% less energy.
* A stock Dodge Hemi V8 engine cannot drive the dragster’s supercharger.
* With 3000 CFM of air from the supercharger 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 1.7:1 air/fuel mixture, the nitro flame front is 7050 degrees F.
* Nitro burns yellow. The white exhaust flame at night is burning hydrogen, dissociated from atmospheric water vapor by the searing exhaust gases.
* Dual magnetos supply 44 amps to each spark plug. Like 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 1400F exhaust valves. Cut fuel flow to shut down.
* Momentary spark failure causes an explosion blowing heads off or splitting the block.
* Dragsters reach over 300 MPH before you have completed reading this sentence.
* 300 MPH in 4.5 sec takes an avg of 4 G’s. 200 MPH before half-track takes an 8 G launch.
* 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.
*The current Top Fuel dragster elapsed time record is 4.441 seconds for the quarter-mile, and 3.68 sec for the 1,000 ft.
*The top ¼ mile speed record is 336.15 MPH measured over the last 66′ of the run, and it's 332.75 for the 1,000 ft.
You’re driving the average $140,000 Lingenfelter twin-turbo powered Corvette Z06, passing the starting line at 200 mph just as the top fuel rail launches. If you hold 200 mph, in 3 sec he’ll catch you, then beat you to the end of the quarter mile.
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On a happy note, John Force's daughter, Brittany, broke 4 seconds with her fuel funny car. :thumb: |
