Some amazing facts nicked from all-torque:
*One top fuel dragster 500 cubic inch hemi engine
makes more horsepower than the first 4 rows at the
Indy 500.
*under full throttle, a top fuel dragster engine
consumes I gallon of nitromethane Per second,
a fully loaded 747 consumes jet fuel at the same
rate with 25% less energy being produced.
*a stock dodge 426 hemi v8 engine cannot
produce enough power to drive the dragsters
supercharger.
*with 3000cfm of air being rammed in by the
supercharger on overdrive, the fuel mixture
is compressed into a near –solid form before
ignition. the cylinders run on the verge of hydraulic
lock at full throttle.
*at the stoichiometric1.7:1 air/fuel mixture for
nitromethane the flame front temperature
measures 7050degrees F, 3800degrees C.
*nitromethane burns yellow, the spectacular
white flame seen above the stacks at night is
raw burning hydrogen, disassociated from atmospheric
water vapour 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 ½ way, the engine is
dieseling from compression plus the glow of
exhaust valves at 1400degrees F.the engine
can only be shut down by cutting of the fuel flow.
*if momentarily fails early in the run ,unburned
nitro builds up in the affected cylinders and
then explodes with sufficient force to blow the
cylinder heads off the block in pieces or split
the block in half.
*in order to exceed 300 in 4.5 seconds
dragsters must accelerate at an average
of over 4G`s.in order to reach 200mph 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 540 revolutions from
light to light!
*including the burnout the engine must only
survive 900 revolutions under load.
*the red line is actually quite high at 9500rpm
*the bottom line; assuming all the equipment
is paid off, the crew work for free, and for
once NOTHING BLOWS UP, each run costs an
estimated $1000.00 per second. the current top
fuel dragster elapsed time record is 4.441
seconds for the quarter mile (05/10/03,tony
Schumacher).the top speed record is 333.00mph(533km/h)
as measured over the last 66` of the run,(28/9/03 doug kallita).
If that hasn’t made you think enough, let’s put all this into perspective:
You are riding the average $250,000 Honda motogp bike-a seriously fast machine. Over a mile up the road, a top fuel dragster is staged and ready to launch down a ¼ mile strip as you pass. You have the advantage
of a flying start. you run the RC211V hard up through the gears and blast across the starting line and past the dragster at an honest 200mph (293ft/sec).the `tree` goes green for both of you at that moment. The
dragster launches and starts after you .you keep your wrist cranked hard, but you hear an incredible 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 the standing start ,the dragster had a 200mph disadvantage, and not only caught ,but nearly blasted you off
the road when he passed you within a mere 1320 foot long drag strip.
personally i think they should look into LPG conversion as it would make alot of sense
*One top fuel dragster 500 cubic inch hemi engine
makes more horsepower than the first 4 rows at the
Indy 500.
*under full throttle, a top fuel dragster engine
consumes I gallon of nitromethane Per second,
a fully loaded 747 consumes jet fuel at the same
rate with 25% less energy being produced.
*a stock dodge 426 hemi v8 engine cannot
produce enough power to drive the dragsters
supercharger.
*with 3000cfm of air being rammed in by the
supercharger on overdrive, the fuel mixture
is compressed into a near –solid form before
ignition. the cylinders run on the verge of hydraulic
lock at full throttle.
*at the stoichiometric1.7:1 air/fuel mixture for
nitromethane the flame front temperature
measures 7050degrees F, 3800degrees C.
*nitromethane burns yellow, the spectacular
white flame seen above the stacks at night is
raw burning hydrogen, disassociated from atmospheric
water vapour 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 ½ way, the engine is
dieseling from compression plus the glow of
exhaust valves at 1400degrees F.the engine
can only be shut down by cutting of the fuel flow.
*if momentarily fails early in the run ,unburned
nitro builds up in the affected cylinders and
then explodes with sufficient force to blow the
cylinder heads off the block in pieces or split
the block in half.
*in order to exceed 300 in 4.5 seconds
dragsters must accelerate at an average
of over 4G`s.in order to reach 200mph 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 540 revolutions from
light to light!
*including the burnout the engine must only
survive 900 revolutions under load.
*the red line is actually quite high at 9500rpm
*the bottom line; assuming all the equipment
is paid off, the crew work for free, and for
once NOTHING BLOWS UP, each run costs an
estimated $1000.00 per second. the current top
fuel dragster elapsed time record is 4.441
seconds for the quarter mile (05/10/03,tony
Schumacher).the top speed record is 333.00mph(533km/h)
as measured over the last 66` of the run,(28/9/03 doug kallita).
If that hasn’t made you think enough, let’s put all this into perspective:
You are riding the average $250,000 Honda motogp bike-a seriously fast machine. Over a mile up the road, a top fuel dragster is staged and ready to launch down a ¼ mile strip as you pass. You have the advantage
of a flying start. you run the RC211V hard up through the gears and blast across the starting line and past the dragster at an honest 200mph (293ft/sec).the `tree` goes green for both of you at that moment. The
dragster launches and starts after you .you keep your wrist cranked hard, but you hear an incredible 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 the standing start ,the dragster had a 200mph disadvantage, and not only caught ,but nearly blasted you off
the road when he passed you within a mere 1320 foot long drag strip.
personally i think they should look into LPG conversion as it would make alot of sense
