somethings you may or may not know about top fuel dragsters
05-14-2005, 09:45 AM
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somethings you may or may not know about top fuel dragsters
One Top Fuel dragster 500 cubic inch Hemi engine makes more
horsepower than the first 4 rows of race cars at the Daytona 500.
* Under full throttle, a dragster engine consumes 1½ gallons of
nitromethane per second.
* A stock Dodge Hemi V8 engine cannot produce enough power to
even drive the dragster 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 lock at full throttle.
* At the stoichiometric 1.7:1 air/fuel mixture for nitromethane the
flame front temperature measures 7050 degrees F.
* Nitromethane 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 ½
way, the engine is dieseling from compression plus the glow of 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 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
at 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 red-line is actually quite high at 9500 rpm.
* The Bottom Line - Assuming all the equipment is paid off, the crew
worked for free, and for once NOTHING BLOWS UP, each run costs an
estimated US $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:
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
lights go 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 1320 foot long race course.
horsepower than the first 4 rows of race cars at the Daytona 500.
* Under full throttle, a dragster engine consumes 1½ gallons of
nitromethane per second.
* A stock Dodge Hemi V8 engine cannot produce enough power to
even drive the dragster 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 lock at full throttle.
* At the stoichiometric 1.7:1 air/fuel mixture for nitromethane the
flame front temperature measures 7050 degrees F.
* Nitromethane 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 ½
way, the engine is dieseling from compression plus the glow of 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 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
at 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 red-line is actually quite high at 9500 rpm.
* The Bottom Line - Assuming all the equipment is paid off, the crew
worked for free, and for once NOTHING BLOWS UP, each run costs an
estimated US $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:
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
lights go 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 1320 foot long race course.
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