Date:         Thu, 4 Dec 2003 08:11:16 -0700
Reply-To:     Bob Stevens <mtbiker62@HOTMAIL.COM>
Sender:       Vanagon Mailing List <vanagon@gerry.vanagon.com>
From:         Bob Stevens <mtbiker62@HOTMAIL.COM>
Subject:      NVC: Top Fuel Dragster Stats
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="iso-8859-1"

Sorry for being so far off topic but this elicited such visceral response in
me I thought maybe some others here might enjoy "getting loaded" this
morning as well. Whew, hard to fathom some of this.

 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; 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 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 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. This is the
 output of 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 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 past 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 1320 foot long race course.


Bob