dragster physics

[sear]

Dragster

One top fuel dragster 500 cubic inch Hemi engine makes more horsepower

than the first 4 rows of stock cars at the Daytona 500.

It takes just 15/100ths of a second for all 6,000+ horsepower of an NHRA

Top Fuel dragster engine to reach the rear wheels.

http://www.gmhpclub.com/acceleration.htm

- gosh -

[+OverSword]

Being up close to a top fuel car on take off is an amazing feeling. When the lights go green it feels like reality warps and the cars are pulling your soul down the track. I'm not kidding reality seems to warp around them there is so much power.

edit to add, when I was a kid my uncle worked on the pit crew of a local pro stock car. He used to take me touring the NHRA races on the west coast and Canada. Time of my freakin life. Kid with an all access pass and little supervision. At the age of twelve Don Garlitz knew my name and I met Shirley Muldowney in her own trailer.

Edited May 2, 2013 by OverSword

[StarMountainKid]

[sear]

My apology for a glitch I don't understand.

The opening post was intended to include:

Dragster

One top fuel dragster 500 cubic inch Hemi engine makes more horsepower

than the first 4 rows of stock cars at the Daytona 500.

It takes just 15/100ths of a second for all 6,000+ horsepower of an NHRA

Top Fuel dragster engine to reach the rear wheels.

Under full throttle, a dragster engine consumes 1-1/2 gallons of nitro

methane per second. A fully loaded 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 drive the

dragster's supercharger.

With 3,000 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 (stoichiometry: methodology and technology by

which quantities of reactants and products in chemical reactions are

determined) 1.7:1 air/fuel mixture of nitro methane, the flame front

temperature measures 7,050 deg 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 heat of the 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

halfway, the engine is dieseling from compression, plus the glow of exhaust

valves at 1,400 deg F. The engine can only be shut down by cutting the fuel

flow.

If spark momentarily fails early in the run, unburned nitro immediately builds up in

the affected cylinder 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 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 one 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 redline is actually quite high at 9,500 rpm.

Assuming all the equipment is paid off, the crew worked for free, and

for once NOTHING BLOWS UP, each run costs an estimate $1,000.00 per second.

The current top fuel dragster elapsed time record is 4.428 seconds for

the quarter mile (11/12/06, Tony Schumacher, at Pomona , CA ). The top speed

record is 336.15 mph as measured over the last 66' of the run (05/25/05 Tony

Schumacher, at Hebron , OH ).

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 '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 1,320 foot long race course.

also

"At the age of twelve Don Garlitz knew my name and I met Shirley Muldowney in her own trailer." OS

You rock!