- Joined
- Dec 10, 2009
- Location
- Guntersville
WOW!
Subject: Acceleration Defined
For those who love numbers, engineers, speed freaks and those who
think they have gone too fast at one time or another.This puts
Corvette performance in perspective. This article mentions
Lingenfelter twin turbo powered Z06.
Read this thru slowly and try to comprehend the amount of force
produced in just under 4 seconds! The last paragraph puts it all into
perspective !
There are no rockets or airplanes built by any government in the world
that can accelerate from a standing start as fast as a Top Fuel
Dragster or Funny Car..and that includes any aircraft launched by a
catapult from an aircraft carrier. Nothing can compare...
DEFINITION OF ACCELERATION
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 (0.15) of a second for all 6,000+ horsepower
(some believe 8,000 HP is more realistic - there are no dynomometers
capable of measuring) of an NHRA Top Fuel dragster engine to reach the
rear wheels.
Under full throttle, a dragster engine consumes 1-1/2 gallons of
nitromethane 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'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 nitromethane, the flame front
temperature measures 7,050 deg F. (Oxy-acetylene on "cut" is 6,300)
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 one 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 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
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.
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
instant.
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.
...... and that my friend, is ACCELERATION!
Subject: Acceleration Defined
For those who love numbers, engineers, speed freaks and those who
think they have gone too fast at one time or another.This puts
Corvette performance in perspective. This article mentions
Lingenfelter twin turbo powered Z06.
Read this thru slowly and try to comprehend the amount of force
produced in just under 4 seconds! The last paragraph puts it all into
perspective !
There are no rockets or airplanes built by any government in the world
that can accelerate from a standing start as fast as a Top Fuel
Dragster or Funny Car..and that includes any aircraft launched by a
catapult from an aircraft carrier. Nothing can compare...
DEFINITION OF ACCELERATION
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 (0.15) of a second for all 6,000+ horsepower
(some believe 8,000 HP is more realistic - there are no dynomometers
capable of measuring) of an NHRA Top Fuel dragster engine to reach the
rear wheels.
Under full throttle, a dragster engine consumes 1-1/2 gallons of
nitromethane 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'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 nitromethane, the flame front
temperature measures 7,050 deg F. (Oxy-acetylene on "cut" is 6,300)
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 one 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 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
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.
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
instant.
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.
...... and that my friend, is ACCELERATION!