Real Acceleration
Some of us may think we have experienced
acceleration g forces, but read
this to get a grip of what real acceleration is.
But first, some useful info:
One Top Fuel dragster 500 cubic inch Hemi engine makes more horsepower
than the first 4 rows at the NASCAR Daytona 500.
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
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 one pass. After
half-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 Shumacher) 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.
That, folks, is acceleration.