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.
