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<body class='hmmessage'><div dir='ltr'>I am not a huge fan of drag racing but if all the figures stated below are true....<BR>
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ACCELERATION<BR> <BR> 'DEFINITION OF ACCELERATION' (courtesy of KB Performance<BR> Pistons): <BR> <BR> <BR> One top fuel dragster 500 cubic inch Hemi engine makes<BR>more horsepower than the first 4 rows of stock cars at the<BR>Daytona 500.<BR> <BR> It takes just 15/100ths of a second for all 6,000+<BR>horsepower of an NHRA Top Fuel dragster engine to reach<BR>the rear wheels.<BR> <BR> Under full throttle, a dragster engine consumes 1-1/2<BR>gallons of nitro methane per second; a fully loaded 747<BR>consumes jet fuel at the same rate with 25% less energy<BR>being produced.<BR> <BR> A stock Dodge Hemi V8 engine cannot produce enough power<BR>to drive the dragster's supercharger.<BR> <BR> With 3,000 CFM of air being rammed in by the supercharger<BR>on overdrive, the fuel mixture is compressed into a<BR>near-solid form before ignition.<BR> <BR> Cylinders run on the verge of hydraulic lock at full<BR>throttle.<BR> <BR> At the stoichiometric (stoichiometry: methodology and<BR>technology by which quantities of reactants and products<BR>in chemical reactions are determined) 1.7:1 air/fuel mixture<BR>of nitro methane, the flame front temperature measures 7,050<BR>deg F.<BR> <BR> Nitro methane burns yellow. The spectacular white flame seen<BR>above the stacks at night is raw burning hydrogen,<BR>dissociated from atmospheric water vapor by the searing<BR>exhaust gases.<BR> <BR> Dual magnetos supply 44 amps to each spark plug. This is<BR>the output of an arc welder in each cylinder.<BR><BR>Spark plug electrodes are totally consumed during a pass.<BR>After halfway, the engine is dieseling from compression,<BR>plus the glow of exhaust valves at 1,400 deg F. The engine<BR>can only be shut down by cutting the fuel flow.<BR> <BR> If spark momentarily fails early in the run, unburned nitro<BR>builds up in the affected cylinders and then explodes with<BR>sufficient force to blow cylinder heads off the block in<BR>pieces or split the block in half. <BR> <BR> <BR> <BR> In order to exceed 300 mph in 4.5 seconds, dragsters must<BR>accelerate an average of over 4G's. In order to reach 200<BR>mph (well before half-track), the launch acceleration<BR>approaches 8G's .<BR> <BR> <BR> <BR> Dragsters reach over 300 miles per hour before you have<BR>completed reading this sentence <BR><BR> <BR> <BR> Top fuel engines turn approximately 540 revolutions from<BR>light to light! Including the burnout, the engine must<BR>only survive 900 revolutions under load.<BR> <BR> <BR> <BR> The redline is actually quite high at 9,500 rpm. <BR> <BR> <BR> <BR> Assuming all the equipment is paid off, the crew is working<BR>for free, and for once NOTHING BLOWS UP, each run costs an<BR>estimate $1,000.00 per second. <BR> <BR> <BR> <BR> The current top fuel dragster elapsed time record is 4.428<BR>seconds for the quarter mile (11/12/06, Tony Schumacher, at<BR>Pomona, CA). The top speed record is 336.15 mph as measured<BR>over the last 66' of the run (05/25/05 Tony Schumacher, at<BR>Hebron, OH). <BR> <BR> <BR> <BR> Putting all of this into perspective: You are driving the<BR>average $140,000 Lingenfelter 'twin-turbo' powered<BR>Corvette Z06. Over a mile up the road, a top fuel dragster is<BR>staged and ready to launch down a quarter mile strip as you pass.<BR>You have the advantage of a flying start. You run the<BR>'Vette hard up through the gears and blast across the starting<BR>line and pass the dragster at an honest 200 mph. The 'tree'<BR>goes green for both of you at that moment. The dragster<BR>launches and starts after you. You keep your foot down hard, but<BR>you hear an incredibly brutal whine that sears your eardrums<BR>and within 3 seconds, the dragster catches and passes you. He<BR>beats you to the finish line, a quarter mile away from where<BR>you just passed him. Think about it, from a standing start,<BR>the dragster had spotted you 200 mph and not only caught,<BR>but nearly blasted you off the road when he passed you<BR>within a mere 1,320 foot long race course. <BR> <BR> ... and that my friend, is ACCELERATION!<BR><BR> </div></body>
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