Rumble from The Concrete Jungle

[Dot]

What a lot of old grumps, just the sound of a good V8 is worth it. Nascar just goes round and round up and down and drag races = 2 cars going in a straight line (most of the time) for a few seconds Isn't that a bit like PE?

[dapope]

Speedway...... V8s and lots of cars and drivers some with little brain=action, and noise. Yep, the ground can shake

[T1 Terry]

Ever wonder why a Top Fuel dragster gets a rebuilt engine after each run?

Keith Black Power.jpg

* One Top Fuel dragster outfitted with a 500 cubic-inch replica Dodge (actually Keith Black, etc) Hemi engine makes more horsepower (8,000 HP) than the first 4 rows of cars at NASCAR's Daytona 500.

* Under full throttle, a dragster engine will consume 11.2 gallons of nitro methane per second; a fully loaded Boeing 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 merely drive the dragster's 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 lockup 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. Which is typically the output of a small electric arc welder in each cylinder.

* Spark plug electrodes are totally consumed during a pass. After 1/2 way thru the run, the engine is 'dieseling' from compression and the glow of the 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 enough force to blow the cylinder heads off the block in pieces or split the block in half !!

* Dragsters reach over 300 MPH +... before you have completed reading this sentence.

* In order to exceed 300 MPH in 4.5 seconds, a dragster must accelerate an average of over 4 G's. In order to reach 200 MPH well before reaching half-track, at launch the acceleration approaches 8 G's.

* 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 9500 RPM.

* THE BOTTOM LINE: Assuming all the equipment is paid for, the pit crew is working for free, & NOTHING BLOWS UP, each run will cost an estimated $1,000 per second.

0 to 100 MPH in .8 seconds (the first 60 feet of the run)

0 to 200 MPH in 2.2 seconds (the first 350 feet of the run)

6 g-forces at the starting line (nothing accelerates faster on land)

6 negative g-forces upon deployment of twin 'chutes at 300 MPH

Fastest thing on earth.jpg

An NHRA Top Fuel Dragster accelerates quicker than any other land vehicle on earth .. .. quicker than a jet fighter plane . . . quicker than the space shuttle....or snapping your fingers !!

The current Top Fuel dragster elapsed time record is 4.420 seconds for the quarter-mile (2004, Doug Kalitta).

The top speed record is 337.58 MPH as measured over the last 66' of the run (2005, Tony Schumacher).

Let's now put this all into perspective:

Imagine this...........

· You are driving a new $140,000 Lingenfelter twin-turbo powered Corvette Z-06.

· Over a mile up the road, a Top Fuel dragster is staged & ready to 'launch' down a quarter-mile strip as you pass.

· You have the advantage of a flying start.

· You run the 'Vette hard, on up through the gears and blast across the starting line & pass the dragster at an honest 200 MPH....

· The 'tree' goes green for both of you at that exact moment.

· The dragster departs & starts after you.

· You keep your foot buried hard to the floor, and suddenly you hear an incredibly brutally screaming whine that pummels your eardrums & within a mere 3 seconds the dragster effortlessly catches & 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 it not only caught, but nearly blasted you off the planet when he passed you within a mere 1320 foot long race !!!!

That.....is acceleration.

[BruceS]

Bugger off Terry!!
Makes my houseboat sound like a slug at 3 knots.............. (5.5km/hr)
Not going to let you or Brian loose with a blower near my slug!!

[Kelvin12]

Now here's a great interesting project, get Bruce's houseboat up to a high speed top end water ski boat race boat for the next Murray River Classics. I can see it all now a Chrysler Elephant power plant, blower and all the good bits. Bruce in a crash helmet, snugged well down into the hull with full harness strapped in and with a chute on the back deck..... With Terry's drag racing experience I reckon we can get up a winner here. Don't worry about dollars, Bruce will pick up the tab so its open slather. Now that would be a challenge for everyone.

Everyone feel free to add your opinions and extensive modifications to get Bruce into the winners circle and up on the podium.

Dirk

[Dot]

I have heard that a good lover can deliver all of those above mentioned stats

[T1 Terry]

Will we be using paddle wheels instead of a prop to stay in with the house boat theme?

[T1 Terry]

I have heard that a good lover can deliver all of those above mentioned stats

Well, I did deliver them on this forum Dottie, need I say more But I do tend to take a bit slower these days, the rubber smoke plays hell with the sinuses

[Dot]

Boasting again

[T1 Terry]

Now this was racing back in the '60's, note, the class is determined by the retail sales price and every one of them was checked at the end of the race to determine it was stock standard in every way. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7Fhnt9LqWWU Some of the names are well known to a certain age group there was time for a few laughs in the drivers paddock before the big race back in those days.