Top fuel acceleration put into perspective
Thread Starter
Senior Member
Joined: 01-07-06
Posts: 2,413
Likes: 0
From: Y
Top fuel acceleration put into perspective
TOP FUEL ACCELERATION PUT INTO PERSPECTIVE
* One Top Fuel dragster 500 cubic-inch Hemi engine makes more
horsepower (8,000 HP) than the first 4 rows at the Daytona 500.
* Under full throttle, a dragster engine consumes 11.2 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 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 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 a pass. After 1/2
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.
* Dragsters reach over 300 MPH before you have completed reading this
sentence.
* In order to exceed 300 MPH in 4.5 seconds, dragsters must accelerate
an average of over 4 G's. In order to reach 200 MPH well before
half-track, the launch 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 off, the crew
worked for free, & for once, NOTHING BLOWS UP, each run costs 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
* 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.
* 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).
Putting this all into perspective:
You are driving the average $220,000 Ford GT twin-turbo. 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 GT hard 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 moment. The dragster launches & starts after you. You keep your foot down
hard, but you hear an incredibly brutal whine that sears your eardrums &
within 3 seconds the dragster 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 & not only caught, but nearly blasted you off the
road when he passed you within a mere 1320 foot long race!
That's acceleration!
* One Top Fuel dragster 500 cubic-inch Hemi engine makes more
horsepower (8,000 HP) than the first 4 rows at the Daytona 500.
* Under full throttle, a dragster engine consumes 11.2 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 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 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 a pass. After 1/2
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.
* Dragsters reach over 300 MPH before you have completed reading this
sentence.
* In order to exceed 300 MPH in 4.5 seconds, dragsters must accelerate
an average of over 4 G's. In order to reach 200 MPH well before
half-track, the launch 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 off, the crew
worked for free, & for once, NOTHING BLOWS UP, each run costs 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
* 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.
* 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).
Putting this all into perspective:
You are driving the average $220,000 Ford GT twin-turbo. 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 GT hard 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 moment. The dragster launches & starts after you. You keep your foot down
hard, but you hear an incredibly brutal whine that sears your eardrums &
within 3 seconds the dragster 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 & not only caught, but nearly blasted you off the
road when he passed you within a mere 1320 foot long race!
That's acceleration!
Last edited by 06' SS2SS; Feb 8, 2011 at 01:09 PM.
Senior Member
Joined: 11-10-05
Posts: 13,359
Likes: 5
From: TX
you changed that around or the site you posted it from is full of tards. it used to read z06 vette at 200mph. obviously from a biased chevy site since the gt didnt cost 220k and it wasnt twin turbo. and since the gt can do 217 using it in this scenario is also retarded
Thread Starter
Senior Member
Joined: 01-07-06
Posts: 2,413
Likes: 0
From: Y
I actually got it in an e-mail. regardless of what kind of car/brand is in the write up, the stats are pretty amazing. And sorry for the repost. I searched but didn't find it, so I posted this version (HEMI/Ford bias).
Member
Joined: 04-01-09
Posts: 351
Likes: 0
From: causapscal, qc
The part about the dragster catching the ford gt @ 200 mph is false. 200 mph is about 293.2 ft/s, so without acceleration the ford gt would take around 4.5 seconds to complete the 1/4 mile, so the dragster and the ford gt would cross the finish line at the same time. Still impressive.
Thread
Thread Starter
Forum
Replies
Last Post