[V8] Off topic - Neat posting on top fuel dragsters

[George Tur]

A gearhead I know from another list forwarded this article and comments to me 
and I thought it might be appreciated by some of the "more power is better 
guys" on this list. It's about top fuel dragsters.

Wish the best of the holidays to all of the list.

George Tur
91 V8
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I thought some of you tech fans would like this  post, I know I did. 
The drag races that you flip past on Speed Channel TV on a  Saturday
afternoon actually contain the  machinery and techniques that are at the
absolute pinnacle of modern engineering achievement.  Every year these
guys go faster, too.

To the below list of Top Fuel lore I'll add two more.

There was a presentation in front of the Peterson Museum in California,
where there was on display a Top Fuel rail dragster.  They wanted to
fire up the car as part of the show, but couldn't get insurance for it. 
The reason was that the car would be so loud all the windows up and down
the street would very likely break.  I used to live about 10 miles away
from Firebird Raceway in Ahwatukee, AZ.  Sometimes on Saturday and Sunday
you would periodically hear a roar off in the distance.  If you looked
at your watch the roar lasted about 4 seconds. [The time needed to cover the 
quarter mile.]

Top Fuel sand drag cars reach 100+ mph in 100 feet.  Not yards, feet. 
In the sand.

Top Fuel, baby.

>A Lesson in Acceleration:
>---------------------------------------------
>First, some useful info:
>
>* One Top Fuel dragster 500 cubic inch Hemi engine makes more horsepower
>than the first 4 rows at the Indy. 500.
>
>* Under full throttle, a Top Fuel dragster engine consumes 1= gallons of
>nitromethane per second; a fully loaded 747 consumes jet fuel at the
>same rate with 25% less energy being produced.
>
>* A stock Dodge 426 Hemi V8 engine cannot produce enough power to 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 nitromethane the
>flame front temperature measures 7050 degrees F.
>
>* Nitromethane 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.
>
>* 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
>$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 Schumacher). 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 riding the average $250,000 Honda MotoGP bike. 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
>RC211V hard up through the gears and blast across the starting line and
>past the dragster at an honest 200 mph (293 ft/sec). The 'tree' goes
>green for both of you at that moment. The dragster launches and starts after
>you.
>You keep your wrist cranked 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.
>