Overpowered? Nah

[Oriahtundra]

Watching it on TV or turning up the sound just doesnt do it justice. the feeling of all that horsepower so close quaking you to you last cell it something to experience. Its great watchin the skybox, you can see the sound coming as the windows vibrate as it passes down the strip..... and the windows vibrate to bad you can see them do it form the other end of the track....

And to think all this power from something quite similiar( well the concept) to a consumer V8 found in your neighborhood cars.

http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-8...53497&hl=en

http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-7...23866&hl=en

http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=64...90789&hl=en

http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=86...00687&hl=en

http://s122.photobucket.com/albums/o276/Or...=1174200110.pbw

Did you know …

* One Top Fuel dragster 500 cubic inch Hemi engine makes more horsepower than the first 4 rows at the Daytona 500.

* Under full throttle, a 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.

* 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 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 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 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.

...it takes 900 horses just to drive the supercharger on this engine

… that the nitromethane-powered engines of NHRA Top Fuel dragsters and Funny Cars produce approximately 7,000 horsepower, about 37 times that of the average street car?

… that an NHRA Top Fuel dragster accelerates from 0 to 100 mph in less than .8-second, almost 11 seconds quicker than it takes a production Porsche 911 Turbo to reach the same speed?

… that an NHRA Top Fuel dragster leaves the starting line with a force nearly five times that of gravity, the same force of the space shuttle when it leaves the launching pad at Cape Canaveral?

… that NHRA Top Fuel dragsters and Funny Cars consume between four and five gallons of fuel during a quarter-mile run, which is equivalent to between 16 and 20 gallons per mile?

… that NHRA Top Fuel dragsters and Funny Cars use between 10 and 12 gallons of fuel for a complete pass, including the burnout, backup to the starting line, and quarter-mile run?

… that from a standing start, NHRA Top Fuel dragsters accelerate faster than a jumbo jet, a fighter jet, and a Formula One race car?

… that a fuel pump for an NHRA Top Fuel dragster and Funny Car delivers 65 gallons of fuel per minute, equivalent to eight bathroom showers running at the same time?

… that the fuel-line pressure for NHRA Top Fuel dragsters and Funny Cars is between 400 and 500 pounds, about 20 times greater than the pressure on passenger-car fuel pumps?

… that depending on size and angle, the large rear wing on an NHRA Top Fuel dragster develops between 4,000 and 8,000 pounds of downforce?

… that the 17-inch rear tires used on NHRA Top Fuel dragsters and Funny Cars wear out after four to six runs, or about two miles? Some brands of passenger-car tires are guaranteed for 80,000 miles.

… that it takes just 15/100ths of a second for all 7,000 horsepower of an NHRA Top Fuel dragster engine to reach the rear wheels?

… that the nitromethane used to power the engines of NHRA Top Fuel dragsters and Funny Cars costs about $16 per gallon?

Edited March 19, 2007 by Oriahtundra

[Houli]

HA! i must say i read half of em, was interested then halfway thru i thought "how would you make a Vrugz cliff notes version of this" and gave up reading

interesting facts tho

/blame Vrugz

And yeah i bet its neat live but i'd still rather see a hockey game live

And!

i thought this was gonna be about dr00ds, lowel

Edited March 19, 2007 by Houli

[Huato]

Definitely amazing machinery, but I prefer Formula 1

Nothing like a 2.3 liter naturally aspirated cam-less V8 that can belt out close to 1000 horses in a car that with driver weighs about 1500 pounds.

[Relikk]

What's even more amazing is future engine development, pulse driven engines - whereby instead of using the typical burn off deflagration, they intend to cause an explosion in a chamber. In simpler terms, it's like taking a heavy metal lid and placing a brick of fire crackers under it and lighting it off. Each detonation causes the lid to pop up. There is huge promise in an engine like that because you don't have many complex valves, crank shafts, pistons, etc. The exciting news is that it can be used in space to achieve speeds previously unknown - however, the controversy is that nuclear detonations would leave a radio-active trail through space - and we would simply be doing what we are doing with automobiles. Also, they are unbelievably loud.

I still love the sound of drag racing engines though, I still prefer to listen to dragsters going down the track over rocket propelled cars.

Rel

[Huato]

I love the feel of a dragster tearing down the track - I still remember going to National Trails for the Spring Nationals when it was still called that. Amazing how you can feel the cars in your chest as well as hear them as they go by.

Edited March 19, 2007 by Huato

[Tainish]

Watching it on TV or turning up the sound just doesnt do it justice.

That would be my Vrugz version.

I'm not a gear head at all, but I will never forget my first Drag Race (Heartland Park in Topeka).

You feel drag racing more than you watch it. In fact, good luck focusing with your whole body vibrating from the horsepower.

If you are any sort of engineering nerd at all you will marvel over all the things in Oriah's post...and then you have to wrestle your brain around taking all that raw horsepower and translating it into forward momentum from a standing stop.

If you have any interest in motor sports at all, Drag Racing should go on your "must see" list.