Glensgages

American open-wheel racing = White-smock wearing, computer-toting factory engineers, able to monitor air/fuel mixtures and detect drivers getting fart-caught sideways, racing in-front of grandstands with people, dressed-up like aluminum bleachers

Nitro Funny Car racing = large-men with dirty hands, tuning mechanical fuel-injection (NO-computers ), and drivers with ***** as-large-as water-melons.

79-L-82

Is that supposed to be bad?
Different strokes. . .

OregonVette80

427-390

For those who have not read this yet.......


Acceleration; Put Into Perspective


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 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.

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 this all 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 & 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 & 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, is acceleration!

DJ Dep

Glen: Next you'll be saying "As-long-as I can make the last turn-off onto the return-road at the drag-strip, my Corvette is 'handling' JUST fine!!!!!"

ROFLMAO!!!!...these newbs have no idea we know each other and think EXACTLY the same

Dep

OregonVette80

So, now that we've gotten all this out in the open, is it safe to say a Honda is better than a Corvette now?

DJ Dep

That depends on WHICH Honda is racing a Vette

Superstock

Tell him you would rather have a sister in a ***** house than a brother in a Honda. Honda , brought to you by the same people who brought you Pearl Harbor .

Godfathers Ghost

Not really, I want to be on a winning team.

Glensgages

A few of these facts may be incorrect - - -


current fuel-pump technology can pull 90-95 gallons-per-minute, not 11+ gallons-per-second:
the fuel-cells only hold 14-17 gallons per run, and I suspect the figure of 11+ gallons is for a complete 1/4-mile run.....


Schumacher ran better than 4.441 last year (4.42x? ) for a new National Record, and he can run over 280 MPH in the 1/8-mile:
he reaches 100 MPH in less-than 57' (that the team will confirm ), and runs 60' in .83x-seconds.

Some crew chiefs believe the crank actually 'twists' during a run, and that rod-journals may-bot be 90* to each-other:
there is some thinking that cams should be ground with the rear-lobes out-of phase, too, but nobody is confirming that.

DJ Dep

And the same people that made most of the components to that weird thing you are typing on, and that mysterious box in your living room that you watch, and the radios and MP3 players you listen to, and most all of the electronics on new cars, etc etc etc.

Welcome to the Global Economy

DJ Dep

Seems that Chevy PULLED OUT of Indycar racing after repeated failues.

Big2Bird

I quote Enzo Ferrari,

"I sell cars to finance racing, GM races to sell cars."

DJ Dep

Ahh yes...Enzo. Isn't that the guy that FORD drove OUT of Le Mans racing after whooping his butt at all the major sports car races in the mid-60s? I think he was the original "snakebit" person
I remember Dan Gurney riding on the hood of the Ford winner at Le Mans. Very cool video!!!

Dep

SEVNT6

Ummm...GT-40s......

Bangkok Dean

IT is really too bad Carol did not like Corvette's

DJ Dep

SNAKEBIT!!!

79-L-82

Nope.

international blue

Several things.

I'll say that a Honda engine is a superlative piece of engineering.

Sochiro Honda himself was the ultimate car guy. His first gearhead move was after a big earthquake in his hometown (Kobe?) . Against his fathers wishes, he grafted an aircraft engine into a racecar and proceeded to terrorize the locals. His biography shouild be required reading for all gearheads. If the Ford kids were like this things would have been different....

His car company has a racing department. To go to the top seat at Honda, you must have been a worker in that shop. A mechanic too. Why should GM not pay attention to this?

Honda racing is not a part time back door effort. Too much Corvette history is like the Grand Sport, what could have beens...if only management didn't pull the plug ect...

Corvettes are great iconic cars, and I have a couple. Honda is a tremendous manufacturer, and likewise develops tremendous loyalty. Honda and Duntov would have been great buds...They felt and acted the same way, in making performance accessable to the people.

randommj

WOW this thread has REALLY turned arround n 1 day, i dont mind honda i just dont like the poelpe who think its far superior to EVERYTHING in ANY catigory, preformance, LOOKS, babe magnet, etc etc

randommj