Acceleration in perspective
Thread Starter
Safety Car
Joined: Aug 2003
Posts: 4,988
Likes: 16
From: Hooterville, NJ
Acceleration in perspective
Here is a copy of an interesting Email I received today from one of my contacts at Lockheed.
Subject: 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!
Now, that's >>>>>>>>>> ACCELERATION !
Subject: 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!
Now, that's >>>>>>>>>> ACCELERATION !
Race Director
Joined: Jan 2003
Posts: 15,172
Likes: 86
From: State of Confusion
Under full throttle, a dragster engine consumes 11.2 gallons of
nitro methane per second
nitro methane per second
Most crew-chiefs say a fuel-burner pumps between 90 and 100 gallons-per-minute at wide-open throttle, which is less-than 2 gallons per-second:
96 G-P-M is the equivalent of each HOLE burning a gallon every 7.5 seconds.
In order to reach 200 MPH well-before half-track, the launch acceleration approaches 8 G's.
either-way, pretty-hairy stuff!
