Ya, but can it corner?
I never thought drag racing was all that cool until I went to one. Years ago I
worked on a fire truck in order to help out an SCCA club that was donating time
in exchange for track time. We were set up just past the 1/4 mile mark. What
was amazing was that you would see the car launch and travel about 1/10 mile
down the track before the sound of the launch would even hit you. T.V. just
does not do it justice. These cars are insane, as are the guys who drive them.
Thanks for that info Mike... absolutely amazing.
Greg Burrows
datsunmike wrote:
> Some interesting info.
>
> > * One dragster's 500-inch Hemi makes more horsepower than the first 8 rows
> > at Daytona.
> > * Under full throttle, a dragster engine consumes 1 1/2 gallons of nitro
> per
> > second, the same rate of fuel consumption as a fully loaded 747 but with 4
> > times the energy release per volume.
> > * The supercharger takes more power to drive then a stock hemi makes.
> > * With nearly 3000 CFM of air being rammed in by the supercharger on
> > overdrive, the fuel mixture is compressed into nearly-solid form before
> > ignition. Cylinders run on the verge of hydraulic lock.
> > * Dual magnetos apply 44 amps to each spark plug. This is equivalent to
> the
> > output of an arc welder in each cylinder.
> > * At stoichiometric (exact) 1.7:1 air/fuel mixture (for nitro), the flame
> > front of nitro methane measures 7050 degrees F.
> > * Nitro methane burns yellow. The spectacular white flame seen above the
> > stacks at night is burning hydrogen, dissociated from atmospheric water
> > vapor by the searing exhaust gases.
> > * 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 of it's fuel
> > flow.
> > * If spark momentarily fails early in the run, unburned nitro builds up in
> > those cylinders and then explodes with a force that can blow cylinder
> heads
> > off the block in pieces or blow the block in half.
> > * Dragsters twist the crank (torsionally) so far (20 degrees in the big
> end
> > of the track) that sometimes cam lobes are ground offset from front to
> rear
> > to re-phase the valve timing somewhere closer to synchronization with the
> > pistons.
> > * To exceed 300 mph in 4.5 seconds dragsters must accelerate at an average
> > of over 4G's. But in reaching 200 mph well before 1/2 track, launch
> > acceleration is closer to 8G's.
> > * Drivers shut off before the finish line, or even dual parachutes will
> not
> > stop the car.
> > * If all the equipment is paid off, the crew worked for free, and for once
> > NOTHING BLOWS UP, each run costs $1000.00 per second.
> > * Dragsters reach over 300 miles per hour before you have read this
> > sentence.
>
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