Interesting Fact No. 27

[russell_ram]

You are driving the average $140,000 Lingenfelter "twin-turbo" powered
Corvette Z06 (or any other fast car for that matter).

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 200mph.

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 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 (and beat you buy nearly half a second!!).

Fast or what??

Russ

[ian]

Yep, that sure is quick. When you compare dragsters' numbers to every day stuff (like a Lingenfelter 'Vette ) they just defy belief.
I wonder how many G they pull? Would that be a rocket/jet propelled car or piston-powered? I remember when I was a kid some guy in the US had the record 1/4 mile at 3.44 secs but that was not wheel-driven.
God knows what they're doing a 1/4 in these days.

Cheers.

Ian

[robert]

But can you pick up a bird at the local disco in a top fuel dragster???

You can in a Vette!!! :P :P :P Fact No 28

[JamesP]

More interesting figures:

One Top Fuel dragster's 500-inch Hemi makes more horsepower then the first 8 rows of cars at the NASCAR Daytona 500 put together.

At 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 volume.

A Top Fuel supercharger takes more power to drive then a stock hemi makes.

Even 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.

Nitromethane burns yellow. The spectacular white flame seen above the stacks at night is raw burning hydrogen, dissociated from atmospheric water vapour 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 off its 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 300mph 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.

On the tracks with shorter shorter shut-down area, many drivers shut off before the finish line, or even dual parachutes will not stop the car.

If all the equipment is paid off, and the crew worked for free, and for once, NOTHING BLOWS UP, each run costs $1000.00 per second!

James
'Every journey begins with one small step'

[dave]

For all those out there who have never seen Top Fuelers racing side by side, In the flesh, so to speak.("I watched it on Men and Motors" doesn't count).


YOU HAVE NEVER LIVED!
The noise alone is beyond belief.
:tu :tu :tu :tu :tu :tu :tu :tu

[dave]

I did hear that a top fuel dragster hits 60 MPH in around 0.2 of a second..................Which is a tad quicker than a Mitsubishi Evo 8.
Also the rail cars are travelling at 60 MPH before the rear wheels have even crossed the start line.


Top fuel, I just love it!!
:tu :tu

[Purple AK]

It's not even noise!! It's shock waves!!, The ground shakes.
Kin awesome:tu :tu :tu
Cheers

[nbracken]

Slight variation on the theme. Any of you guys ever been to watch a tractor pull?

The sight and sound of a mother of a John Deere with 5 big block chevys all harnessed together trying to pull the seld up the track is truly awsome and unlike dragsters it doesn't whip past you in the blink of an eye!

[nbracken]

For Tractor pulling see http://www.tractorpulling.freeserve.co.uk/

Try this for engine specifiction:

V8 Chevrolet - 527 cubic inch ( 8.6 litre ) , Supercharged by 8-71 Littlefield blowers , running on methanol , using approximately 10 litres each per run. Each engine produces approximately 1400 horsepower . Desperate Dan uses 4 engines in the 3.5t class , and 5 engines in the 4.5t class .