Definition of Acceleration

Message Topic Search Topic Options Post Reply Create New Topic Printable Version Translate Topic

   I get goose bumps every time I read this. I have seen it several times on the internet with no credit given to the author.

Definition of Acceleration:

Just one Top Fuel dragster 500 cubic inch Hemi-type engine produces more horsepower than the first five rows of stock cars at the Daytona 500.

Under full throttle a Top Fuel engine consumes 1-1/2 gallons of nitro methane fuel per second; a fully loaded 747 consumes jet fuel at the same rate with 25% less energy being produced.

A stock Dodge Hemi V-8 engine cannot produce enough power to drive the dragster's supercharger.

With over 3,000 CFM of air being rammed in by the superchargers on overdrive ratio, the fuel is compressed to a near-solid form before ignition occurs.

Cylinders run on the verge of hydraulic lock at full throttle.

At the stoichiometric (stoichiometry: methodology and technology by which quantities of reactants and products in chemical reactions are determined) 1.73 air/fuel mixture for nitro methane, the cylinder flame front temperature reaches 7,050 deg. F.

Nitro methane burns yellow. The spectacular white flame seen above the exhaust stacks at night is raw burning hydrogen, disassociate from atmospheric water vapor by the scaring exhaust gases.

Dual magnetos supply 44 amps to each spark plug. This is the output of an arch welder in each cylinder.

Spark plug electrodes are totally consumed during a quarter mile run. After the 1/8 mile, the engine is dieseling from the heat of compression, plus the glow of exhaust valves at 1,400 degrees F. The engine can only be shut down by cutting off the fuel supply.

If a spark momentarily fails early in the run, unburned nitro builds up in the affected cylinders with enough force and pressure to blow the cylinder heads off the block in pieces or split the engine block in half.

In order to exceed 300 mph in 4.5 seconds or less, Top Fuel dragsters must accelerate an average of 4 g's. In order to reach 200 mph well before the half-track point, the initial launch acceleration approaches 8 g's.

Dragsters have reach well over 300 mph before you have finished reading this sentence.

Top Fuel engines turn approximately 540 complete revolutions from light to light. Including the burnout, the engine has to survive about 900 revolutions under this intense load.

The engine redline is actually quite high at 9,500 RPM.

Assuming that all the equipment is paid off, the crew worked for free, and nothing blown up, each run costs an estimated $1,000 per second. The current Top Fuel dragster National elapsed time record is held by Tony Schumacher in the U.S.Army Top Fuel car at 4.428 seconds, set 11/12/06 at Pomona, Ca. The current spedd record is also held by Tony Schumacher at 336.15 mph set 5/25/05 at Hebron, Ohio. These records are 1/4 mile standing start.

Putting all this into perspective:

You are at the wheel of the average NASCAR Cup car. Over a mile up the road, a Top Fuel dragster is staged, motionless, ready to launch down a quarter mile drag strip as you pass. You have the distinct advantage of a flying start. You run the Cup car hard through the gears at full throttle and blast across the drag strip starting line and past the motionless dragster at an honest 200 mph.

At that very instant, the Christmas tree goes green for the both of you. The dragster launches and starts after you. You keep your foot down hard, but you hear an incredible loud and brutal whine that scars your ear drums, and in less than 4-1/2 seconds, the Top Fuel dragster will have reeled you in, caught and passed you. He beats you to the finish line by 23 feet.

Think about it, from a standing start, the dragster had spotted you a 200 mph and not only caught, but nearly blasted you off the track when he passed you within a mere 1,320 feet race course.

That my friend, is the Definition of Acceleration. 