Definition of Acceleration‏

[gavinc69]

Go this as an email today and thought you guys would appreciate it




One top fuel dragster 500 cubic inch Hemi engine makes more horsepower than the first 4 rows of stock cars at the Daytona 500.

It takes just 15/100ths of a second for all 6,000+ horsepower of an NHRA Top Fuel dragster engine to reach the rear wheels.

Under full throttle, a dragster engine consumes 1-1/2 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 drive the dragster's supercharger.

With 3,000 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 (stoichiometry: methodology and technology by which quantities of reactants and products in chemical reactions are determined) 1.7:1 air/fuel mixture of nitro methane, the flame front temperature measures 7,050 deg 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 halfway, the engine is dieseling from compression, plus the glow of exhaust valves at 1,400 deg 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.


In order to exceed 300 mph in 4. 5 seconds, dragsters must accelerate an average of over 4G's. In order to reach 200 mph (well before half-track), the launch acceleration approaches 8G's.


Dragsters reach over 300 miles per hour before you have completed reading this sentence.


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 9,500 rpm.


Assuming all the equipment is paid off, the crew worked for free, and for once NOTHING BLOWS UP, each run costs an estimate $1,000.00 per second.


The current top fuel dragster elapsed time record is 4.428 seconds for the quarter mile (11/12/06, Tony Schumacher, at Pomona , CA ). The top speed record is 336.15 mph as measured over the last 66' of the run (05/25/05 Tony Schumacher, at Hebron , OH ).


Putting all of this 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 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 pass the dragster at an honest 200 mph. 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, the 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 1,320 foot long race course.


...... and that my friend, is ACCELERATION!

[TechnoViking]

a=f/m

[Talewinds]

You know what's completely false about that? I'd never be caught driving a Corvette...

[YTNUKLR]

F(t)=dP/dt=(d/dt)mv=v(dm/dt) + m(dv/dt)

a=dv/dt

Therefore,

a=(F(t)-v(dm/dt))/m(t) , where v is the relative velocity of mass to the inertial frame (vehicle, projectile, etc.)

This is where we get a=F/m ; however, this eqn. doesn't generally take into account the fact that mass may be lost at some relative velocity from the vehicle (i.e. a rocket).

An interesting expansion on F=ma, I think.

[Rusty Heap]

pictures CANNOT do the sound of these chest thumping eye watering kidney stone disolving stool softening "cars" demon-beasts live and in person.

thank you Jeff Higgins for popping my NitroMethane Cherry.

[Hotwatermusic]

That's awesome power to behold--for 4.87 seconds. But it's really about as close to real driving as playing Gran Tourismo on Playstation. Drag racing is exceedingly lame. Sorry, but it is. It's an amusement park ride, it's not driving. It's the grown-up equavalent to those toy cars you pull the plastic rip-cord through and watch race across your kitchen. "Wow, look at it go!!" Drag racing is everything that is wrong with the American motor sports mentality. "Let's make this go really fast--in a straight line--and damn eveything else." It's the reason Ford is still putting live axles on their "sports" cars. No-one on this group, and I dare someone to tell me I'm wrong, would rather go fast in a dragster car like that over taking a GT3 on an unbridled drive through a curvy country road. Now, over at the Mustang forum, yeah, give em a drag strip and a can of Skull and they'll be happy all day long--all the better to keep their ****ty 5.0's off my roads. Cause my life is too short to not get to take a corner at speed...

[DanielDudley]

Opinions are lame. Doing something like that is not lame. Peeing on someones post is lame. Posting it up was not.

Interesting read. Like a lot of things, these cars would have been unheard of 30 years ago.

[Geronimo '74]

Nice write up
wrong forum

Originally Posted by gavinc69

In order to exceed 300 mph in 4. 5 seconds, ...

Dragsters reach over 300 miles per hour before you have completed reading this sentence.
!

It does not take me 4.5 seconds to read that sentence... just saying

[Superman]

Originally Posted by Rusty Heap

pictures CANNOT do the sound of these chest thumping eye watering kidney stone disolving stool softening "cars" demon-beasts live and in person.

thank you Jeff Higgins for popping my NitroMethane Cherry.

This is true. If you have never heard these machines in person, you don't know what they sound like. Once you have heard them, then watching them on TV becomes more interesting.

Do yourself a favor and attend at least one NHRA drag racing event. Take earplugs with you. Avoid being downwind from these machines. Nitromethane makes brake cleaner smell good. It also gives you an instant headache.

[Roc Doc]

Originally Posted by Hotwatermusic

That's awesome power to behold--for 4.87 seconds. But it's really about as close to real driving as playing Gran Tourismo on Playstation. Drag racing is exceedingly lame. Sorry, but it is. It's an amusement park ride, it's not driving. It's the grown-up equavalent to those toy cars you pull the plastic rip-cord through and watch race across your kitchen. "Wow, look at it go!!" Drag racing is everything that is wrong with the American motor sports mentality. "Let's make this go really fast--in a straight line--and damn eveything else." It's the reason Ford is still putting live axles on their "sports" cars. No-one on this group, and I dare someone to tell me I'm wrong, would rather go fast in a dragster car like that over taking a GT3 on an unbridled drive through a curvy country road. Now, over at the Mustang forum, yeah, give em a drag strip and a can of Skull and they'll be happy all day long--all the better to keep their ****ty 5.0's off my roads. Cause my life is too short to not get to take a corner at speed...

Nice opinion there comrade. Maybe everybody should just do the same thing, as long as that thing is approved by you.

NHRA Top Fuel is one of the last lightly regulated motor sports. 500ci engine, no more than 90% Nitromethane, and that's about it. The rest of the rules are safety regs. No goofy changing the rules mid season, or adding weight to slow down a good team. Over the years, it's been HP, chassis design, tire size/composition, and most recently clutch design and setup that determine ultimate performance. The driver still needs to cut a good light, keep the tires from going up in smoke at half track (usually at over 250mph by that point), and keep it from following the groove so much that he ends up in ball of buring fuel. Unless you've been to a recent NHRA top event, you really can't comprehend the power and excitement of seeing these cars go off side-by-side.

I also like ALMS, SCORE, WEROCK, FIA Rally, CORE, AMA flattrack, and even the ocassional air race or boat drag. I'ver driven lots of top level sports cars but not a GT3, and have never driven a fueler, (for one thing you need to be licensed), so I can't say for sure which I would like better, but I do think I'd love every second of either.

[sammyg2]

Now this is only an alcohol dragster, but the camera view looking backwards will almost scare you. Watch it til the end and see the full pass, it's worth it.
This my friends, is the definition of acceleration:

[sammyg2]

Originally Posted by Hotwatermusic

That's awesome power to behold--for 4.87 seconds. But it's really about as close to real driving as playing Gran Tourismo on Playstation. Drag racing is exceedingly lame. Sorry, but it is. It's an amusement park ride, it's not driving. It's the grown-up equavalent to those toy cars you pull the plastic rip-cord through and watch race across your kitchen. "Wow, look at it go!!" Drag racing is everything that is wrong with the American motor sports mentality. "Let's make this go really fast--in a straight line--and damn eveything else." It's the reason Ford is still putting live axles on their "sports" cars. No-one on this group, and I dare someone to tell me I'm wrong, would rather go fast in a dragster car like that over taking a GT3 on an unbridled drive through a curvy country road. Now, over at the Mustang forum, yeah, give em a drag strip and a can of Skull and they'll be happy all day long--all the better to keep their ****ty 5.0's off my roads. Cause my life is too short to not get to take a corner at speed...

You are wrong.

I've gotten into the 7 second range in a blown flatbottom drag boat. Many times. I still carry a picture of that boat in my wallet 25 years later.
It would've been fun to have you in that boat and see you mess your shorts. you'd be walking all squishy after one pass, I guarantee it. If you really think there isn't skill involved then you are clueless.

I don't like street racing but full blown drags are something very special.

BTW they aren't YOUR roads.

[Embraer]

Originally Posted by sammyg2

Now this is only an alcohol dragster, but the camera view looking backwards will almost scare you. Watch it til the end and see the full pass, it's worth it.
This my friends, is the definition of acceleration:

absolutely sick.

[Westy]

OK, I don't know squatt about the drags. After the burnout, and right before the race started a guy reached down at the rear, and on each side he tore something off. What??

[porsche4life]

It may look like they are just going straight... But those guys have HUGE cajones to strap themselves in front of a rocket like that... and I guarantee they are fighting it with all they have to keep it out of the wall.

[scottmandue]

BTW are they back to running 1/4 miles?

And yes, if you have not smelt, seen, heard, and felt these things up close you are missing out.

[Laneco]

The very violence of these engines is incredible. They move enough air that the percussion pounds your body when they pass the sound is unbelievable even the smell of the fuel is intoxicating.

Until you've been close to one of these when they light off, you're a horsepower virgin spankin' your monkey to second rate piston porn.

angela

[Don Ro]

Originally Posted by Laneco

...you're a horsepower virgin spankin' your monkey to second rate piston porn.

angela

Now that's some kinda wordsmithin', there girl! Ha, ha, love it!

May I use that one day?

[Don Ro]

Back around '66 - '67 3 of us went to a drag strip near Fresno, CA. on a SUNDAY, SUNDAY, SUNDAY!
I think the rigs were called AA Fuelers back then...last run of the day, we were leaning on the top a sagging wire fence no more than 30' away from the starting line/lights...fingers in ears. When those big babies fired off, my 2 buddies fell backwards off the fence. I felt a stun and staggered forward with a diaphragm 'concussion' of sorts...like having the wind knocked out of me. We were disoriented, to say the least. 'Never forget that experience.
!!!!!!!!

[Mo_Gearhead]

Repost:

Everyone knows REAL auto racing is done one-quarter-mile at a time.

All that pressing on the throttle ...then the brake...whipping the steering wheel left ...then back to the right ...more throttle ...brake again, all the while driving around in circles in a search for some elusive ' Finish Line '?

Just borderline schizophrenia I say!

___________________

Quote: "right before the race started a guy reached down at the rear, and on each side he tore something off. What?? '
************

I can't see the video above, but if it has parachutes, he was possibly removing the safety clasps ( though that usually is done earlier ).

Or, checking the height of the wheelie-bars.

Or, most cars today run on-board electronic systems to collect each passes 'data'. Usually a crew member steps up to switch it on ...just before they light the second stage bulb.