> ‘DEFINITION OF ACCELERATION’
>
> One top fuel dragster 500 cubic inch Hemi engine makes more horsepower than
> the first 4 rows of stock cars at the Daytona 500.
>
> 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 essentially 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.
>
> 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 4.441 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 ).
>
> You are driving the average $140,000 Lingenfelter ‘twin-turbo’ powered
> Corvette Z06. Over a mile up the road, a top fuel dragster is stagedand
> 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 you, but nearly blasted you off the road when he passed
> you within a mere 1,320 foot long race course.
>
> That, folks, is acceleration!!!!