Finally hit 1000 posts! Figured I'd post it here since I frequent this section the most. And I thought I could provide some interesting reading; sorry it's about a hemi, but it's a real one, not the look-a-like in the dodges.

*One dragster''s 500-inch Hemi makes more horsepower then 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 volume.

* The 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.

* Dual magnetos apply 44 amps to each spark plug. This is the output of an arc welder in each cylinder.

* At stoichiometric (exact) 1.7:1 air/fuel mixture (for nitro), the flame front of nitromethane measures 7050 degrees F.

* Nitromethane 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.

* 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 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 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.

* 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.

* Top Fuel Engines ONLY turn 540 revolutions from light to light!

* The redline is actually quite high at 9500rpm

* To give you an idea of this acceleration, the current TF dragster elapsed time record is 4.477 seconds for the quarter mile. This means that you could be coming across the starting line in your average Lingenfelter powered "twin-turbo" Corvette at 200 mph (on a FLYING START) and
the dragster would BEAT you to the finish line FROM A DEAD STOP in a quarter mile distance!



Thanks guys!

 

Congrats on the 1000th post.
I have read that one before somewhere, and it is interesting.
Those machines are phenomenal

 

Congratulations on your 1000th post. Talk about raw, pure power out of an internal combustion engine. WOW!!
Joe

 

congrats on your 1000th...!

just wondering about this one:

" Top Fuel Engines ONLY turn 540 revolutions from light to light!"

dumb question.... "light to light"...? does this mean the 1/4 mile run..?

 

540 makes sense if ya think aboutit. it takes at max, 5 seconds to make the run, and if they ran a consistant 8000 Revolutions Per MINUTE, then break that down into revolutions per SECOND and i'm sure you'd come up with a number close to the 540.

 

you're probably right... that's mind boggling... a quarter mile in 540 revs of the motor...

 

That's some insane power. Last September I went to see Top Fuel racing in New Hampshire and I could not believe the power of those things. Not to mention how LOUD they were!!!!!

 

NHRA is my favorite sport, bar none. Congrats on the 1000 posts. I have a partial version of that fact sheet hanging on my door at the shop for customer's to read, but I am going to print this one out. My version doesn't have the 'vette, which is way cool. Going 200mph and STILL get beat at the finish line!

 

if i could drive one just ONCE, i could die a happy man....rides in a fighter jet, cool, skydiving, done it, way cool, goin from 0-300 mph in less than 5 seconds? oh man....now, just to get my truck to do that.....