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Motorcycle Forum / General / Sportbikes / May 2006Dragster fun
This was e-mailed to me by a guy at work who is into the drag racing scene: Under full throttle, a top fuel dragster engine consumes 1.5 gallons of nitromethane per second; a fully loaded 747 consumes jet fuel at the same rate with 25% less energy being produced. A stock 426 Hemi V8 engine cannot produce enough power to drive a dragster's supercharger. With 3000 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 1.7:1 air/fuel mix for nitro methane, the flame front measures 7050°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 equivalent output of an arc welder in each cylinder. 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°F. The engine can only be shut down by cutting 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 200 mph well before half track, the launch acceleration approaches 8 G's. Dragsters reach over 300 mph before you have completed reading this sentence. An average run costs over $1000.00/s. Putting this in perspective for the bikers: Say you are riding the average $250k Honda Moto GP bike. 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 RC211V hard up through the gears and blast past the starting line and awaiting dragster at an honest 200 mph. The "tree" goes green for both of you at that moment. The dragster launces and starts after you. You keep the throttle pinned, but you hear an incredible brutal whine that sears your eardrums and within 3 s the dragster catches and passes you. He beats you to the finish line a mere quarter mile away from where you just passed him at 200 mph. That is TRUE acceleration. Yep, and I love it! Haven't been to a drag race in years, but man, if you never seen a top fuler run 320+ in a quarter, and felt the thunder from the pipes, you're missing an experience.  SignatureT.D. Hilton 2003 SV1000S This was e-mailed to me by a guy at work who is into the drag racing scene: Under full throttle, a top fuel dragster engine consumes 1.5 gallons of nitromethane per second; a fully loaded 747 consumes jet fuel at the same rate with 25% less energy being produced. A stock 426 Hemi V8 engine cannot produce enough power to drive a dragster's supercharger. With 3000 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 1.7:1 air/fuel mix for nitro methane, the flame front measures 7050°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 equivalent output of an arc welder in each cylinder. 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°F. The engine can only be shut down by cutting 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 200 mph well before half track, the launch acceleration approaches 8 G's. Dragsters reach over 300 mph before you have completed reading this sentence. An average run costs over $1000.00/s. Putting this in perspective for the bikers: Say you are riding the average $250k Honda Moto GP bike. 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 RC211V hard up through the gears and blast past the starting line and awaiting dragster at an honest 200 mph. The "tree" goes green for both of you at that moment. The dragster launces and starts after you. You keep the throttle pinned, but you hear an incredible brutal whine that sears your eardrums and within 3 s the dragster catches and passes you. He beats you to the finish line a mere quarter mile away from where you just passed him at 200 mph. That is TRUE acceleration. > Yep, and I love it! Haven't been to a drag race in years, but man, if you > never seen a top fuler run 320+ in a quarter, and felt the thunder from the > pipes, you're missing an experience. I went to the top fuel races in Houston once. Learn from my experience. You CAN be too hungover to go to the races! SignatureAndrew 00 Daytona 00 Speed Triple 71 Kawi H1 05 Infant > > Yep, and I love it! Haven't been to a drag race in years, but man, if you > > never seen a top fuler run 320+ in a quarter, and felt the thunder from the [quoted text clipped - 3 lines] > Learn from my experience. > You CAN be too hungover to go to the races! Oh lord, you went to a drag race with a HANGOVER!!!! LOL!!! Sorry to laugh at your misery, well not really. Bet you won't do that again, will ya?! SignatureT.D. Hilton 2003 SV1000S >This was e-mailed to me by a guy at work who is into the drag racing >scene: > >Under full throttle, a top fuel dragster engine consumes 1.5 gallons of >nitromethane per second; a fully loaded 747 consumes jet fuel at the >same rate with 25% less energy being produced. Sorry Saddle, this one ain't even close. A late model 747 makes 1/4 of a million pounds of thrust @ 60,000+ thrust per engine, whilst a Top fuel Dragster produces currently ~6000 HP. You do the conversion between static thrust and HP and you'll see how far off the mark you really are. As a reference just two 1950 B-36 Wright R-4360 engines produce more HP than your TF dragster @ 7,200 HP or 3,500 HP per engine X6 + four J-47 jets at 7,000 lbs of thrust X4 That's 21,600 piston engine HP + 4 X7000 lbs of static thrust from the 4 jets. I think even an late model F16 @ 29,000lbs takeoff thrust in full AB has at least 5-6X the power of a AA fuel dragster. OBTW, the fuel is basically 20% Alcohol & 80% Nitro methane (frees O2 radicals from the methanol) and the dragster engine STILL can't beat a tiny normally aspirated ducted fan two stroke running only 50% nitromethane @ 28,000RPM @ just under 1000HP (980HP/liter from a 7.5cc engine) or the all time king of piston engines including the 4 cylinder BMW F1 1.5 liter turbocharged engines producing 1300HP from 1.5 liters. Think Saddle! A 500cubic inch AA top fueler has ~8.22 liters & 6000HP or only 730HP per liter and is lucky to make two runs without blowing an engine from that old dog pushrod engine. Yeah AA fuel dragsters are loud and produce tremendous acceleration but they're still old tech in this old dude's book. Same with overrated NASCAR junk. More USA embarrassments in the eyes of the world. The rest of your assertions I have no argument with. Bob Nixon 01 Sprint ST "RED" 53K "bought original" Chandler,AZ with 330+ days of sunshine per year. http://bigrex.net/pictures/TTF-11-26-05/Bob_TTF_11-26-05.jpg http://bigrex.net/pictures > >This was e-mailed to me by a guy at work who is into the drag racing > >scene: [quoted text clipped - 7 lines] > Dragster produces currently ~6000 HP. You do the conversion between > static thrust and HP and you'll see how far off the mark you really are. I was counting on you authenticate this Bob. I figured that you being the engine guy would appreciate it. > 730HP per liter and is lucky to make two runs without blowing an engine > from that old dog pushrod engine. Yeah AA fuel dragsters are loud and > produce tremendous acceleration but they're still old tech in this old > dude's book. Same with overrated NASCAR junk. More USA embarrassments in > the eyes of the world. All true, but Top Fuel cars are the fastest race cars in the world at over 320mph. That is nothing to laugh at. Besides 6000 hp blowing up at 200+ mph is exciting. And NASCAR is not about technology, it is about entertainment. They seem have a pretty good product getting 100,000+ fans at every race. Afters years of attending all manner of sporting events / races (NFL, NBA, NHL, NASCAR, Olympic ski racing and minor league equivilants) I get much more enjoyment going local events or watching minor league sports. You can get closer to the action, actually meet the players / racers and it costs a whole lot less. More bang for the buck. And my dollars tend to go local businesses and sponsors. Bryan > The rest of your assertions I have no argument with. Good, that RC211V reference was enough to leave me in awe. > Good, that RC211V reference was enough to leave me in awe. RC211V or anything else going a steady 200 mph takes 4.5 sec to do 1/4 mile. Top fuel dragsters run the quarter in the low 3's, I think. SignatureJamin "I don't want a pickle..." >RC211V or anything else going a steady 200 mph takes 4.5 sec to do 1/4 mile. >Top fuel dragsters run the quarter in the low 3's, I think. Fastest I could find for a top fueler was 4.437 sec. That would put the dragster ahead of the bike by 18.48 feet at the 1/4 mile mark. > Fastest I could find for a top fueler was 4.437 sec. That would put the > dragster ahead of the bike by 18.48 feet at the 1/4 mile mark. Thanks for the correction on the time. SignatureJamin "I don't want a pickle..." > A 500cubic inch AA top fueler has ~8.22 liters & 6000HP or only > 730HP per liter and is lucky to make two runs without blowing an engine > from that old dog pushrod engine. Yeah AA fuel dragsters are loud and > produce tremendous acceleration but they're still old tech in this old > dude's book. Same with overrated NASCAR junk. More USA embarrassments in > the eyes of the world. Over at Malibu Speedzone in Industry, there's a McGee on display serving its highest purpose . . . as a paper weight. "Saddlebag" <saddlebag@aol.com> wrote in news:1148250034.527004.319320@ 38g2000cwa.googlegroups.com: > This was e-mailed to me by a guy at work who is into the drag racing > scene: [quoted text clipped - 52 lines] > > That is TRUE acceleration. YES, I am aware of these facts, and like to quote them when somone tells me thier bike/cage is fast. Its all reletive... Signature1984 RZ350 |
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