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SC Cheesehead
12-20-2011, 07:30 AM
Just have to share this. As one of those guys that "doesn't like to go fast, but enjoys getting there quick," I found this fascinating.

Acceleration Defined
For those who love numbers, engineers, speed freaks and those who think they have gone too fast at one time or another. This puts Corvette performance in perspective. This article mentions Lingenfelter twin turbo powered Z06. Read this thru slowly and try to comprehend the amount of force produced in just under 4 seconds!

The last paragraph puts it all into perspective!

There are no rockets or airplanes built by any government in the world that can accelerate from a standing start as fast as a Top Fuel Dragster or Funny Car….and that includes any aircraft launched by a catapult from an aircraft carrier. Nothing can compare…..


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.

It takes just 15/100ths (0.15) of a second for all 6,000+ horsepower (some believe 8,000 HP is more realistic - there are no dynamometers capable of measuring) 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. (Oxy-acetylene on "cut" is 6,300)

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 one 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 4.428 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 instant. 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!

TFB
12-20-2011, 08:29 AM
NHRA now limits T/F dragsters to 1000ft... I suppose the Vette would still loose...

Joe Walsh
12-20-2011, 08:32 AM
Vette would make it 1299 feet in 4.428 seconds.

Flynlow
12-20-2011, 08:39 AM
Nice, that was an interesting little article to put it all into perspective ! I know the Top Fuel Dragsters were brutal, but, to see it broke down into numbers like that is simply amazing. I just walk away saying, WOW !!! SMH...

TFB
12-20-2011, 08:48 AM
Vette would make it 1299 feet in 4.428 seconds.

A 200mph, 1000ft would flash by in 3.409 sec, the T/F record is 3.735 sec set this past Oct...

Vette wins...

Shaijack
12-20-2011, 09:03 AM
Good job Rex.

Joe Walsh
12-20-2011, 09:08 AM
I had also read that if you lined up the 6 gallons of nitromethane fuel that a T/F dragster burns during its' run, in individual 1 gallon buckets....you could not kick them over as fast as the T/F dragster burns it!!

Joe Walsh
12-20-2011, 09:10 AM
A 200mph, 1000ft would flash by in 3.409 sec, the T/F record is 3.735 sec set this past Oct...

Vette wins...

So they only run the traps at 1000 ft now?

Old 1/4 mile - 1320 ft record was 4.428?

Bluerauder
12-20-2011, 10:34 AM
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 instant. 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!

Your point on acceleration is well founded. However, the math is wrong. At 200 MPH (293.333 feet per second) the Vette would cross the 1/4 mile line in 4.5 seconds. The current top fuel dragster finishes in 4.428 seconds or 0.072 seconds ahead of the Vette at which point The Z06 is still 21 feet from the quartermile finish line.


NHRA now limits T/F dragsters to 1000ft... I suppose the Vette would still loose...

Nope ..... the Vette would have him at 1,000 feet by 0.448 by my estimate. The Vette would hit the 1,000 foot mark in 3.409 seconds. The dragster would get there in about 3.857 seconds.


Vette would make it 1299 feet in 4.428 seconds.

Exactly !!!! .... 1320 - 1299 = 21 feet from the line. No way the top fuel dragster could catch & pass in 3 seconds based on the numbers ^^^^^ above.

Billy
12-20-2011, 10:52 AM
The redline is actually quite high at 9,500 rpm.
I gotta disagree with that. 9,500 is really low in the grand scheme of things.
F1 cars have been known to reach speeds of at 20,000+rpm.

SC Cheesehead
12-20-2011, 11:22 AM
Not my numbers, guys, just passing along the info that was provided to me.


I gotta disagree with that. 9,500 is really low in the grand scheme of things. F1 cars have been known to reach speeds of at 20,000+rpm.

You're talking apples to oranges comparing rpm between a 500 ci T/F engine running a 4 1/2" stroke and a 2.6L FI engine with approx 1 1/2" stroke. 9,500 rpm out of the T/F motor is cranking. Although, in the space of a 1/4 mile run, the rotating assembly in the engine would only complete about 700 revs.

guspech750
12-20-2011, 11:41 AM
That's a really good read.


---
- Sent from my iPhone
Eaton Swap + 4.10's = Wreeeeeeeeeedom!!

SC Cheesehead
12-20-2011, 11:44 AM
That's a really good read.


---
- Sent from my iPhone
Eaton Swap + 4.10's = Wreeeeeeeeeedom!!

6,000 hp.... :drool:

RF Overlord
12-20-2011, 12:03 PM
A stock Dodge Hemi V8 engine cannot produce enough power to drive the dragster's supercharger.But I'll bet Doomie's motor could!

Marauderman
12-20-2011, 12:11 PM
What do you think the Lingenfelter twin turbo powered ZR1 Hero Addition--- one of one---- currently being made available for contest winner would do --believes its rated at 720 HP............anyone?

TFB
12-20-2011, 05:05 PM
So they only run the traps at 1000 ft now?

Old 1/4 mile - 1320 ft record was 4.428?

Yup 1000ft since '09 I believe, was in response to Scott Kalitta's death in '08 in F/C... The engines are maxed out by that distance, most of the blow ups were in the last 320ft...