ak diesel driver
6.5 driver
THE DEFINITION OF ACCELERATION
A little something for all the gear heads and engineers
out there. 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
dynomometers 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 nitromethane 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 nitromethane, 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.
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
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.
.......This my folks is ACCELERATION
A little something for all the gear heads and engineers
out there. 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
dynomometers 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 nitromethane 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 nitromethane, 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.
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
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.
.......This my folks is ACCELERATION
