rastropovitch

This was posted in a car forum. It is interesting by itself, but the best part is the last one, where motorcycles enter the equation. Enjoy.


"Some interesting information regarding the National Hot Rod Association (NHRA) Top Fuel class of drag racing....from an engineering friend. Some of the data is mind boggling.

One Top Fuel dragster 500 cubic inch Hemi engine makes more horsepower than the first 4 rows at the Daytona 500.

Under full throttle, a Top Fuel dragster engine consumes 4 liters 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 426 Hemi V8 engine cannot produce enough power to drive the 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 mixture for nitro methane the flame front temperature measures 7050 degrees 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 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 degrees 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 at 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 while traveling a quarter of a mile! Including the burnout the engine must only survive about 900 revolutions under load. The red-line is actually quite high at 9500 rpm.

The Bottom Line: Assuming all the equipment is paid off, the crew worked for free, and for once NOTHING BLOWS UP, each run costs an estimated $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).

Putting all of this into perspective: You are riding the average $250,000 Honda MotoGP 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 across the starting line and past the dragster at an honest 200 mph (293 ft/sec). The 'tree' goes green for both of you at that moment. The dragster launches and starts after you.You keep your wrist cranked 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 1320 foot long race course."

.Ash

I'd still rather have the bike for versitility. Drag racing is silly. (Statement probably stems from my having slow cars )

rastropovitch

I'm with ya

JDMGSRCRX

iTrader: (1)

The top speed of a motogp bike is only 200?....I thought it was more for some reason....

EFz6er

thats a cool read...I dunno getting launched from 0-330mph in less than 5 seconds would be quite the rush

.Ash

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by EFz6er &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">thats a cool read...I dunno getting launched from 0-330mph in less than 5 seconds would be quite the rush </TD></TR></TABLE>

i wonder if they have the same type of suits fighter pilots do to keep good blood circulation

Duster

yeh cause they could probably red out from that (red-out opposite of black-out, blood goes to your head), either way

1. who the hell can afford to run one of those
2. corners are where the fun is
3. bikes are slightly more versatile...

Z

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by Corollasroyce &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">yeh cause they could probably red out from that (red-out opposite of black-out, blood goes to your head), either way

1. who the hell can afford to run one of those
2. corners are where the fun is
3. bikes are slightly more versatile...</TD></TR></TABLE>

Funny how people seem to take offense to this post. It's not a comparison of the two vehicles it's just a cool bit of info about top fuel cars.

Oh and it's a repost.

EGlovr

nice skully z. lol.

Z

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by EGlovr &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">nice skully z. lol. </TD></TR></TABLE>

Haha. StormShadow made it, it looks just like me now.

PM-Performance

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by usdmPC3 &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote"> Drag racing is silly. (Statement probably stems from my having slow cars )</TD></TR></TABLE>

I will go with the slow car part too. Trust me in a fast car its fun

Phaze2 Mike

Thats **** fast. I could not even imagine.

hybridreams

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by MSchu &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">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.</TD></TR></TABLE>

John O

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by usdmPC3 &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">i wonder if they have the same type of suits fighter pilots do to keep good blood circulation</TD></TR></TABLE>

Those suits are for the low air pressure.

Do drivers ever pass out from the 8G launch?

rastropovitch

G suits work by Squeezing the lower body, essentially constricting blood flow, to the lower body, there by keeping more of the red blood in the upper/brian area. thats because in a G turn, the plane is usuallhy oriented inward to the center of the turn. An 8 G lauch only forces blood backwards, not downwards
Schu

Veritas-Aequitas

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by MSchu &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">G suits work by Squeezing the lower body, essentially constricting blood flow, to the lower body, there by keeping more of the red blood in the upper/brian area. </TD></TR></TABLE>

Correct

Except for the Blue Angles because they are uber badass and use there muscles to do it instead of a silly suit

85

The thing about moto GP is that those bikes have endurance motors in them. they are only pushing what 240hp? im sure they could double triple that with Forced induction and run all day at the strip.

but hands down a bike would NEVER beat a top fuel car. at least not now or in the near future.

Great info, amazing

Veritas-Aequitas

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by hks85 &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">The thing about moto GP is that those bikes have endurance motors in them. they are only pushing what 240hp? im sure they could double triple that with Forced induction and run all day at the strip. </TD></TR></TABLE>

They only have 240hp because that's all the rider's can hadle at the moment.