Interesting stuff, It will take a few posts to get it all in but it's worth reading if you are into the 1/4 mile:

A Definition of Acceleration:
One Top Fuel dragster 500 cubic inch Hemi engine makes more horsepower than
the first 4 rows of NASCARS at the Daytona 500. 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 for nitromethane, the flame
front temperature measures 7,050 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 halfway, the engine is dieseling from
compression, plus the glow of exhaust valves at about 1,400 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 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 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 (09/28/03Doug
Kalitta).

 

Putting all of this into perspective: Say 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 past
the dragster at an honest 200 mph. The 'tree' goes green for both of you at
that moment. 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!

 

Did Jack cap the number of letters allowed in each post??

 

That is just plain scary !!! Interesting reading.

PISTOL

 

1000 letters per post.

 

Except your limit is now set to 9 letters

Pretty cool reading actually, I like the analogy's the writer uses for his explanation. Makes you want to dump a couple hundred thousand on a Drag Car so you can go blow it up

 

I was talking to one of Mike Dunn's mechanics at the drags in Washington. He had all kinds of neat facts- One that sticks in my mind was that by the time the rear wheels of the dragster cross the start line, the car is already doing 100mph

 

Still doesn't beat 56,000 pounds going from 0-176 MHP in 2 seconds. In about 300'....

I'm not sure exactly how many Gs that was, but it's definately a kick in the pants!

 

I call BS on this one... If the car could accelerate to 100mph in, what, 25 feet, then in a quarter mile, the **** thing would be supersonic.

 

Just some useless info, based on several years back, and definitely not including advances in tire and power technology.

A dragster makes 100 mph between 60 and 90 feet out of the line. scary thought.

They have reached full speed usually by a little over 1/2 track, and the rest is a scenic cruise

The reason they don't go faster, is gearing, and rpm. think about it. If they had high enough gears to go faster, they would sacrifice the "quick" factor.

Just my .02

 

When I am cruising in my plane I am going 155 miles an hour in a straight line to my destination making my trips in 1/2 the normal drive time or less. Thats just plane fun! (pun intended)

 

probably- he mighta been embellishing things a bit for us.
Dunno-

 

Ahhh, nice to see another flyboy on the board. See you up there sometime.