* One dragster's 500-inch Hemi makes more horsepower then the first 8
rows at Daytona.
* Under full throttle, a dragster engine consumes 1 1/2 gallons of nitro
per second, the same rate of fuel consumption as a fully loaded 747
but with 4 times the energy volume.
* The supercharger takes more power to drive then a stock hemi makes.
* Even with nearly 3000 CFM of air being rammed in by the supercharger
on overdrive, the fuel mixture is compressed into nearly-solid form
before ignition. Cylinders run on the verge of hydraulic lock.
* Dual magnetos apply 44 amps to each spark plug. This is the output of
an arc welder in each cylinder.
* At stoichiometric (exact) 1.7:1 air/fuel mixture (for nitro), the
flame front of nitromethane measures 7050 degrees F.
* Nitromethane 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.
* 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 of it's fuel flow.
* If spark momentarily fails early in the run, unburned nitro builds
up in those cylinders and then explodes with a force that can blow
cylinder heads off the block in pieces or blow the block in half.
* Dragsters twist the crank (torsionally) so far (20 degrees in the
big end of the track) that sometimes cam lobes are ground offset from
front to rear to re-phase the valve timing somewhere closer to
synchronization with the pistons.
* To exceed 300mph in 4.5 seconds dragsters must accelerate at an
average of over 4G's. But in reaching 200 mph well before 1/2 track,
launch acceleration is closer to 8G's.
* If all the equipment is paid off, the crew worked for free, and
for once NOTHING BLOWS UP, each run costs $1000.00 per second.
* Dragsters reach over 300 miles per hour before you have read this
sentence.
* Top Fuel Engines ONLY turn 540 revolutions from light to light!
* The redline is actually quite high at 9500rpm
* To give you an idea of this acceleration, the current TF dragster
elapsed time record is 4.477 seconds for the quarter mile. This
means that you could be coming across the starting line in your
average Lingenfelter powered "twin-turbo" Corvette at 200 mph (on a
FLYING START) and the dragster would BEAT you to the finish line FROM
A DEAD STOP in a quarter mile distance !!!
( That's OK, Ed ....your Vette gets much better mileage even at full throttle
! )
* Not Mentioned above is this difference: The sheer fun a small group of guys
could have of running a fast drag car, either a fueler or the long-gone
AA / Gas Dragster class, in those days when it didn't cost $1000 a
second ...... or $1000 a run ...... it didn't cost $1000 a DAY !!!
Much more Bang for the Buck .........
AS IN ALL ASPECTS OF LIFE ..... NOTHING LASTS FOREVER
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