This is fast...

[andrew]

Borrowed from another forum...

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This is a real eye-opener!!!

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

* Under full throttle, a Top Fuel dragster engine consumes 1 gallon of nitromethane 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 nitromethane the flame> front temperature measures 7050 degrees F.

* Nitromethane burns yellow. The spectacular white flame seen above the stacks at night is raw burning hydrogen, dissociated from atmospheric ater 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 ½ 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 the 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 from light to light!

* Including the burnout the engine must only survive 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 go 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 200mph and not only caught, but nearly blasted you off the road when he passed you within a mere 1320 foot long race course.

That, folks, is acceleration!

[Zimma]

Right, where do I put my name down for one?
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-Zimma

[Roo]

Sweet.
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Poking death in the eye with a pointy stick then running away

[Mr C]

astounding - especially the last bit

However, being the smartarse that I am , I have seen it before, I think the facts are amazing apart from the 747 comparison which I don't understand ... am I missing something?

Each RB211 under the wings produces approximately 30MW of power in its ground based form (identical turbine) so let's assume the same power under the wing for arguments sake.

So times 4 this means the power of a 747 is 120MW or roughly 160,000 bhp

and they say that this is 25% less than the dragster

so the dragster engine produces nearly 200,000 bhp

I think not

(I know they are talking about energy not power but that is negated by the "in one second" bit)
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187.3bhp = 201mph

[mr jamez]

Pretty impressive, Their was me thinking 2 stroke engines didn't have a very long lifetime

[Josh]

I think you will find my 125 is faster, I had it de-restricted and added a micron can so I actually have more power than a turbo busa.

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04 Suzuki GSX-R 600 K4 - Sex on wheels :>
https://img58.imageshack.us/img58/6178/sig6dc.gif

[Ninja]

@Mr C - it was only a comparo of the fuel consumption
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James
4 wheels transport the Body ... 2 wheels transport the SOUL

[andrew]

It is comparing fuel consumption but it does say that a 747 engine produced 25% less power whilst burning the same amount of fuel which is what I think Mr C is making the point about.

[Mr C]

no it actually says a 747

which means 4 engines


and it's true, a 747 does indeed consume about a gallon a second



but I think it makes a shed load more power from that gallon of fuel as per my calculation
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187.3bhp = 201mph

[mr jamez]

[Mr C]

remember the dragster's not road legal and costs more than a house

err and it's a car


so not much of a comparison really is it?
____________________
187.3bhp = 201mph

[andrew]

It does indeed but I wonder how far that dragster would get on a 20 odd liter fuel tank.

[Mr C]

about a 1/4 of a mile
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187.3bhp = 201mph

[mr jamez]

[andrew]

[Mr C]

[skyline]

yea but could you tour around the world on a dragster? nope didnt think so, not that many petrol stations around now is there!


thats some pritty awsome statistics there, damn i wish my lil 50 went that fast....then, maby not, i cant afford that many pairs of new pants

[mr jamez]

[rsooty]