'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 of a second for all 6,000+ horsepower of an
NHRA Top Fuel dragster engine to reach the rear wheels.

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 of nitro methane, the flame
front temperature measures 7,050 deg 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 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 a $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 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

Yeah, but can't they train chimpanzees to drag race?

For the money, you can't beat a snowmobile on the right surface. I was riding my brother-in-laws 900cc sled on frozen snow-pack this weekend. At full throttle, it just about rips your hands from the bars. Instant acceleration. I experienced that. I don't think I'll be in a top-fuel dragster anytime soon.

wbergtho,
That was great! The last example paints an awesome picture !

I'm sorry to disappoint, but unless the dragster is running as fast as the fastest posted ET, then the dragster won't pass the 200MPH vehicle until just before the end.

200 Mi/Hr = 293.33 Ft/Sec

1320 ft / 293.33 ft/sec = 4.5 sec for the 200MPH vehicle to cross the finish line.

If the world record low ET is 4.428 sec, then the 200MPH vehicle is only 0.072 sec back (21.12 ft).


It probably does only take 3 seconds for the dragster to reach 200 mph, but the corvette had been traveling 200 mph for those 3 seconds.

That's just pure disgust. Those figures are horrendous! Never was a huge fan of drag racing, but I get a kick out of all the engineering, money and time that goes into propelling a monster like that down a straight 1/4 mile. Funny, people think you don't get enough seat time in autocross.. try drag racing..

0-100 mph in .7 seconds


ouch!!!!!!!!!!!

it could be much faster and quicker, the rear gear and tires are spec to keep speeds down.
it's all clutch and tune now, they have a very hard time getting a setup and track to take 8,000 hp

well some people get off on quick intense adrenaline rushes. not ever one wants to sit and sweat in a car for 1-4 hrs playing follow the leader.

I'm not a huge drag racer guy myself...just thought you guys might be interested in some of the figures. It really boggles the mind that they can get off the line that fast!

I took a few rides in a top fueler once. I'm light enough, and a guy wanted/wants me to drive his.

He deflates the tires far below spec for more traction. And the damned chassis is like a tuning fork. And the seats aren't padded. With all the vibrations, I pissed blood for a full week following.

Scary fast. FUCHen scary fast. It wasn't the blood pissing that turned me away from it. One of those tires loses traction for an instant, and you're a victim of your own machine.