What is acceleration?
I found some very interesting information on what acceleration is
really like for a race-car driver.
First, some useful info:
* 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 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 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 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 driving an average $500,000 Nextel Cup stock car. A couple of
miles 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 stock car 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 foot planted firmly to
the firewall, 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.
That, folks, is acceleration.
