[DeTomaso] NPC but interesting (if true)

[John Buckman]

Yeah, its been around for quite a while.  Somewhere I have some really cool
pics to go with it.  If I can find them, I will try to post a link.

John



On Jul 1, 2010, at 5:26 PM, Christopher Kimball wrote:

> 
> I don't know if any of you have seen this, but if it's true, it's amazing.
> 
> 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 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 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!
> 		 	   		  
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