[Shotimes] OT: Real Power
Mike.Wojton@us.o-i.com
Mike.Wojton@us.o-i.com
Thu, 4 Dec 2003 14:33:24 -0500
Garlits was on Wind Tunnel last night. I only saw a few minutes of
it. Saw some pics of his new car. Well, new for me, I've been out
of it for a while now. He's gone back to some streamlining tricks.
A canopy, and the rear wing only has a vertical in the middle of the
car, aerodynamically shaped. Sounds like he's doing well racing,
but he says he's too old to make a serious pitch for 4.30's or 340
mph.
Mike Wojton
Toledo, Ohio
-'95 White MTX
'96 Brake Upgrade
Do not taunt Happy Fun Ball.
shotimes-admin@autox.team.net wrote on 12/04/2003 12:38:32 PM:
> Kevin,
>
> Now consider that Garlits once figured that the blower that
> helps make all that awesome HP TAKES over 1000 HP to run!
>
> He made a compressed air powered rail as an experiment to
> see if not having to run the blower would give him more HP.
>
> He found that he could not put a tank big enough, or put in
> enough air to feed the motor for the full 1/4 mile without
> adding too much weight. he got his air tank rail close to
> the national records, but never better. It sits in his
> excellent museum in Ocala Florida and is a testament to the
> ingenuity and perpetual curiosity of "Big Daddy".
>
> Don Mallinson
>
>
> Kevin & Cheryl Airth wrote:
>
> > For us Horsepower junkie's this might be the ultimate!!!
> > Hemi Rules!! Don Garlits once said " The Chysler Hemi is the only
engine
> > that when you talk about power, it's measured in THOUSANDS of HP".
> >
> >
> > A lesson in acceleration:
> >
> >>- ------------------------------------
> >>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= gallons
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
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 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 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
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.
> >
> > _______________________________________________
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> >
> > .
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