|
Z06TT vs Top Fuel Dragster
From an automotive perspective.
- 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 dragster engine consumes 1½ 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 Hemi V8 engine cannot produce enough power to drive the dragster 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 US $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 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 past 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 1320 foot long race course.
That, folks, is acceleration.
Here's a link to more infomation from the NHRA website: NHRA Fun Facts
Disclaimer: I do not attest that any of these facts are either true or false or have been verified by NHRA officials or mathmatical calculations. I just came across this on a message board I visit and
decided to post it on my site for others to enjoy. I have seen different versions of this information floating around other message boards.
Update: December 8, 2003
Following an email I received from a reader contesting the information presented in the facts above, I started doing some research and calculations. One of the facts in question is the point about the
average of 4 G's acceleration and nearly 8 G's at launch. As of now, I am unable to determine if the 8 G's number is correct. If it is, the average of 4 G's could be justified. However, some basic
calculations show that the average acceleration is 3.44 G's. (333 mph * 5280 ft/m / (1hr/3600sec) = 488.4 ft/sec |||||| 488.4ft/sec / 4.441sec = 109.975 ft/sec/sec |||||| 109.975 ft/sec/sec / 32 ft/sec/sec = 3.44 G's)
The person that sent the email stated that the dragster would not catch and pass the Corvette in 3 seconds. Calculating the exact time the dragster would be dead even with
the Z06 for the record setting run would require knowing some acceleration measurements throughout the entire race, or some data on the velocity and elapsed time of the top fuel dragster during the race.
Because this information is probably not available (atleast not on the internet that I have seen) the best we can do is estimate by making some calculations and some of our common sense judgement.
I will estimate by calculating the amount of time it will take for the Corvette to travel 1/4 mile at a constant 200 miles per hour. I calculate that the time will be exactly 4.5 seconds.
(200 mph * (1hr / 3600 sec) = 0.05555 miles per second |||||| 0.05555 mps * 5280 ft/m = 293.33333 ft/sec, or 293 and a third feet per second is the speed of the Corvette.
Now, 293.33333 ft/sec * X sec = 1320 ft (length of track) and solve for X: X = 1320 ft / 293.33333 ft/sec = 4.5 seconds)
Now we know a Z06 traveling at a constant 200 miles per hour will travel 1320 feet in 4.5 seconds. We also know the record for a top fuel dragster is 4.441 seconds.
Obviously, the dragster has the smaller time, and would therefore win the race. But comparing the two times in our mind tells us that the dragster barely
beats the Corvette to the finish line! Logically, there is no way the dragster could have passed the Corvette at the 3 second mark.
Keep in mind, I'm not saying that the dragster could not possibly pass the Corvette at the 3 second mark. If the acceleration of the dragster was initially very high, say 8 G's,
for some relatively long time, it is theoretically possible that at 3 seconds the cars are dead even. However, to maintain that the record time be 4.441 seconds, the
dragster's acceleration after 3 seconds would have to be very low, possibly zero or a negative acceleration (i.e. braking).
Now it's getting very early in the morning as I am typing this, so I'm not 100% sure it is all correct logic or if I even explained it very well. But that's my story and I'm stickin' to it........for now.
|
