On Topic? Top Fuel Dragster Info.

  • One Top Fuel dragster outfitted with a 500 cubic-inch Hemi engine makes more horsepower (8,000 HP) than the first
4 rows at NASCAR's Daytona 500...

  • Under full throttle, a dragster engine will consume 11.2 gallons of nitro methane per second; a fully loaded Boeing

747 consumes jet fuel at the same rate but with 25% less energy being produced.

  • A stock Dodge Hemi V8 engine cannot produce enough power to merely drive the dragster's supercharger. (Note: the new Chrysler Hemi is not a true hemi. It is only a "Hemi" because Chrysler has the trademark on the name and chooses to call this engine a "Hemi")

  • 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 lockup 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 sparkplug, which is typically the output of an electric arc welder in each cylinder.

  • Spark plug electrodes are totally consumed during a pass.

*After 1/2 way thru the run, the engine is 'dieseling' from compression and the glow of the 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 enough force sufficient to blow the cylinder heads off the block in pieces or split the block in half!!

  • Top fuel dragsters reach over 300 MPH +... before you have completed reading this sentence.

  • In order to exceed 300 MPH in 4.5 seconds, a dragster must accelerate an average of over 4 G's. In order to reach 200 MPH well before reaching half-track, at launch the acceleration approaches 8 G's.

  • Top Fuel engines turn approximately 675 revolutions from light to light!

  • Including the burnout, the engine must only survive 9000 revolutions under load.

  • The red line is actually quite high at 9500 RPM.

  • THE BOTTOM LINE: Assuming all the equipment is paid for, the pit crew is working for free, & NOTHING BLOWS UP, each run will cost an estimated 00 per second.

0 to 100 MPH in .8 seconds (the first 60 feet of the run)

0 to 200 MPH in 2.2 seconds (the first 350 feet of the run)

6 g-forces at the starting line (nothing accelerates faster on land)

6 negative g-forces upon deployment of twin 'chutes at 300 MPH

An NHRA Top Fuel Dragster accelerates quicker than any other land vehicle on earth. . Quicker than a jet fighter plane.... quicker than the space shuttle.... or snapping your fingers!!

The current Top Fuel dragster elapsed time record is 4.420 seconds for the quarter-mile (2004, Doug Kalitta). The top speed record is 337.58 MPH as measured over the last 66' of the run (2005, Tony Schumacher).

So, in summary... Let's now put this all into perspective: Imagine this.... You are driving a new $140,000 Lingenfelter twin-turbo powered Corvette Z-06. Over a mile up the road, a Top Fuel dragster is staged & ready to 'launch' down a quarter-mile strip as you pass. You have the advantage of a flying start. You run the 'Vette hard, on 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 exact moment. The dragster departs & starts after you. You keep your foot buried hard to the floor, and suddenly you hear an incredibly brutally screaming whine that sears and pummels your eardrums & within a mere 3 seconds the dragster effortlessly catches & 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 it not only caught, but nearly blasted you off the planet when he passed you within a mere 1320 foot long race !!!!

That my friend..... is acceleration!=

Reply to
Garlicdude
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I've read these stats before, in awe of the numbers. But having just returned from Australia on a 747-400 that was maybe half full, the fuel consumption numbers raised my interest. Made me wonder how much money United must have lost on the flight. Those numbers yield an hourly fuel burn of over 40,000 gallons/hour. Maximum fuel capacity for the 747-400 is 57,285 gallons leaving us flying on wings and prayers for most of the flight if the stated figures were to be correct! Must be fuel burn at max takeoff power at sea level, but I can't find any quick and easy numbers to verify that...

BTW, we were delayed half an hour on departure due to an engine start problem. But arrived in SF 20 minutes early! They didn't show the GPS tracking data often on the flight, but an hour or so out of SF we were running 699mph ground speed due to tail winds. It was the remnants of that big storm that hit CA last week, must have been assisting most of the flight. Unfortunately SF was socked in with only one active runway, so we circled off the coast for 20 minutes....

Jon

Reply to
Jon Anderson

Sheeit, dat sounds just like that NJ State Trooper, that caught me on I-95 -- I couldn't bleeve it. As he was writing the ticket, I axed him, Dude, how much hp do y'all have in there?? His answer: We can catch up to a bullet.....

GREAT post, btw. Mebbe cc it to rec.autos.tech.

So what's the $1,000 for? Gas & tires? Track fees? Fresh underwear? Sheeit, I think the tires are about $2K each. How long does a set last? I know the engines have to rebuilt after each run or so. Is part of that $1,000/sec rebuilding the engine?

Reply to
Existential Angst

I've heard something like 1,100 or 1,200 gallons per hour for a jumbo jet, cruising. They lean out the engines and use a fraction of total power, once they get to altitude. Takeoff and climb probably eats more fuel than the next 500 miles of flight.

KG

Reply to
Kirk Gordon

If you figger 500 mph, carrying 300 passengers, it calcs out to about 150 person-miles/gal, at 1,000 gals/hr -- if my maf is correck. Not counting takeoff and climb.

I think all-electric cars will match that efficiency just carrying one person, and easily exceed this efficiency carrying more than 1 person. My Honda Shit (trad'l gas) in fact exceeds that carrying 4 people. Trains I think far exceed this efficiency as well.

Which is surprising and not surprising. One the one hand, you have only aero drag, and no rolling losses or frictional losses, so you would expect high(er) efficiency. Otoh, the aero drag is exponentially greater with speed, albeit in a thinner atmosphere. But, otoh again, there is the time efficiency of high speed, if not energy efficiency.

But sheeit, you need to give me a parachute before I get in a g-d plane. goodgawd.....

Reply to
Existential Angst

Definately on topic, blocks are made from forged billets on horizontal machines, heads are made on vertical and horiz. machines, valve train components are made on verticals and turning centers, and the list goes on.

The very fact that a good portion of the motor stays together after all of the stresses put on it by the yellow stuff, is a testament to all the folks making parts, the materials being used and the folks that put it all together!!

And, for this machinist, programmer/ crack designer, it is truely a rush to stand at the line and watch your work go 300+ MPH!!!

oh, and pray that it wasnt one of my parts that failed that day!!!!

"D"

Reply to
"D"

Read some info several years ago that indicated that the fuel to take a 747 from Chicago to LA or San Francisco would fuel a mile long train from Chicago to Denver.

The early Lear 23 jet carried 2500 pounds of fuel. It took 1500 pounds to get to altitude so had 1000 pounds levt to get to its destination or refueling stop. The 747 probably has a similar fuel usage.

Dave Foreman

Reply to
Dave Foreman

Reply to
John&Michelle

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