Found this when I was going through some of my old emails on yahoo. It's a couple years old, but still pretty good. Check it out:
* 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 11.2 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 ½
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
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 9500rpm.
* The Bottom Line; Assuming all the equipment is paid off, the crew
worked for free, & 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 & 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 & blast across the starting
line & past the dragster at an honest 200 mph. The 'tree' goes green
for
both of you at that moment.
The dragster launches & starts after you. You keep your foot down
hard,
but you hear an incredibly brutal whine that sears your eardrums &
within 3 seconds the dragster 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 &
not only caught, but nearly blasted you off the road when he passed you
within a mere 1320 foot long race course.
That, is acceleration!
* 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 11.2 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 ½
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
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 9500rpm.
* The Bottom Line; Assuming all the equipment is paid off, the crew
worked for free, & 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 & 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 & blast across the starting
line & past the dragster at an honest 200 mph. The 'tree' goes green
for
both of you at that moment.
The dragster launches & starts after you. You keep your foot down
hard,
but you hear an incredibly brutal whine that sears your eardrums &
within 3 seconds the dragster 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 &
not only caught, but nearly blasted you off the road when he passed you
within a mere 1320 foot long race course.
That, is acceleration!
