curiosidades...

Junho 23, 2004

* 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.

Junho 23, 2004

Sempre é bom RE-RE-RE-RE-REler este tipo de info... :|

Junho 23, 2004