I'm not really a drag racing fan - I prefer the technology that squeezes 800 bhp from a three-liter engine - however, the following is impressive. Top Fuel Dragster Trivia One TF dragster's 500-inch Hemi makes more horsepower than the first 8 rows at the Daytona 500. Under full throttle, a dragster engine consumes 1 1/2 gallons of nitro per second, the same rate of fuel consumption as a fully loaded 747 but with 4 times the energy volume. A stock hemi will not produce enough power to drive the dragster's supercharger. Even with nearly 3000 CFM of air being rammed in by the supercharger on overdrive, the fuel mixture is compressed into nearly-solid form before ignition. Cylinders run on the verge of hydraulic lock. Dual magnetos apply 44 amps to each spark plug. This is the output of an arc welder in each cylinder. At stoichiometric (exact) 1.7:1 air/fuel mixture (for nitro), the flame front of nitromethane 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. 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 those cylinders and then explodes with a force that can blow cylinder heads off the block in pieces or split the block in half. To exceed 300 mph in 4.5 seconds dragsters must accelerate at an average of over 4G's. But in reaching 200 mph well before 1/2 track, launch acceleration is closer to 8G's. If all the equipment is paid off, the crew worked for free, and for once NOTHING BLOWS UP, each run costs $1000.00 per second. Dragsters reach over 300 miles per hour before you have completed reading this sentence. Top Fuel Engines turn ONLY 540 revolutions from light to light! (THAT AMAZES ME!!!) The redline is actually quite high at 9500rpm (QUITE LOW COMPARED TO F/1) The current TF dragster elapsed time record is 4.477 seconds for the quarter mile (06/02/01 Kenny Bernstein)
yeah 8gs ain't bad, nothing like sucking your eyeballs into the back of your head, then to turn around and have them pulled out of your head with a 4g neagtive brake job.
Because they actually have power... they don't need to just make it sound like they do! (VTEC: More then just a noise?) Besides, people have kinda lost the point of VTEC.. the idea was to be able to have an engine that had good top-end power while still being easy to use and with good mileage around town... dragsters don't really have that problem.
jeebus guys, i'm just making a ricer joke! you don't need to explain how/why vtec works...i know all this stuff. i'm just trying to crack a smile here! are you not entertained?!
I know you were... and so was I! I just put in the little tidbit of information for any ricers in the audience who might not know any better.
Good idea because there actually seems to be a few on here that don't. Yesterday I recieved this PM out of the blue from a member on here that I have no clue who they are nor have ever talked to them in my entire lifetime. Why they chose me to ask this question to, I will never know. From: ««¤Ã|_Ï©Ïä»» To: 96accordEX Posted: Sun Nov 23, 2003 7:47 pm Subject: Re: hey hey I need your help, please tell me that a mazda protege could not race and blow away a honda civic with v-tec??? lol i have some kid tryin to tell me it happened and I somehow dont think so...
BWAHAHA That's TOO funny. Well, if the Civic had v-tec and not VTEC then it's in trouble form the start. Now, you look at the fact that a 2.0L Mazda Protege has more hp and torque then any Civic other then the SiR, plus it weighs about the same..well.. yeah, the Protege probably would win. Damn ricers think VTEC is frickin' Doc Brown's Flux Capacitor or something...
all those stats are awsome, i never knew that those cars were so crazy, i knew about the cost of them, about rebuilding the engine after almost every race. and i could never amagine doing the 1/4 mile in 4.477 seconds, i think my eyes would get stuck behind my brain.
To add to the VTEC discussion, I found this on another site http://test.lowmotion.org/viewtopic.php?t=15654 its funny.
4.477? Lololol. . . check the date on that record, thats 2 years ago. That got the top fuels well down into the threes now, with a top speek of 330 plus MPH. . . . Gotta love the Hemi, and can you imagine that the motor is based off of a 50 year old design?
again, am not a drag racing fan so i don't know the current record. I knew that kenny held it, but did not know it was beat. Anyhow, still interesting.
Oh no..... No you didn't..... Is that your way of asking for another VTEC ass whooping next year?? Yes...Yes... I think it was.
Bwahaha... I didn't know 0.2 of a second was an "ass whooping," but hell, if that means you'll bring that S2K out to more events so I have somebody to run against, bring it! Besides, I had an SiR for 4 years... I've earned the right to make shots at VTEC.
It don't matter if you win by an inch.. or a mile. Ok that was stupid. But ya, i'll hopefully have it out lots more. Get some time behind the wheel. It's hard going from an SIR to an S2000. 2 totally different styles.
Yeah, I know the feeling. Last year when I got my car was the first time I had really driven a RWD car. I need WAY more seat time. It was a lot of fun having another car running aprox the same times as me though. Gave us each something to chase.
Well, there is no such thing as a Protege 6, so are you going for Mazda 6 or Mazda Protege 5? I'd also LOVE to hear any attempt at justification as to how either one of those attractive, fun-to-drive, well priced, well reviewed and fairly popular cars are a waste of money.
I hear that. It's gonna be fun going from high-torque, boosted RWD, to a high-revving, no-torque, open-diff FWD. I'm looking forward!! 8) 8)
Hell yeah! It's all about new challanges. Now all we need to do is find a way to get you and Nancy into the same class so you can finally take the bish down!
The Miata is his fathers car, which he co-drives. The Miata will be back next year with a few more toys as well. Jon is going to start running his RSX-S next year. Unless he talked to his Dad about the "Plan B" I ran him through the other night.
