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Think your car is badass?

Discussion in 'Lounge' started by Pagan, Feb 28, 2010.

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  1. Pagan

    Pagan Metal & a Mustang

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    Consider the top fuel dragster....

    One Top Fuel dragster's 500-cubic-inch Hemi engine makes more horsepower than the first four rows at the Daytona 500.

    A stock Dodge Hemi V-8 engine cannot produce enough power to drive the dragster's supercharger.

    Under full throttle, a dragster engine consumes 11.2 gallons of nitro methane per second; a fully loaded 747 consumes jet fuel at the same rate with 25% less energy being produced.

    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 nitro methane, the flame front temperature measures about 7000 degrees Fahrenheit.

    Nitro methane burns yellow. The spectacular white flame seen above the stacks at night is raw burning hydrogen, separated from atmospheric water vapor by the searing heat of the 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 can be totally consumed during a single pass. After half-distance, the engine is dieseling from compression plus the glow of exhaust valves at 1400 degrees Fahrenheit. The engine is shut down by cutting the fuel flow.

    If a spark plug fails early in the run, un-burned nitro can build up in the affected cylinder and explode with sufficient force to blow the cylinder head off in pieces or split the cylinder block in half.

    In order to exceed 300 mph in 4.5 seconds, dragsters must accelerate at an average of more than 4 g's. In order to reach 200 mph before half-distance, the launch acceleration approaches 8 g's.

    A Top Fuel dragster reaches more than 300 mph before you have completed reading this sentence.

    With a redline that can be as high as 9500 rpm, Top Fuel engines turn approximately 540 revolutions from light to light. Including the burnout, the engine needs to survive only 900 revolutions under load.

    Assuming that all of the equipment is paid off, the crew works gratis, and nothing breaks, each run costs an estimated $1000 per second.

    The current Top Fuel dragster elapsed time record is 4.428 seconds for the quarter-mile and the top-speed record is 336.15 mph as measured over the last 66 feet of the quarter-mile. Both records are held by Tony Schumacher. Top Fuel races are now held over a 1,000 ft distance for safety reasons. The record under the new rules is also held by Tony Schumacher at 3.771 seconds, and the top speed record is held by Larry Dixon at 321.58 miles per hour.

    Putting all of this into perspective: You are driving the average $140,000 Lingenfelter twin-turbo Corvette Z06. More than a mile up the road, a Top Fuel dragster is staged and ready to launch down a measured quarter-mile as you pass. You have the advantage of a flying start. You run the Vette 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, but you hear a brutal whine that sears your eardrums, and within three seconds, the dragster catches you and beats you to the finish line, a quarter-mile from where you just passed him. From a standing start, the dragster spotted you 200 mph and not only caught you but nearly blasted you off the road when he passed you within a mere 1320 feet.

    Now THAT is badass.


    [​IMG]
     
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  2. Frumundah Finnatic

    Frumundah Finnatic U Mad Miami?

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    ...I drive a Corolla, so no I dont think my car is badass.
     
  3. Sethdaddy8

    Sethdaddy8 Well-Known Member

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    to get to the closest store for some milke and eggs, i have to jump in my car, put the key in and start it. i make a right out of my driveway, a left a 1/4 mile down the road, and a right at the next light, another 1/4 mile down the road. shoprites another 300 feet on the right.

    if you and me are sitting at my kitchen table, i'll be back with the eggs by the time you get that thing out of my driveway.

    so for me, i'll stick with my ride.
     
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  4. Pagan

    Pagan Metal & a Mustang

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    A thread about a powerful vehicle, and you give us a tale of going to get groceries?

    [​IMG]
     
    phins17 likes this.
  5. azfinfanmang

    azfinfanmang Premium Member Luxury Box

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    True story:
    I used to work on cruise mussiles for a living, testing Tomahawks to be morew accurate.
    A friend of mine drug me to see top fuel in Phoenix about 10 years ago.
    I have to say, the Tomahawk is freakin AMAZING, but so is the heart stoppiing power of these bad-boys as they FLY past you in the 1/4 mile display.
    In all the mechanical engineering avenues I have ventured down, I don't know if there is one more spectacular than top-fuel dragsters. (.) (PERIOD)
     
    DeDolfan likes this.
  6. unluckyluciano

    unluckyluciano For My Hero JetsSuck

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    better then when you start telling us about your hair appointments.......... :escape2:
     
  7. Sethdaddy8

    Sethdaddy8 Well-Known Member

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    you want powerful, come sit next to me after i drink a carton of egg-beaters. THAT is power.
     
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  8. Pagan

    Pagan Metal & a Mustang

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    Now if I had actually done that, that would be funny right there. :lol:

    Besides...yer jus' jealous. :tongue2:

    Nitro or just plain gas? :wink2:
     
    unluckyluciano and NaboCane like this.
  9. Pagan

    Pagan Metal & a Mustang

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    Here's some more facts:

    **********************************

    Did you know

    ~ that the nitromethane-powered engines of NHRA Top Fuel dragsters and Funny Cars produce approximately 7,000 horsepower, about 37 times that of the average street car?

    ~ that one cylinder of the eight cylinders of a Top Fuel dragster or a Funny Car produces 750 horsepower, equaling the entire horsepower output of a NASCAR engine?

    ~ that an NHRA Top Fuel dragster accelerates from 0 to 100 mph in less than .8-second, almost 11 seconds quicker than it takes a production Porsche 911 Turbo to reach the same speed?

    ~ that an NHRA Top Fuel dragster or Funny Car leaves the starting line with a force nearly five times that of gravity, the same force of the space shuttle when it leaves the launching pad at Cape Canaveral? And that driver Joe Amato retired from Funny Car racing when he began having trouble "keeping his retinas attached?"

    ~ that an Top Fuel dragster is slowed by a reverse force more than seven times that of gravity when both parachutes deploy simultaneously?

    ~ that depending on size and angle, the large rear wing on an NHRA Top Fuel dragster develops between 4,000 and 8,000 pounds of downforce?

    ~ that it takes just 15/100ths of a second for all 7,000 horsepower of an NHRA Top Fuel dragster engine to reach the rear wheels?

    ~ that it's desirable for an NHRA Top Fuel dragster to race with its front wheels inches off the ground for about the first 200 feet of the run? This ensures proper weight transfer to the rear wheels, a crucial part of a good launch and quick run.
     
  10. mor911

    mor911 pooping

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    [​IMG]
    Death on wheels
     
  11. Pagan

    Pagan Metal & a Mustang

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    Pretty badass too....not even close to top fuelers though.
     
  12. TrueDolFan

    TrueDolFan Minion of Satan

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    Top fuel dragsters are impressive machines, to be sure. It would be one hell of a rush to get behind the wheel of one of those dragsters.

    But I'm sorry man, the "sport" itself is stupid as hell; two cars going fast in a straight line for 4 seconds is not exciting, it's gay.

    I'd rather watch drunken midgets race tricycles than a drag race.
     
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  13. Pagan

    Pagan Metal & a Mustang

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    Probably because you've never done it or seen it live. :D

    And because we all know that 22 men on a field together in tight pants wrapping their arms around each other and ending up in a big writhing pile of man bodies while trying to move a ball 10 yards at a time is the epitome of non-gaiety. :wink2:
     
  14. TrueDolFan

    TrueDolFan Minion of Satan

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    I would LOVE to, I did say that it would be a hell of a rush to drive one. There's no doubt about it.

    I didn't call you gay, bro. :knucks:

    What I meant was this: Watching somebody else do it (especially on TV) is gay (meaning it sucks).
     
    Pagan likes this.
  15. Pagan

    Pagan Metal & a Mustang

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    I know you didn't bro...that's why I changed it. I didn't want you to think I was serious!

    And hey...people watch golf and curling, right? :lol:
     
    TrueDolFan likes this.
  16. Two Tacos

    Two Tacos Season Ticket Holder Club Member

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    What happens to that car if you, say, have to make a left?
     
  17. Pagan

    Pagan Metal & a Mustang

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    You're, say, ****ed.

    :lol:
     
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  18. Kanye West

    Kanye West 'Parcells' Guy

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    Yea it has a racing pedals

    [​IMG]
     
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  19. DeDolfan

    DeDolfan Premium Member Luxury Box

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    Yup, beats NASCAR all to hell !!! :up:
     
  20. mor911

    mor911 pooping

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    There's not a whole lot of things in this world that I'd rather see than this.
     
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  21. DeDolfan

    DeDolfan Premium Member Luxury Box

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    That is some serious consumption there, Pag. It really reminds me of the F4s. The mechs would test the engines after reinstallation. They's take them out to the end of the runway, fire them up to check, hit full afterburners to see how long they'd run and it usually took 12 min to burn almost 2000 gal. But a jet is no where even close to a dragster tho regardless of the thrust. Anyway, i always thought it would be cool as hell to see what one of those dragsters would do if they could run til they maxed out. It would probably scare the hell out of us to see what it's top end was. Can you say supersonic drag car? Hello salt flats !!! :)
     
    Pagan likes this.
  22. gunn34

    gunn34 I miss Don & Dan

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    Sounds like you're talking about my PT Cruiser.
    :zoom:
     
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  23. Pagan

    Pagan Metal & a Mustang

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    +1

    That's it...it's ON now. Your PT against my HHR...let the fastest box on four wheels win! :lol:
     

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