Originally posted by Bamford: The Top Fuel cars downwards to street class spin the wheels up before they do the run itself.
I have just checked with my old school chum and he confirms that when we used to go, they did Flameouts, when they actually set the wheels alight to soften then up, while spinning then as well. Plus they also put some kind of chemical on them to soften them before the burnout. I would imagine that Health & Safety would have a fit nowadays - so it must have stopped. It was pretty impressive!
my old grnanada sounds lovely...same 160hp v6 as kipper...owned a 2.8i a few years ago and they do have an almost muscle car lazy rumble...must be the twin pipes...best sounding cars iv owned are the afformentioned kipper, two v8 rovers, all the 1.6 16v honda engines at full chat thru a tunnel...almost f1 type scream....i LOVE the slow chunter of a beetle flat four too!!!
Originally posted by Bamford: We witnessed 0-340 mph in 4.9 seconds last September. Kinda quick for a V8 of just 8 litres.
I had to read this several times for it to sink in - 0 to 340mph! OMG! Just to compare, the best finishing speeds we used to see were 220 to 230mph. So that's 110mph difference in 30 odd years.
The best guys at the time were Dennis Priddle and Clive Skilton. I also saw Don Garlits who cam eover from USA to take on the Brits.
Saw this and thought interesting - 8G's 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 1-1/2 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 (stoichiometry: methodology and technology by which quantities of reactants and products in chemical reactions are determined) 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 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 driving the average $140,000 Lingenfelter "twin-turbo" powered Corvette Z06. 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 'Vette hard 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 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.
Originally posted by Bamford: We witnessed 0-340 mph in 4.9 seconds last September. Kinda quick for a V8 of just 8 litres.
I had to read this several times for it to sink in - 0 to 340mph! OMG! Just to compare, the best finishing speeds we used to see were 220 to 230mph. So that's 110mph difference in 30 odd years.
The best guys at the time were Dennis Priddle and Clive Skilton. I also saw Don Garlits who cam eover from USA to take on the Brits.
I saw and met 'big daddy' Don Garlits a few times, the last time was Orange County Raceway (now gone) in the 1980s. Times have moved on for sure, even though tight restrictions are in place even on Top Fuel class. The 0-340 in 4.9 run include 0-100 in 0.8.
0-100 in 0.8 seconds is amazing for a RESTRICTED car!
Originally posted by biggbn: 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. That folks, is acceleration"
Another interesting fact - an F15 Eagle can break the sound barrier while climbing vertically from take-off! (770mph)
Now that was a real aircraft! One of my all time favourites. I remember five of them appearing from behind the hangars at Cranfield at approx 150ft (in the days when they were allowed to overfly the crowd at 90 degrees and frightening the pants off everyone. I would love to see one restored to airworthy condition again.
Now that was a real aircraft! One of my all time favourites. I remember five of them appearing from behind the hangars at Cranfield at approx 150ft (in the days when they were allowed to overfly the crowd at 90 degrees and frightening the pants off everyone. I would love to see one restored to airworthy condition again.
South Africa I believe? They also have a Buccaneer. Now that was another superb craft. In private hands.
Originally posted by Bamford: Concorde was pretty loud!
I am not a 'plane fan at all, but that thing was alot smaller than i had expected too. (Had one return flight to New York in 1993).
Once, as a cadet, we were at summer camp at a base and Concorde was having some pilots trained etc and I am convinced the VC10's were louder.
There is a Concorde at Duxford (I went there before the mad decision to ground them so I know not where the others are) and you can wander around it. It is quite tiny but a superb bit of engineering.
