I'm moist! :)
- Bernd
-----Original Message-----
From: owner-dakota-truck@BUFFNET.NET
[mailto:owner-dakota-truck@BUFFNET.NET] On Behalf Of mrdancer
Sent: Saturday, August 04, 2001 8:28 PM
To: dakota-truck-moderator@bent.twistedbits.net
Subject: DML: Food For Thought
>From the alt.hi-po.mopars newsgroup...
-One Dragster's 500-inch (Chrysler) Hemi engine makes more horsepower
then the first 8 rows at Daytona.
-Top Fuel Engines ONLY turn 540 revolutions from light to light!
-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.
-The supercharger takes more power to drive then a stock hemi makes
-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 7050ºF.
-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 1400ºF. The engine can only be shut down by cutting of it's
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 blow the block in 1/2.
-Dragsters twist the crank(torsionally)so far(20º in the big end of the
track) that sometimes cam lobes are ground offset from front to rear to
re-phase the valve timing somewhere closer to synchronization with the
pistons.
-To exceed 300mph in 4.5 seconds dragsters must accelerate at an average
of over 4Gs. But in reaching 200mph well before 1/2 track, launch
acceleration is closer to 8Gs.
-Drivers shut off before the finish line, or even dual parachutes will
not stop the car.
-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 read this
sentence.
-- Remove .your.underwear to reply --
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