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Well, I don't think my heart could stand that kind of
excitement. My full throttle take off provides sufficient - thank you,
Kelly. Must say the stats are incredible - but I think the comparison of
the 200 MPH corvette really makes the case - WOW!
Ed
----- Original Message -----
Sent: Monday, April 02, 2007 1:06
PM
Subject: [FlyRotary] Engine Stress!!! Off
Topic
And you thought our "Rotary" engines had a hot exhaust !!!
Ever
wonder just what makes a top fuel dragster go....
ACCELERATION
PUT INTO PERSPECTIVE
*
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 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.
* A
stock Dodge Hemi V8 engine cannot produce enough power to merely 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 nitro methane the flame
front temperature measures 7050 degrees F.
*
Nitro methane 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.
*
Dragsters reach over 300 MPH before you have completed reading this
sentence.
* In
order to exceed 300 MPH in 4.5 seconds, dragsters must accelerate an
average of over 4 G's. In order to reach 200 MPH well before half-track,
the launch acceleration approaches 8 G's.
*
Top Fuel engines turn approximately 540 revolutions from light to light!
*
Including the burnout, the engine must only survive 900 revolutions under
load.
*
The redline is actually quite high at 9500 RPM.
*
THE BOTTOM LINE: Assuming all the equipment is paid off, the crew worked
for free, & for once, NOTHING BLOWS UP, each run costs an estimated
$1,000 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 this all 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 & 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 & pass the dragster at an honest 200 MPH. The
'tree' goes green for both of you at that moment. The dragster
launches & starts after you. You keep your foot down hard, but you
hear an incredibly brutal whine that sears your eardrums & within 3
seconds the dragster catches & passes you. He beats you to the finish
line, a quarter-mile away from where you just passed him. Think about it -
from a standi ng start, the dragster had spotted you 200 MPH & not o
nly caught, but nearly blasted you off the r oad when he passed you within
a mere 1320 foot long race!
--
Kelly Troyer
"Dyke Delta"_13B
ROTARY Engine
"RWS"_RD1C/EC2/EM2
"Mistral"_Backplate/Oil Manifold
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