A friend emailed this to me -- thought some of you gear heads might find
this interesting...


"One Second in the Life of a Racer" by Tom Fey

The Unlimiteds go flashing through the racecourse, engines howling, air
shearing, heat waves streaming. Four hundred eighty miles an hour is 8 miles
a minute, and the elite racers take about 70 seconds to cover the 9.1-mile
Reno course.  If you could take a souped P-51 racer flying the circuit at
Reno, slow time down, and examine just one second, what would you find?

In that one second, the V-12 Rolls-Royce Merlin engine would have gone
through 60 revolutions, with each of the 48 valves slamming open and closed
30 times. The twenty-four spark plugs have fired 720 times. Each piston has
traveled a total of60 feet in linear distance at an average speed of 41
miles per hour, with the direction of movement reversing 180 degrees after
every 6 inches. Three hundred and sixty power pulses have been transmitted
to the crankshaft, making 360 sonic booms as the exhaust gas is expelled
from the cylinder with a velocity exceeding the speed of sound.

The water pump impeller has spun 90 revolutions, sending 4 gallons of
coolant surging through the engine and radiators. The oil pumps have forced
47 fluid ounces, roughly one-third gallon, of oil through the engine, oil
cooler, and oil tank, scavenging heat and lubricating the flailing
machinery. Perhaps 1/8 fluid ounce of engine oil has been either combusted
or blown overboard via the crankcase breather tube.

The supercharger rotor has completed 348 revolutions, it's rim spinning at
Mach 1, forcing 4.2 pounds or 55 ft # of ambient air into the combustion
chambers under 3 atmospheres of boost pressure. Around 9 fluid ounces of
high-octane aviation fuel, 7843 BTU's worth of energy, has been injected
into the carburetor along with 5.3 fluid ounces of methanol/water
anti-detonant injection fluid.

In that one second, the hard-running Merlin has turned the propeller through
25 complete revolutions, with each of the blade tips having arced through a
distance of 884 feet at a rotational velocity of 0.8 Mach. Fifteen fluid
ounces of spray bar water has been atomized and spread across the face of
the radiator to accelerate the transfer of waste heat from the cooling
system to the atmosphere. In that one second, the aircraft itself has
traveled 704 feet, close to 1/8 mile, or roughly 1.5% of a single lap. Over
1.65 million foot-pounds of work have been done, the equivalent of lifting a
station wagon to the top of the Statue of Liberty.

The pilot's heart has taken 1.5 beats, pumping 5.4 fluid ounces of blood
through his body at a peak pressure of 4.7 inches of mercury over ambient
pressure. Our pilot happened to inspire during our measured second, inhaling
approximately 30 cubic inches (0.5 liter) of oxygen from the on-board
system, and 2.4 million, yes million, new red blood cells have been formed
in the pilot's bone marrow.

In just one second, an amazing sequence of events have taken place beneath
those polished cowlings and visored helmets. It's the world's fastest motor
sport.

Don't blink!


Mark & Lisa Sletten
Legacy FG N828LM
http://www.legacyfgbuilder.com