The Supercar Registry - accelaration, anyone ever seen this?

A Definition of Acceleration

* One Top Fuel dragster 500 cubic inch Hemi engine
makes more horsepower than the first 4 rows of
NASCARS 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's supercharger.

* With 3,000 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 7,050 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 halfway, the engine is dieseling from
compression, plus the glow of exhaust valves at
1,400 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 redline is actually quite high at 9,500 rpm.

* 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 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 in 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 1,320 foot long race course.

... and that my friend, is ACCELERATION!