Well, I respect all forms of motorsports because in todays world, to be competitive, you have to be a mechanical genius just about. That being said, I definitely prefer drag racing. Who can argue with these facts:
One dragster's 500-inch Hemi makes more horsepower then the first 8 rows at
Daytona
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 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.
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 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 half.
Dragsters twist the crank (torsionally) so far (20 degrees 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 4G's. But in reaching 200 mph well before 1/2 track, launch acceleration is
closer to 8G's.
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.
Now that is about Top Fuel cars, but I'm continually amazed by Pro Stock. The technology and supreme know-how in that class is astounding. Having a whole field seperated by 1 tenth is quite amazing if you ask me. I just wish someone would beat Greg Anderson every now and then.
And for any Funny Car fans out there, John Force rules end of discussioni.
