here's info about acceleration, from a friend of mine
DEFINITION OF
ACCELERATION
>
> One top fuel dragster 500 cubic inch Hemi engine
makes more horsepower than the first 4 rows of stock cars at
the Daytona 500.
It takes just
15/100ths (0.15) of a second for all 6,000+ horsepower (some
believe 8,000 HP is more realistic - there are no dynomometers
capable of measuring) of an NHRA Top Fuel dragster engine to
reach the rear wheels.
>
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.
>
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 one pass. After halfway, the engine is
dieseling from compression, plus the glow of exhaust valves at
1,400 deg 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. >
> 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 estimate $1,000.00 per
second.
>
The current top fuel dragster
elapsed time record is 4.428 seconds for the quarter mile
(11/12/06, Tony Schumacher, at Pomona , CA
). The top speed record is 336.15 mph as measured
over the last 66' of the run (05/25/05 Tony Schumacher,
at Hebron , OH ).
>
Putting all of
this 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 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 pass the
dragster at an honest 200 mph. The 'tree' goes green for
both of you at that instant.
>
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!