Top fuel

Well, this is TOTALLY off topic in regards to the flight sim, but while waiting to get my truck rust checked (you texan guys will have to look up rust in the dictionary), I came across this interesting article about top fuel dragsters (I love drag racing.....big time!!!).
Here goes:

1. One top fuel dragster's 500ci Hemi engine makes more horsepower then the first four rows of the Daytona 500

2. A stock dodge Hemi V-8 engine cannot produce enough horsepower to drive the dragsters supercharger.

3. 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.

4.At the stoichiometric 1.7:1 air-fuel mixture for nitromethane, the flame front temperature measures about 7000 degrees Fahrenheit.

5. Nitromethane burns yellow. The spectacular white flame seen above the stacks at night is raw burning hydrogen, seperated from atmospheric water vapour by the searing heat of the exhaust gases.

6. Duel magnetos supply 44 amps to each spark plug. This is the output of an arc welder in each cylinder.

7. Spark plug electrodes can be consumed during a single pass. After half-distance, the engine is dieseling from compression plus the glow of exhaust valves at 1400 degrees Fahrenheit. The engine is shut down by cutting the fuel flow.

8. If a spark plug fails early in the run, un-burned nitro can build up in the affected cylinder and explode with sufficient force to blow the cylinder head off in pieces or split the cylinder block in half.

9. In order to exceed 300 mph in 4.5 seconds, dragsters must accelerate at an average of more then 4 g's. In order to reach 200 mph before half distance, the launch acceleration approaches 8 g's. A Top Fuel dragster reaches more then 300 mph before to have completed reading this sentence.

10. With a redline that can be as high as 9500 rpm, Top Fuel engines turn approximately 540 revolutions from light to light. Including the burnout, the engine needs only to survive 900 revolutions under load.

11. Assuming all the equipment is paid off, the crew works gratis, and nothing breaks, each run costs an estimated $1000/second.

12. The current Top Fuel dragster elapsed time record is 4.441 seconds for the quarter-mile (Oct 5 2003, Tony Schumacher). The top speed record is 333.25 mph as measured over the last 66 feet of the quarter-mile (Nov 9, 2003, Doug Kalitta).

13. Putting all this into perspective: You are driving the average $140,000 Lingenfelter twin-turbo Corvette Z06. More the a mile up the road a Top Fuel dragster is staged and ready to launch down a measured quarter-mile as you pass. You have the advantage of a flying start. You run the Vette 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, but you hear a brutal whine that sears your eardrums, and within 3 seconds, the dragster catches you and beats you to the finish line, a quarter-mile from where you just passed him. From a standing start, the dragster spotted you 200 mph and not only caught you but nearly blasted you off the road when he passed you within a mere 1320 feet.

Got this outta American Driver mag while sitting bored. I either bored the heck outta you when you read this, or you walked away with a great pick-up story for the ladies at the next party you attend. O_o