And what country can preserve its liberties if their rulers are not warned from time to time that their people preserve the spirit of resistance? Let them take arms. The remedy is to set them right as to facts, pardon and pacify them. What signify a few lives lost in a century or two? The tree of liberty must be refreshed from time to time with the blood of patriots and tyrants.
In the late 1930s the National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics (NACA) completed a series of projects which determined the precise exhaust manifolds for different engines. The result was an increase of up to 20 HP by tuning exhaust manifolds. Today, companies like Power Flow Systems provide tuned exhaust manifolds for general aviation aircraft. I think Edelbrock does the same for race cars.
If you have never experienced the sonic and visual assault provided by nitromethane-burning Top Fuel dragsters and funny cars in person, I guarantee that a trip to an NHRA National event will leave you nearly speechless. Seeing it on TV only provides you the barest minimum of information about what is happening. Check it out sometime. Fridays are best because that is qualifying day for these Pro classes, and you get to see 2 rounds of attempts to get in the big show.
Ditto that. I saw one Indy car race, and that sound comes up through your feet from the concrete. I thought it was pretty impressive on startup and the pace lap, but when that pace car pulled into pit row and all those turbochargers kicked in, it nearly knocked us off our feet.
The following was put together at least 13 years ago, so some info is outdated, but still relevant;
> Here's some interesting stuff `for you car nuts!! The ending paragraph is > absolutely amazing. > > This really puts things in perspective. > > * One Top Fuel dragster 500 cubic inch Hemi engine makes more horsepower > than the first 4 rows at the Daytona 500. > > * Under full throttle, a dragster engine consumes 11.2 gallons of > Nitro-methane 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 supercharger. > > * 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. > > * At the stoichiometric 1.7:1 air/fuel mixture for nitromethane the flame > front temperature 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. > > * 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 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 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 8Gs. > > * 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 9500rpm. > > * The bottom line: assuming all the equipment is paid off, the crew worked > for free, and for once, NOTHING BLOWS UP, each run costs an estimated > $1,000.00 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. (533km/h) as measured over the last 66' of the run (09/28/03 > Doug Kalitta). > > Putting all of this into perspective: Say 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 & 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 1320 foot long race course.
You are confusing engineering with science. The cars are built to an engineering goal of "winning this race/championship", or, more precisely, "giving the racing team more income than it cost to run this race".
If there is, in fact, wasted energy that only matters to engineering if the stated goals were not achieved of if some unanticipated cost occurred (such as insurance payments for dead spectators or whatever).
In the late 1930s the National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics (NACA) completed a series of projects which determined the precise exhaust manifolds for different engines. The result was an increase of up to 20 HP by tuning exhaust manifolds. Today, companies like Power Flow Systems provide tuned exhaust manifolds for general aviation aircraft. I think Edelbrock does the same for race cars.
ReplyDeleteNot waste. See 2nd law.
ReplyDeleteI think the top fuel dragsters operate so close to hydrolock that only straight pipes will work on those super performance engines.
ReplyDeleteIf it sounds powerful and gets the Testosterone flowing it's not a waste.
ReplyDeleteIf you have never experienced the sonic and visual assault provided by nitromethane-burning Top Fuel dragsters and funny cars in person, I guarantee that a trip to an NHRA National event will leave you nearly speechless. Seeing it on TV only provides you the barest minimum of information about what is happening. Check it out sometime. Fridays are best because that is qualifying day for these Pro classes, and you get to see 2 rounds of attempts to get in the big show.
ReplyDeleteDitto that. I saw one Indy car race, and that sound comes up through your feet from the concrete. I thought it was pretty impressive on startup and the pace lap, but when that pace car pulled into pit row and all those turbochargers kicked in, it nearly knocked us off our feet.
DeleteYou know you're living in America when you see these things live.
DeleteThe following was put together at least 13 years ago, so some info is outdated, but still relevant;
ReplyDelete> Here's some interesting stuff `for you car nuts!! The ending paragraph is
> absolutely amazing.
>
> This really puts things in perspective.
>
> * One Top Fuel dragster 500 cubic inch Hemi engine makes more horsepower
> than the first 4 rows at the Daytona 500.
>
> * Under full throttle, a dragster engine consumes 11.2 gallons of
> Nitro-methane 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 supercharger.
>
> * 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.
>
> * At the stoichiometric 1.7:1 air/fuel mixture for nitromethane the flame
> front temperature 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.
>
> * 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 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 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 8Gs.
>
> * 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 9500rpm.
>
> * The bottom line: assuming all the equipment is paid off, the crew worked
> for free, and for once, NOTHING BLOWS UP, each run costs an estimated
> $1,000.00 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. (533km/h) as measured over the last 66' of the run (09/28/03
> Doug Kalitta).
>
> Putting all of this into perspective: Say 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 & 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 1320 foot long race course.
Put that into a piece of floating fiberglass with an enclosed capsule and you had the Red Bluff Memorial Day boat drags. What a great time.
DeleteYou are confusing engineering with science. The cars are built to an engineering goal of "winning this race/championship", or, more precisely, "giving the racing team more income than it cost to run this race".
ReplyDeleteIf there is, in fact, wasted energy that only matters to engineering if the stated goals were not achieved of if some unanticipated cost occurred (such as insurance payments for dead spectators or whatever).