Forums
Forum Tools
|
 |
23:25:57 - 12/19/2024
V6 Dakotas
| From | Message |
GB2000
Dodge Dakota
JOIN HERE
11/20/2003
19:24:44
|
 Subject: Why NASCAR Has Never Impressed Me (OT)
IP: Logged
Message:
Okay... found this while surfing Ernie's House of Whoopass. While it only mentions Dodge once, it had some interesting facts about drag racing. And I do not feel the same way as the author about NASCAR so don't rip into me... while I don't love NASCAR, I have nothing against it either and occasionally I will sit down and watch a race. Anyway...here's the article.
-----
Why NASCAR Has Never Impressed Me
So this past weekend I had the opportunity to force myself to watch a NASCAR race from start to finish. Please allow me to recap the entire thing for you....
Green flag. Go! Turn left. Turn left. Turn left. Turn left. Turn left. Turn left. Turn left. Turn left. Turn left. Turn left. Turn left. Turn left. Crash. Yellow Flag. Go Slow. Green Flag. Go! Turn left. Turn left. Turn left. Turn left. Turn left. Turn left. Turn left. Turn left. Turn left. Turn left. Turn left. Crash. Yellow Flag. Go Slow. Green Flag. Go! Turn left. Turn left. Turn left. Turn left. Turn left. Turn left. Turn left. Turn left. Turn left. Turn left. Turn left. Turn left. Turn left. Turn left. Turn left. Turn left. Turn left. Checkered Flag. Turn left. Turn left. Turn left. Turn left. Stop.
Now to me, that's just not entertainment. What's the attraction? I can appreciate a good race as much as anyone... some nice Indy/CART racing where you're on a nice road track and you're zooming down straightaways, then turning both left -- here's a concept -- and RIGHT. I can even get into watching drag racing, where it all comes down to the honing of your reflexes and the size of your balls. (Or in the case of Angelle Savoie, the wonderful absence of balls. Never before have I wished so hard to be a motorcycle. Hubba hubba!)
Anyway, here's just a few facts for your NASCAR weenies to chew on...
- Dragsters reach over 300 miles per hour before you have completed reading this sentence.
- 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 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 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 (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 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 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 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.
- Top Fuel Engines turn approximately 540 revolutions from light to light!
- Including the burnout the engine must only survive 900 revolutions under load.
- 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).
- 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.
Putting all of this into perspective: You are driving the average $240,000 NASCAR Winston Cup racecar. 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 stock car 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. Try not to take it personal.
But that folks, is acceleration.
|
NASCAR
Dodge Dakota
JOIN HERE
11/20/2003
19:34:10
| RE: Why NASCAR Has Never Impressed Me (OT)
IP: Logged
Message:
GB2000
you forgot to make a pit stop........
|
Darryl
Dodge Dakota
JOIN HERE
11/20/2003
22:17:17
| RE: Why NASCAR Has Never Impressed Me (OT)
IP: Logged
Message:
Hmmm...I wonder what would happen if a Drag Queen got behind the wheel of a 3,400lb stock car.
I guess we'll never know, because Drag Queen "racing" is the only form of racing that isn't invited to compete in the IROC series.
I guess you have to posess enough skill in your driving talents so you wont kill yourself or any other REAL racers.
Darryl
Loose in, tight off?
Drive it in deeper.
|
cobra1one
Dodge Dakota
JOIN HERE
11/21/2003
00:25:41
| Why can't we all just get along?
IP: Logged
Message:
OK, the first big race I ever went to was the '97 NASCAR race at Sears Point (now Infineon Raceway) and have been going since. However, I like Indy/CART, drag racing, rally racing, motorcycle racing (street and dirt), and pretty much any other kind of vehicular racing. I like them all because they each have something different to offer. Who ever said you can only like a few types of racing. I like em all.
I do particularly agree with the author of the article on one thing. I would love to be Angelle Savoie's motorcycle.
|
| | P 1 |
|
Post a reply to this message:
Username Registration: Optional
All visitors are allowed to post messages
|
|
