amazing drag racing engine statistics... | Page 3 | FerrariChat

amazing drag racing engine statistics...

Discussion in 'Technical Q&A' started by James_Woods, Jul 16, 2007.

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  1. robbie

    robbie F1 Rookie

    Aug 26, 2005
    3,015
    Los Gatos, CA
    Full Name:
    Robert
    and the bumble bee cannot fly ...
     
  2. 2NA

    2NA F1 World Champ
    Consultant Owner Professional Ferrari Technician

    Dec 29, 2006
    18,221
    Twin Cities
    Full Name:
    Tim Keseluk
    #52 2NA, Jul 19, 2007
    Last edited by a moderator: Sep 7, 2017
    Green Monster, in one of its incarnations, ran drag strips. The J79 is just too big to get stopped safely at the end.

    Breedlove built several "Spirits" including some with the J79. His most radical car was a drag strip car that ran under the "English Leather" or "Screaming Yellow Zonkers" graphics. It was a rocket car powered by a hypergolic motor similar to the ones used by the NASA Lunar Modules. It was powered by Unsymmetrical DiMethylHydrazine ((CH3)2NNH2) known as UDMH and Nitrogen tetroxide (or dinitrogen tetroxide) N2O4 known as NTO. This car was very exciting to watch as it literally emitted a 40 foot flame and an absolutely deafening shriek as it hurtled to around 400 mph. It was built as a prototype for a Land Speed car that was never built. The fuels were both extremely toxic and unstable. The fueling process was a death defying feat in itself and after a few runs he stopped running the car. It spent a number of years on display at a casino (Harrah's?) the story was that there was still a small amount of fuel in the tanks. I last saw it in an RM auction catalog a few years ago, I don't think it made reserve.
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  3. James_Woods

    James_Woods F1 World Champ

    May 17, 2006
    12,755
    Dallas, Tx.
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    James K. Woods
    Yes, of course - Green MONSTER! Early Peerless Green Dragon was something else.

    See, this thread was good for something after all.
     
  4. wavram

    wavram Karting

    May 8, 2005
    114
    Chicago
    Besides the much more sophisticated designs in F1, similar engines with shorter strokes almost always have better specific power figures. F1 cars have about 1/3 the stroke of a top fuel car.
     
  5. SoftwareDrone

    SoftwareDrone F1 Veteran
    Sponsor Owner

    Jan 19, 2004
    7,876
    San Jose, California
    Full Name:
    Mike
    The fact that software has been outlawed in both the IHRA and NHRA doesn't help either.
     
  6. teak360

    teak360 F1 World Champ

    Nov 3, 2003
    10,065
    Boulder, CO
    Full Name:
    Scott
    Knowledge is power (pun intended) baby!

    Here's a simple formula which gets surprisingly good results for rear wheel hp.

    hp = weight * (speed / 234)3
     
  7. James_Woods

    James_Woods F1 World Champ

    May 17, 2006
    12,755
    Dallas, Tx.
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    James K. Woods
    The units of measure are weight in LB, speed in MPH?
     
  8. wavram

    wavram Karting

    May 8, 2005
    114
    Chicago
    Yep, that's what I was referring to before. It's equivalent to saying that a car applies about 50% of its peak power throughout the run (with no drag or other losses). Quite remarkable how well that simple assumption works.

    That's right.
     

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