world finals santa pod

[gaz70]

Anybody going, im going for the day on sunday.

[Kieran]

Anybody going, im going for the day on sunday.

Would love to/yes - but watching cars go stupid fast does not a Legnum fix!:stars:

[orionn2o]

Yes mate, I was there, cracking day... saw some super fast runs including a 4.795 sec run at 312 mph... (i think thats roughly right!)


I believe it was a new european record.

[Nick VR4]

I heard on another forum it was on Saturday
Top fueller Urs Erbacher managed a 1/4 mile run of 318.55mph in 4.747 seconds

[orionn2o]

Well I believe the rules state that you have to do a second pass at a similar speed within a certain time period, so officially the record wasn't taken until yesterday.

The times I don't remember exactly... I know it was fast and I have it on video but my work pc wont let me view it !

[orionn2o]

Just checked Euro Dragster

It was Urs Erbacher

4.747 at 312.22 mph.

It was damn fast.

[colVR4]

went for a bike ride yesterday and came back via Santa Pod along the Three Shires Way. Wondered what all the noise was about.

What I didn't realise is that because Santa Pod is built on a public byway, you can get in for free if you don't take the car. Or, if you are really cheeky, you can do what some guys did and drive up the byway and park just outside the hedge and walk in!!

[colVR4]

Just read this

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/northamptonshire/5334466.stm

[White Lightning]

Yeah - I heard about that on the radio at lunchtime :uhoh2:

[orionn2o]

Terrible really. Hope this doesn't affect the way we can view this sport, I'm sure in America, the crowds are much further away from the track

[gaz70]

I went on sunday and it was awesome but it was as full as i have ever seen it, rammed. i witnessed the record being broken and it was amazing,as he was on his own and not racing somebody. After a top fuller had gone up in flames and left the majority of his oil on the track i caught some intresting facts about top fuel that i didnt know. for example at the 100ft marker they are doing well over 100mph.the emmisions from the exaust is in effect tear gas and they also create quite alot of down force(thats why the exhaust :bananadan point into the air) and of course if they blow a cylinder the loose equal down force wich at those speeds can be deadley. They also had a p51 mustand give an excellant display above as Santa Pod was an american airforce base in the war.Listening to the Merlin engine just wizzing over your head was another great moment. The only downside to a fantasic day was the forty minutes to get off the grass car park and the nearlly 2 hours to get completely out.

[Nick VR4]

One Top Fuel dragster 500 cubic inch Hemi engine produces more horsepower than the first 4 rows at the Daytona 500.

Under full throttle, a dragster engine consumes 1 gallon 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 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 1/2 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 at 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.

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 US $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 (533 km/h) as measured over the last 66' of the run (09/28/03 Doug Kalitta).

Putting all of this into perspective:

You are driving the Lingenfelter "twin-turbo" powered Corvette. 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 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.

That, folks, is acceleration.

[gaz70]

/GJ Wow your not the commentator by any chance!!:huh: /GJ

[Nutter_John]

no he's a jersey royal;

[Paul Beazer]

no he's a jersey royal;
A potatoe? Huh?

[Nutter_John]

yep the old jokes etc :D

[Nick VR4]

No I www surf and rembember stuff :bananadan:bananadan

[Paul Beazer]

yep the old jokes etc :D
No, still not got it. Please explain to the non cockney?

[Nutter_John]

common tator (tator = potatoe)

oh yeah I ain't no cockney , i'm a manc