posted
Many of you know of or have met John Heinricy....he was, among many other things, the Chief Engineer of the Fcar...has worked on Corvette...............works in the GM Performance Division, and is also a very accomplished racer .........
I could listen to John talk for days on end......because I always learn a ton of stuff.........and he knows our Camaros and Firebirds inside out............not to mention that he's an all around great guy.
Recently, he gave a talk about the power of the engines in Drag Racing...and I thought you might find the following facts interesting (and in some cases, somewhat startling.........)
One top fuel dragster 500 cu in engine makes more power than the first 8 rows of the Daytona 500..............
Under full throttle, a top fuel dragster engine consumes nitro at 1.5 gallons per second, the same rate as a fully loaded 747 but with 4 times the energy volume.
With 3000 cfm of air being crammed in, the fuel mixture is compressed into a nearly solid state.......................
Dual magnetos supply 44 amps to each spark plug................
At 1.7 air/fuel mixture, the flame front is 7050 degrees..................
Spark plug electrodes are totally consumed during a pass....after half the track, the engine is running like a diesel being fired by the cylinder pressure and red hot exhaust valves...............................
If spark momentarily fails early in the run, the fuel builds up and explodes with a force that can blow the heads off the block..............
To exceed 300 mph in 4.5 seconds, dragsters must accelerate at an average of 4 g's but in reaching 250mph well before half track, the launch is around 8 g's....................
Dragsters reach 300 mph before you have read this sentence.
Just thought you'd like to know........................and ponder........................
Posts: 5682 | From: Dearborn,Mi. | Registered: Feb 2002
| IP: Logged
posted
John was just quoted on a local radio show about the future of performance vehicles at GM. It is a bright future indeed according to him. Posts: 5558 | From: Windsor, Ontario. Canada | Registered: Feb 2000
| IP: Logged
Printer-friendly view of this topic
![[Razz]](tongue.gif)
![[Big Grin]](biggrin.gif)
![[Roll Eyes]](rolleyes.gif)
