Off Topic: Ridiculous Horesepower

[doctorgonzo]

OK, Don't know if they are popular on the west coast (and pretty sure unknown in Oz, New Zealand, Britain, etc...), but in the south and midwest we have "Tractor Pulls" which involve various classes of "tractors" and trucks pulling a heavy sled down a track for distance. The weight moves forward on the sled as you go down the track so the further you go the heavier it gets. I went to one last night, and in the "unlimited" class the two most popular configuration was either FIVE 526cc Dodge Hemi engines with super chargers, OR 3 Allison aircraft engines. They were saying these guys were pushing anywhere between 9000 and 12,000 horsepower. IF you've never been to one, all I can say is the sound of 5 supercharged hemis all redlined at the same time is pretty amazing. I still can't figure out how they sync all those engines perfectly and transfer the energy from all those things through one transfer case to the wheels, but quite a spectacle.

 

[dpep]

What kind of mileage do you suppose they get with one of those? :lol:

 

[doctorgonzo]

What kind of mileage do you suppose they get with one of those? :lol:

I was joking about 3 seconds per gallon.

 

[makenzie71]

I want one of those 1800+ hp 526cc engines!

 

[doctorgonzo]

I want one of those 1800+ hp 526cc engines!

Can you imagine sticking one of those in a Dodge Charger or a GTO. guessing street driveability would be a little compromised (heh), and you'd probably go through tires pretty quick. I guess if you spent 25 or 30 grand on an engine tires are the least of your concerns tough.

 

[makenzie71]

yeah and imagine losing that 350~ish pounds from not having the typical 526ci engines they run!

 

[doctorgonzo]

yeah and imagine losing that 350~ish pounds from not having the typical 526ci engines they run!

Apparently a couple of big name builders on the west cost. Couple guys running "sassy" Hemis, some others "Black" Hemis. These might be the arena version of "internet stats", but they were talking about some of those single hemis being in the 2200 or 2300 HP range. There was a guy in the single engine class with Cadillac engine, like a 540 I think with twin turbo on it, but he couldn't pull with the Hemis.

 

[terbang]

Sounds like fun, 20 years ago we had tractor pulling competitions in New Zealand when I was a kid at the local A&P (agricultural and pastoral) shows. Here is the novel bit, they used tractors, as in the ones that farmers use with real farmers driving them. Clever buggers those farmers I reckon...

 

[doctorgonzo]

Sounds like fun, 20 years ago we had tractor pulling competitions in New Zealand when I was a kid at the local A&P (agricultural and pastoral) shows. Here is the novel bit, they used tractors, as in the ones that farmers use with real farmers driving them. Clever buggers those farmers I reckon...

They do those too. It's like drag racing, go from stock to modified to super stock. The stock tractors are fun to watch as well.

 

[WesV]

The multi engine pulling tractors usually use overrun clutches, but once the load is put on the tractor all the motors get pulled down from their max RPM and there fore all 5 are applying power to the transmission.

I personally prefer classic stock or mild modified pulls. I have 2 tractors that I pull with in the classic stock classes.

 

[hampshirehog]

My grandfather borrowed a Merlin engine from the RAF at the end of the war, for no reason other than it was waiting to be borrowed. And when I was a kid my dad stuffed it in to the back of an old Bedford van. Clever engineering looking back at it now but I didn't appreciate it at the time.

He used to wheel it out some weekends and would blast down the straight concrete pad left by the Canadians at the tank assembly area they built for D day (it's still there and solid as 'ell).

I must get more detail off my dad but I know it was the 2 stage supercharged Merlin and pumped out around 1500 bhp. It's still probably the quickest / scariest thing I've ever been in.

Ended it's days with the engine being stripped and sold to be put in a boat. That would have been some boat.

 

[Steve]

Apparently a couple of big name builders on the west cost. Couple guys running "sassy" Hemis, some others "Black" Hemis. ...

Not sure about the "Sassy" Hemis, but the "Black" Hemis are blocks made or prepared by Hemi legend Keith Black.

OK, I Googled "sassy hemi" for you. Here's the result.

.

 

[rapidray]

Some of the BEST hemis used in tractor pulling are Brad Anderson engines. They run on alcohol (methanol or ethanol) & cost $45,000.00 EACH from oil pan to injector hat. They make almost 3,000 horsepower when set on kill. My favorite pullers are the diesel Super Stocks. Ray.

 

[gk75a]

check this out, http://www.conleyprecision.com/online_videos.htm

 

[Zooks]

OOh Yeah baby - it's big here too. - http://www.austractorpulls.org/start.htm

 

[Mark M]

What kind of mileage do you suppose they get with one of those? :lol:

Well, a top fuel dragster uses about 5 gallons of methanol in a 4 second run (think about that, take a full 5 gallon pail and try to dump it in 4 seconds...), so I would bet that those 5 engines are easily pulling more than 1 gallon per second.

Mark

 

[rapidray]

Well, a top fuel dragster uses about 5 gallons of methanol in a 4 second run (think about that, take a full 5 gallon pail and try to dump it in 4 seconds...), so I would bet that those 5 engines are easily pulling more than 1 gallon per second.

Mark

I have to correct you here. A top fuel dragster uses about 10 gallons of NITROMETHANE in a 4 second 1000 foot dragrace! But, YES, on your guess of about a gallon a second for 5 alcohol engines! Ray.

 

[Steve]

Some interesting reading on this 'off' topic. I have had this for some time, so some of the records mentioned may have been surpassed by now.

A friend of mine in Phoenix, Arizona passed this along on e-mail. I don't know who wrote it, but it's really interesting.

===============================================
Accelleration:

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 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?s 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. Afterward, 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.
* 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 average $140,000 Lingenfelter "twin-turbo" powered Corvette Z06. 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

 

[Eli69]

that's cool!!

 

[Mark M]

I have to correct you here. A top fuel dragster uses about 10 gallons of NITROMETHANE in a 4 second 1000 yard dragrace! But, YES, on your guess of about a gallon a second for 5 alcohol engines! Ray.

Hey Ray,

I should have said nitromethane/methanol mix (unless they have completely stopped using methanol in the mix). But it was 95% nitro / 5% methanol last I knew, so it was almost all nitro anyway...

Way back when I was watched NHRA (which was years ago), the 5 gallons number was always mentioned. I guess they are pumping more now... That is even crazier. Imagine someone sitting on top of your engine with two 5 gallon pails. When the lights go green, he dumps both pails down the injector throat in 4 seconds. Hard to imagine not drowning the engine with that much fuel hitting all at once.

Mark