Re: sport truck shootout!
Just for grins (being curious)....I found the following article:
In drag racing gravity takes on an entirely different meaning due to acceleration. The force exerted on the driver is known as G force.
At the end of the quarter mile G force rears its ugly head again when a parachute is deployed.
However, if a racer weighs 190 pounds and experiences 2.5 G’s their body it would feel as if it weighed 475 pounds. This causes a big strain on the body. The exact physical response on the human is not exactly known because study's on pilots show that some can become accustomed to a little higher G forces as when they first started the study. Over all it showed that a human would loose consciousness between 8 and 9 G’s.
The space shuttle launches at about 3 G’s. Modern fighter jets pulling out of a hard dive can experience about 8 G’s. Under this kind force the blood pools in different parts of the body. However, the human body can withstand high G’s for very brief periods of time. For instance the body can see 100 G’s for a fraction of a second.
In NHRA drag racing there are several classes of cars. The classes below are from slowest to fastest; pro stock bikes, pro stock cars, top alcohol funny cars, top alcohol dragsters, top fuel funny cars, top fuel dragsters. The first will be pro stock bikes.
Angel Savoie holds the current record of 194 miles per hour in 7.04 seconds. After calculating average speed this gives a G force exerted on her of 1.28 G’s. This would make her feel like she weighed 153.6 pounds if her weight was 120 pounds.
The next class is pro stock cars. The current record holder is Warren Johnson with a top speed of 205 miles per hour in a time of 6.07 seconds calculated out the G’s exerted is 1.41 G’s.
Top alcohol funny cars are the next in line. The record holder Tony Bartone with a speed of 260.46 miles per hour in 5.549 seconds @2.22 G’s.
Top alcohol dragsters record holder Anthony Bartone with a speed of 277.94 miles per hour in 5.227 seconds @ 2.46 G’s.
When nitro is added to the fuel things get crazy. The speeds and everything involved are greatly increased. Top fuel funny car record holder John Force has the record of 326.87 miles per hour in 4.731 seconds @ 3.19 G’s. This is more G’s than the space shuttle launching and even more G’s than a jet taking off an aircraft carrier.
This brings us to the big dogs of the NHRA circuit the top fuel dragsters. The record holder Kenny Bernstein had a run of 332.75 miles per hour in 4.477 seconds @ 3.22 G’s
So while this gives us the average acceleration over the entire 1/4 I'm guessing that the first 60 feet (for AWD Trucks are the most intense). If you take your 60 ft time, divide it into 81.82, that will give you an approximate MPH at the end of the 60 ft.
Here are a few values
2.0 60 ft - end velocity is 40.9 MPH
1.8 60 ft - end velocity is 45.5 MPH
1.6 60 ft - end velocity is 51.1 MPH
1.5 60 ft - end velocity is 54.5 MPH
1.4 60 ft - end velocity is 58.4 MPH
1.3 60 ft - end velocity is 62.9 MPH
1.2 60 ft - end velocity is 68.2 MPH
So then (if my math is correct) the faster SyTys could be pulling 1-G's at the starting line on the total vehicle mass (i.e. truck + passenger).
Driver-wise it would probably be similar to my Angel Savoie calculations above of 1.28 G’s.
Calculations aside, it is "wildly exciting" to feel an AWD SyTy twist, contort, squat (sometimes pulling the fronts or front left tire), and yank a driver backwards.
And while 2WD may rule on the 1/4 tracks (due to prep, weight, driveline losses, etc) their launching is not nearly as dramatic (unless the transbrake sends you sky-ward).
Ask John Gerber for his wheelie pictures/video on this subject (LOL).
-Larry Brown
NoJimmy LS7 AWD 427 Typhoon
