Walt Longmire Posted August 15, 2023 Share Posted August 15, 2023 18 hours ago, Eric said: Cruising down the highway in my Kenworth when sheets of plywood or OSB started shedding off a vehicle coming towards me and sailing through the air. One went over my truck, the rest went under or in the other lane. Glad I didn't take one through the windshield. 4 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DAKA Posted August 15, 2023 Share Posted August 15, 2023 20 minutes ago, Walt Longmire said: Cruising down the highway in my Kenworth when sheets of plywood or OSB started shedding off a vehicle coming towards me and sailing through the air. One went over my truck, the rest went under or in the other lane. Glad I didn't take one through the windshield. Imagine what truck drivers must see... 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jmohme Posted August 16, 2023 Share Posted August 16, 2023 18 hours ago, DAKA said: Imagine what truck drivers must see... You really want some horror stories, talke to someone that has operated heavy wreckers for a living and what they have seen. I did so for twelve years and could write a book on the subject. 1 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DAKA Posted August 16, 2023 Share Posted August 16, 2023 Back in the late70's I built a few Dune Buggys with friends...we needed late model VW beetles. I used to make "tours" of the local junk yards looking for ones that were crashed in the front.... we needed the rears to be good because of the engine placement. On one occasion the manager sent me to look at one that had run under the back of a truck ,,,needless to say there was a mess.. they got a huge laugh about that....after that I was more careful about looking... So I can imagine what the wreckers and junk yards saw 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jmohme Posted August 16, 2023 Share Posted August 16, 2023 1 hour ago, DAKA said: Back in the late70's I built a few Dune Buggys with friends...we needed late model VW beetles. I used to make "tours" of the local junk yards looking for ones that were crashed in the front.... we needed the rears to be good because of the engine placement. On one occasion the manager sent me to look at one that had run under the back of a truck ,,,needless to say there was a mess.. they got a huge laugh about that....after that I was more careful about looking... So I can imagine what the wreckers and junk yards saw Nasty fatal accidents aside. Ther are a lot of less gory events. Such as getting called out late one night for an overload at the truck scales and we were requested to not to bring a truck, but a passenger car with a large trunk. We took the owners wifes Ford LTD and when we got to the scales there was a delivery van and the driver instructing us to back up to the van and open the trunk. The back door of the van opens, two guards with guns get out and count bags of quarters as we unloaded them from the van into the trunk. then one of the guards got in the passenger seat. The van went back over the scale and got the green light and headed out. At the next exit, we all get off and the two armed gards counted bags of quarters as the were loaded back into the van. That weigh scale would shut a truck down for 250 lbs over. I made a lot of money off of that place. 2 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
M&P15T Posted August 17, 2023 Share Posted August 17, 2023 On 7/1/2023 at 7:24 PM, Eric said: Here is a Top Fuel dragster factoid list I just ran across. I can't swear to the accuracy of all the stats, but it all sounds impressive as hell. TOP FUEL ACCELERATION FACTS! * One Top Fuel dragster 500 cubic-inch Hemi engine makes more horsepower (11,000 HP) than the first 5 rows at the Daytona 500. * Under full throttle, a dragster engine consumes 1.2-1.5 gallons 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 merely 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 gasses. * 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. * Dragsters reach over 300 MPH before you have completed reading this sentence. * In order to exceed 300 MPH in 4.5 seconds, dragsters must accelerate an average of over 4 G's. In order to reach 200 MPH well before half-track, the launch acceleration approaches 8 G's. * 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 9500 RPM. * THE BOTTOM LINE: Assuming all the equipment is paid off, the crew worked for free, & for once, NOTHING BLOWS UP, each run costs an estimated $1,000 per second. 0 to 100 MPH in .8 seconds (the first 60 feet of the run) 0 to 200 MPH in 2.2 seconds (the first 350 feet of the run) 6 g-forces at the starting line (nothing accelerates faster on land) 6 negative g-forces upon deployment of twin chutes at 300 MPH An NHRA Top Fuel Dragster accelerates quicker than any other land vehicle on earth . . quicker than a jet fighter plane . . . quicker than the space shuttle. Just wanted to add; Don't know how old the info above is, but now they're doing 330 MPH in 3.7 seconds. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jmohme Posted August 17, 2023 Share Posted August 17, 2023 I know this guy and he walked away from this insane crash. 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
railfancwb Posted August 17, 2023 Share Posted August 17, 2023 1 hour ago, M&P15T said: Don't know how old the info above is, but now they're doing 330 MPH in 3.7 seconds And I think the top fuel vehicles at least no longer race for 1/4 mile. Cut maybe 1/10th or so off the finish line position to give more stopping room. Remember reading in one of the hot rod magazines - not the one wearing that name - that 160 speed through the traps would be about as good as it got. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DAKA Posted August 18, 2023 Share Posted August 18, 2023 14 hours ago, jmohme said: I know this guy and he walked away from this insane crash. 14 hours ago, jmohme said: I know this guy and he walked away from this insane crash. I guess I'm getting too old, I don't "get" that kind of "racing" 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Administrators Eric Posted January 19 Author Administrators Share Posted January 19 1 1 1 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DWARREN123 Posted January 19 Share Posted January 19 Loaded pants moment! 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gwalchmai Posted January 19 Share Posted January 19 8 hours ago, Eric said: No need to run. It can't see him unless he farts. 1 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
railfancwb Posted January 21 Share Posted January 21 On 8/17/2023 at 2:50 PM, M&P15T said: now they're doing 330 MPH in 3.7 seconds. Is that on the classic 1/4 mile track or the more recent shortened ones? 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
railfancwb Posted January 21 Share Posted January 21 29 minutes ago, railfancwb said: Is that on the classic 1/4 mile track or the more recent shortened ones? Learned more about track length… Top Fuel and Funny Car, the two nitromethane-fueled classes, scaled back to 1,000 feet in mid-2008, following a tragic death. Article said the 1,000 feet is not likely to return to 1/4 mile. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
M&P15T Posted January 23 Share Posted January 23 On 1/21/2024 at 11:47 AM, railfancwb said: Is that on the classic 1/4 mile track or the more recent shortened ones? Shortened ones. It's crazy. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
railfancwb Posted January 24 Share Posted January 24 On 6/28/2020 at 2:49 PM, Eric said: Are those spark plugs in the exhaust pipes? 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
railfancwb Posted January 24 Share Posted January 24 On 8/17/2023 at 2:50 PM, M&P15T said: Just wanted to add; Don't know how old the info above is, but now they're doing 330 MPH in 3.7 seconds. If the race returned from its current 1000 feet to the earlier 1/4 mile what numbers might we see? 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Batesmotel Posted January 24 Share Posted January 24 3 hours ago, railfancwb said: Are those spark plugs in the exhaust pipes? Looks like it. Street racers do it to burn unburned fuel. Great at night. 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DAKA Posted January 24 Share Posted January 24 5 hours ago, Batesmotel said: Looks like it. Street racers do it to burn unburned fuel. Great at night. We did that in the 50's spark plug in the end of the tailpipe with a spark coil. rev up, cut off the ignition and ,,,flames about 10 feet long 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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