Nitromater
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Mama Leah
- Thread starter megadeth
- Start date
On that last pass, Leah ran 2.932 - 297.29 at the 1/8, then 3.658 - 329 for the 1000'. 297 is hauling at the 1/8 mile. Tony was right with her at 2.936 -295.98 1/8 mile, and 3.667 at 323. Matt Hagan ran a 1/8 mile run at 3.11 at 291, which I think is the quickest & fastest ever for 1/8 mile (3.839 - 327 1000'). Those are T/F times....
Top Fuel used to pick up 50 MPH on the back half. So, if T/F was running 1/4 mile now, does that mean that Leah's 1/8 mile speed of 297 would translate to 347 1/4 mile? Just stirrin' the pot. Still wish it was 1/4 mile for fuel and still wish the MPH clocks were accurate. We're not gettin' the real MPH as the cars cross the finish line.
If NHRA took away the devices that keep the RPM down they probably would go 340 in 1000'. Hagan has run 335 in the F/C & I bet that would be over 340 at 1/4 mile. So how long will it be before NHRA sez they are too fast to 1000' and slows them down? Even if the fuelers were restricted to 1/8 mile racing, they would crack the 300 MPH mark real quick, and I would not be surprised to see 305, 310.
my friends call me Zappy
Nitro Member
Exactly right, that's why nhra is slowing the FC's mid season.
I've been around drag racing a long time. Always wondered what would be the limit as to how fast these cars could go. Tires seem to be the limiting factor now (not to mention shut down area). But I have a feeling that if you could run "unlimited", it would come down to how many G forces the human body could take. If a car could run 2.9 and 400 in the 1/4 mile, how hard would it be to steer it and how many G forces would you have to endure? Can you see a G force suit like fighter pilots wear when driving a dragster or funny car?
Gordon
Nitro Member
I'm not an aerospace physiologist and I didn't stay in a Holiday Inn Express last night so I don't claim to be an expert on the subject... but what I do know is that he G forces a fighter pilot feels in combat are somewhat different than the G forces experienced by Top Fuel & Funny Car drivers.
The biggest difference, and the reason fighter pilots require G-suits, is the fact that in a fighter aircraft when pulling G's the blood wants to leave the head & upper body entirely. We can all agree that's a bad thing. The G-Suit squeezes the legs, beginning at the calves and working up, to force the blood to remain in the upper body area. (Note: the Blue Angels DO NOT wear G-Suits for their show - they are truly bad ass!) TF/FC drivers experience lateral G's, so the blood remains in the head and upper body, it just rushes to the back of the skull. I'm not suggesting either is easier or more difficult, I'm merely pointing out the differences.
I can say that I have been shot off the front of an aircraft carrier at least a dozen times and it's a rush. I've only done it in the C-2 and all passengers face the back of the aircraft so all your weight gets thrown into the belts as opposed to being crunched into the seat. Your arms and legs, if not secured to or against something (you generally put your legs up against the seat in front of you and cross your arms and hold onto the shoulder straps), will flail helplessly outward until you clear the flight deck, at which time there's a three or four second period of near weightlessness as the propellers catch up to the end speed of the aircraft. The arrested landing in the C-2 is the exact opposite as you slow from a little over 115 M.P.H. to zero in less than 600'... and you do get crushed into the seat pretty well. I greyed-out in a T-34 once back in the late 80's when I used to fly with the maintenance pilots who had empty back seats and it was a very unique experience. Essentially, enough blood left my head that I lost vision - everything was grey, but I retained all my other senses so I could hear, speak and feel the weight of the G's against my body until we came out of the maneuver. Not the same as a G-lock though, which I'm sure can be found on YouTube. It's essentially a form of cerebral hypoxia (lack of blood to the brain) and when that happens all consciousness is lost... and that's obviously very bad. If you're interested look for videos of celebrities flying w/ any of the jet demonstration teams, I'm sure there's an example somewhere. But I never experienced anything even resembling that with the lateral G's of a cat shot or an arrested landing.
Anyway, I say all that to say that whereas I agree the machine will be able to withstand more than the human driving (or flying ) it, I don't think the fuel cars are in any danger of going so fast (regulated or not) as to make them undriveable from a G-Force perspective.
Thanks Gordon. That was interesting to read. Do you recall about a military officer in the early 1950's, who was the "test dummy" in a rocket sled? I'm spacing on the man's name, but he was in a sled on railroad tracks, with a number of rockets attached to it. I think he went 400 MPH in about 2 seconds (?) and then the sled went into water to slow it down. The deacceleration hurt him more than the accelaration. There is footage of him as he goes the track. He didn't have a full face shield and you can see the wind trying to pull his cheeks apart. He suffered some bad injuries from that run. It was part of trying to see how many G's a person could endure, in preparation for putting a man in orbit. I've thought about that run and what would happen if we actually had a dragster that could duplicate that speed. Just wondered if the driver could steer & how the G's would affect the driver.
Huge
Nitro Member
And Leah would be one of the first to acknowledge that.
BaldyLochs
Nitro Member
Some of you long-timers may know, I'm a Kalitta extremist; and I don't get on here any more like I used to. But I looked at the race results and saw her name .... I literally thought it was a mistake. I refreshed. And Dayyyyammm... there she is, still. What a fantastic job by that team. Well let me tell you - this is not a mistake; not a fluke. Leah and that group mean business; and everyone else better eat their Wheaties and be ready to beat this car. Very, very impressive! Best of luck to LP
