I am not particularly impressed as far as pure acceleration goes.
My ancient 1997 Top Dragster would do 0 to 60 mph in a little over 1.1 seconds in 59 feet. So 0 to 100 Km/h in maybe 1.05 seconds at 60’ and 0 to 175 mph (280+ Km/h) in 7.75 seconds, and pull peak G’s of about 3.5, that on a very mild and conservative tune-up. Don’t forget that is a more than 20 year old car, which cost me maybe $20,000 to put together. I bet a full up F1 program spends that much on uniforms or more likely the Dry Cleaning of said uniforms.
Current NHRA Top Fuel cars accelerate from 0 to 100 mph in about 0.8 seconds, 0 to 335 mph or 540 Km/h in a tiny bit more than 3.6 seconds pulling about 5.6 Peak G’s, yes that is all they do, brutal and unrelenting acceleration. Well they do one other thing brutally well, they stop, pulling more peak negative g’s than they accelerate at, between 6 and 7 G’s. I have heard the story that Don Garlits detached the retinas in his eyes because he pulled so many negative G’s one time.
“Putting this all 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 & 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 & pass the dragster at an honest 200 MPH. The 'tree' goes green for both of you at that moment.
The dragster launches & starts after you. You keep your foot down hard, but you hear an incredibly brutal whine that sears your eardrums & within 3 seconds the dragster catches & 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 & not only caught, but nearly blasted you off the road when he passed you within a mere 1320 foot long race!
That's acceleration!”
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So now having dropped a big brown one in the F1 punch bowl I do have to say F1 cars as a whole are surly extraordinarily impressive for ALL the things they can do well. The technology in F1 is extraordinary. Acceleration is good but not overly impressive.
FastFreddy
