Big V8s

[Gene Brown <simigene@domain.elided>]

I went to the NHRA Winternationals drag races last week. There are some very
impressive push rod V8s there. The big boys are running about 600 cubic inch engines
with a blower and running nitro methane fuel. They put out in the neighborhood of
6500 horse power, that's over to 800 HP PER CYLINDER, or 650 HP/L!! They'll run the
quarter mile in 4.5 seconds with a terminal speed of 330+ miles per hour. I believe
that they will turn about 8000 rpm. I was in the pits when they fired up one of these
beasts. The guy blipped the throttle a couple of times, not even full power, when I
was about 15 feet away. It was physically assulting, not to mention loud. Of course
the engine life can be measured in 1000's of revolutions. With idling, burnout and
run they turn less than 5000 revolutions and they don't make very many runs between
teardowns.

In the Ford Motorsport display booth theyhad an Ford Focus with a 5.0 liter V8 under
the hood driving the rear wheels. If Ford offered that for the street they could seel
quite a few to the Hot Rod set.

Gene Brown
Simi Valley, CA
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