Forum: Modern Military Aircraft

How come I saw an F-18 lose to an Indy car on a quarter mile race?

I saw a video somewhere. If I had to bet I would've said the F-18 would've smoked that car. I guess at least on the F-18 when you lose you can just explode the car with a missile and take the winner's place...

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Dude, lets see them got 0-1000, Jet engines don't work so well in drag race that is that short. If the race had been 1 mile I would bet on the Bug. Plus, the F18 weighs just a bit more. It is like comparing apples and pears. Cool for fun that is it.

Yeah, I figured something along those lines, but it was weird watching a Fighter get beat.

Wender, there was a magazine article (I think it was Motortrend) a couple of years ago which put a Lingenfelter modified Corvette up against a Blue Angels' Hornet. They called the article "Vette vs. Jet" and it was actually pretty cool. Lingenfelter had stuffed a twin turbo 427 under the hood with over 800 horses and nearly 900 lb-ft. of torque. The Vette did 0-60 in 1.97 seconds Shocked

and ran the quarter in about 9 Drool

! Yep, the Vette beat the jet and rides were exchanged - the author of the article got an incentive ride and every Blues pilot got a ride in the Vette Very Happy

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Here's the way I understand it. Basically, the jet's engine has to spool up for one thing and the jet's reliance on thrust instead of direct interaction with the ground makes its acceleration from a dead stop slower. I've gotta say that it's a great video Very Happy

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At an event in 2002 held as part of the annual Luke Days air show a 2003 <b>Dodge Viper SRT-10</b> (373 kW/678 Nm) challenged an <b>F-16 Viper</b>.

Dodge Vipers raced the F-16 to the speed at which the jet became airborne: approximately 240 km/h. The Dodge Viper covered the course in around 15 seconds.

Both the first and second days' races featured a pre-production version of the 2003 Dodge Viper SRT-10 convertible against the F-16 Fighting Falcon, flown at military power.

The first day Cap. Glen "Nugget" Richards (309th FS "Wild Ducks", Luke AFB) 'raced' the F-16.

The rules were simple: race for a half-mile or until the jet lifts off.

When the dust settled the Dodge Viper SRT-10 came out on top after covering a measured half-mile in 18 seconds.

For the second showdown, DaimlerChrysler's PVO team tapped more horsepower and made their runs on racing slicks, while the USAF countered with a takeoff run at full afterburner. This time it was Capt. Dan "Scrappy" Potas at the controls of the F-16.

However, once again the car won (15 sec).

In 2003 the Dodge Viper SRT-10 challenged the F-16 for a second time as part of the Luke Days Air Show. This time the F-16 was piloted by Major Ed "Fig" Figueroa.

There is a (French) video of this contest at <a href="http://people.itu.int/~giroux/Video/VideoPage.htm" rel="nofollow">http://people.itu.int/~giroux/Video/VideoPage.htm</a>
-> "F-16 Viper vs Dodge Viper"

I saw the episode with the Vette vs. Jet on Spike a while back and the Vette driver passed out during vertical take-off in the Hornet.

I saw that exact Viper race on an episode of Ripley's Believe It or Not a while ago. They said after playing the tape over and over again that the F-16 had won. That was a VERY close race, and I think that it would be nearly impossible to tell. Wink

parrothead wrote:

Wender, there was a magazine article (I think it was Motortrend) a couple of years ago which put a Lingenfelter modified Corvette up against a Blue Angels' Hornet.

I remember reading that. As I recall it said the F-18 really started to accelerate at about 200 MPH when the Vett was starting to top out.

Justin

Great video. I'm actually surprised it was so close in a 1/4 mile run.

Bit late on this one, loads of commitments so haven't been around for a bit.

I saw a race on a program we have over here called top gear. I can't remember what car it was, a Lotus I think, raced a Harrier FA.2 around a circuit, the harrier had to bank yaw and turn incredibly to keep in line with the circuit, You couldn't really tell if the plane went out at places unless you had birdseye, but from what it looked like, the harrier managed to keep within the circuit. Harrier won-record time round the circuit too, but hasn't been "officialy recorded" though, as only "official roadcars" go on the board, ie. Porsche GT3, SLR, Koenigsegg etc.

Hehe, then there was the time the main presenter got chased around the airfield in a Lotus... by... wait for it.... a WAH-64D Longbow Laughing

. The apache tried to missile lock onto the car at close range by buzzing overhead. Had ace of spades by motorhead in the background. In the end, the Apache couldn't lock, but the pilot told him he would have just mowed him with 30mm chaingun fire, and then they did a demo of what the Apache is supposed to do... appears above the tree line 2 miles away and fires a hellfire missile at a remote controlled 1:1 scale car of some sort. big flash.

Ah class.

Hey, if you can't beat 'em...BLOW THEIR @$$ AWAY and say you beat 'em!!

Guess what? THIS IS POST #500 FOR TC!!! Cool

And as always...

Beers and MiGs were made to be pounded!

TC wrote:

Hey, if you can't beat 'em...BLOW THEIR @$$ AWAY and say you beat 'em!!

Guess what? THIS IS POST #500 FOR TC!!! Cool

And as always...

Beers and MiGs were made to be pounded!

CONGRADULATIONS Very Happy

!!!

Hey Hey...thanks parrothead! I'm the 8th one on the site, apparently, who has become an Elite. I was in a drag race with Lieven I think. He should be the next one to break 500. This either means I have a lot of interesting contributions to make, or...

I HAVE TOO MUCH D@MN TIME ON MY HANDS!!!!

By the way, about the drag race...Let's see them race down the Bonneville Salt Flats and see who wins... Rolling Eyes

We can make it fair too...That same Hornet v. The Lava Machine, or Hornet v. The Castrol GTX Supersonic Car. We can even pit one of the Blue Angels against Craig Breedlove. Any takers?

Beers and MiGs were made to be pounded!

On the Salt Flats at Bonnaville...

Personally I never thought the idea of going faster than the speed of sound with rocks and gravels only 2 inches below my butt was that great... But hey? Who am I kidding? Anyways... I saw the same thing on rippleys but only briefly cause I didnt care that much.

I also saw very recently a jet powered truck. Its got a semi cab with huge tires and a jet engine on the back that has a sorta afterburner, substituting the spray for some more common fuel (though I forget what). Anyways, it could reach speeds of near 400 mph. Raised a proppelar stunt plane at an air show and won. That was on some thing on trucks on speed vission.

-Aaron

TenguNoHi, I believe you're speaking of the Thrust SSC and Les Shockley's Shockwave Very Happy

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I've been fortunate enough to see that truck up close and watch it run both in daylight and at night Smile

. That truck actually has three jet engines on the back of it and shoots flames up and out of the former exhaust stacks. I remember one time when he hit over 400 MPH on Miramar's runway and said the front end started to feel light Shocked

! It's really neat to see him run at night - it kind of looks like the Space Shuttle is flying down the runway and the insides of the exhausts still glow for a while after shutdown Cool

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I'm still undecided about whether or not I'd want to drive the Thrust SSC to its top speed of 768 MPH or Mach 1.08 Shocked

! I love driving fast, but that's pushing it a bit, even in my book Laughing

! Come to think of it, I would love the chance to drive that beast! As Dad always says, "Slam the doors and let's go fast! Speed is first and safety last Laughing

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Forum: Modern Military Aircraft

Jet vs. car - drag race