Low level from the cockpit of one of the world’s fastest jets, the front line Eurofighter Typhoon. This plane can fly up to 1,500 miles per hour.

It ain’t a Jag, but it’d make a dandy second vehicle!

http://www.youtube.com/embed/sjvgC1cKQGA

Note: There is an email going around with facts that differ from this Popular Mechanics article. I’d trust this article over that email. There is no need to exaggerate anything about top-fuel dragsters — these beasts are mega-awesome any way you cut it! – Webmaster

No other ground vehicle can out-accelerate a top-fuel dragster. The fastest class in the National Hot Rod Association (NHRA) drag-racing series, these cars can rocket to 300 mph in less than 4 seconds. That seemingly physics-defying performance is why Jim Oberhofer, the VP of operations at Kalitta Motorsports, calls top-fuelers violence on wheels.

Add expensive too. One run down the strip consumes fuel, bearings, valve springs and other parts to the tune of $5800. Stand nearby when a “rail” car lights off and you can feel the ground shake. It’s unnerving.

These machines are so fast—topping 330 mph—that the quarter-mile track (1320 feet) was shortened to 1000 feet after Scott Kalitta was killed in 2008 when his car exploded at the finish and crashed into the catch fence. That tragedy did not deter the Kalitta crew. As the team prepares for the 2011 season, which starts Feb. 24, we peel off its top-fueler’s bodywork to learn the secrets of its insane acceleration.

By Larry Webster, January 24, 2011 6:30 AM

Popular Mechanics article

1 – Fuel Top-fuelers burn a mixture that’s 90 percent nitromethane and 10 percent alcohol. Interestingly, a gallon of nitromethane, which costs $58, has less energy content than gasoline (14 kilowatt-hours versus 34). But nitro is an oxygen-rich compound that requires less air to burn, so the engine can consume more of it, thereby producing greater power. The 58 nozzles in the intake tract are always open, dumping about 5 gallons of fuel in a 4-second run. That kind of flow requires a firehose-like fuel line. Continue reading →

Jake Lingeman on 1/31/2012 for AUTOWEEK

The first time a Jaguar XJ220 supercar reached a customer’s hands was 1992. President George H.W. Bush was in office, and space shuttle Endeavor took its maiden flight. The XJ220 cost that first customer $846,000, and that was 20 years ago.

Read that AUTOWEEK.com article

Also, check out AUTOWEEK’s August 30, 1993 drive story of the car by Denise McCluggage, available as links to two single-page images from the bottom of that AUTOWEEK.com article.

But before you do, take a back-to-the-future repose by checking out this short film which has more twists and turns than Pikes Peak Highway: AUTOWEEK’s take on Desire