Josh42 Posted October 8, 2007 Report Share Posted October 8, 2007 Here is a little Top Fuel factoid. For those of you who think the sport of Drag Racing is fun making your small blocks try to go fast, just read this! One top fuel dragster 500 cubic inch Hemi engine makes more horsepower than the first 4 rows of stock cars at the Daytona 500. Under full throttle, a dragster engine consumes 1-1/2 gallons of nitro methane per second. A fully loaded 747 consumes jet fuel at the same rate with 25% less energy being produced. A stock Dodge Hemi V8 engine cannot produce enough power to drive the dragster's supercharger. With 3,000 CFM of air being rammed in by the supercharger on overdrive, the fuel mixture is compressed into a near-solid form before ignition. Cylinders run on the verge of hydraulic lock at full throttle. At the stoichiometric (stoichiometry: methodology and technology by which quantities of reactants and products in chemical reactions are determined) 1.7:1 air/fuel mixture of nitro methane, the flame front temperature measures 7,050 deg F. Nitro methane burns yellow. The spectacular white flame seen above the stacks at night is raw burning hydrogen, dissociated from atmospheric water vapor by the searing exhaust gases. Dual magnetos supply 44 amps to each spark plug. This is the output of an arc welder in each cylinder. Spark plug electrodes are totally consumed during a pass. After halfway, the engine is dieseling from compression, plus the glow of exhaust valves at 1,400 deg F. The engine can only be shut down by cutting the fuel flow. If spark momentarily fails early in the run, unburned nitro builds up in the affected cylinders and then explodes with sufficient force to blow cylinder heads off the block in pieces or split the block in half. In order to exceed 300 mph in 4.5 seconds, dragsters must accelerate an average of over 4G's. In order to reach 200 mph (well before half-track), the launch acceleration approaches 8G's. Dragsters reach over 300 miles per hour before you have completed reading this sentence. Top fuel engines turn approximately 540 revolutions from light to light! Including the burnout, the engine must only survive 900 revolutions under load. The redline is actually quite high at 9,500 rpm. Assuming all the equipment is paid off, the crew worked for free, and for once NOTHING BLOWS UP, each run costs an estimate $1,000.00 per second. The current top fuel dragster elapsed time record is 4.441 seconds for the quarter mile (10/05/03, Tony Schumacher). The top speed record is 333.00 mph (533 km/h) as measured over the last 66' of the run (09/28/03 Doug Kalitta). Putting all of this 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 and 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 and pass the dragster at an honest 200 mph. The "tree" goes green for both of you at that moment. The dragster launches and starts after you. You keep your foot down hard, but you hear an incredibly brutal whine that sears your eardrums and within 3 seconds, the dragster catches and 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 and not only caught, but nearly blasted you off the road when he passed you within a mere 1,320 foot long race course. ... and that my friend, is ACCELERATION! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Definitive Posted October 8, 2007 Report Share Posted October 8, 2007 Besides the Saturn V rockets sending our astronauts to the moon,is that not the most amazing feat of mechanical engineering on the planet? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tqj3 Posted October 8, 2007 Report Share Posted October 8, 2007 Josh-It's also a technical description of a very expensive bomb that simply fails to detonate most of the time! LOL Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Definitive Posted October 8, 2007 Report Share Posted October 8, 2007 I wonder what one of those bombs would look like if it exploded without the current flack jackets and burst plates the have. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Josh42 Posted October 8, 2007 Author Report Share Posted October 8, 2007 and at 330 mph this is waht the rear tire looks like and the explosion would probably look something like this. this one split the block Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rookie49 Posted October 8, 2007 Report Share Posted October 8, 2007 also depending on the train and the dragster, A top fuel dragster has the horsepower of 3 locomotives, which are capable of pulling a mile long train. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ProTree Posted October 8, 2007 Report Share Posted October 8, 2007 The one I like to hear em talk about is throttle response,takes about 15/100th of a second for the power to reach the rear wheels. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Truck99 Posted October 8, 2007 Report Share Posted October 8, 2007 Cool stuff. Watching a top fuel dragster run should be something every person should add to their "to do before I die" list...and I haven't done it yet. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Josh42 Posted October 8, 2007 Author Report Share Posted October 8, 2007 Chase in March when the IHRA Amalie Oil Texas Nationals come back to SAR you should make the trip to see them run. I have had the opportunity as well as my father to be standing next to them and behind them on the line when they take off and its something truely amazing. Watching these cars are awesome I will say but the ones to really watch are the Pro Mods and IHRA Mountain Motor Pro Stocks because these cars leave the line wheels up and goin down the track any which way but straight and the drivers dont lift unless it gets way crazy or tire shake becomes to much. That how a couple of those Nitro Coupes were this past weekend. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Truck99 Posted October 8, 2007 Report Share Posted October 8, 2007 Chase in March when the IHRA Amalie Oil Texas Nationals come back to SAR you should make the trip to see them run. I have had the opportunity as well as my father to be standing next to them and behind them on the line when they take off and its something truely amazing. Watching these cars are awesome I will say but the ones to really watch are the Pro Mods and IHRA Mountain Motor Pro Stocks because these cars leave the line wheels up and goin down the track any which way but straight and the drivers dont lift unless it gets way crazy or tire shake becomes to much. That how a couple of those Nitro Coupes were this past weekend. I'll have to make it a point to catch that one, unless we're racing. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Truck38 Posted October 8, 2007 Report Share Posted October 8, 2007 and at 330 mph this is waht the rear tire looks like You know Josh you should suggest that they make those tires round I think they could go a little faster... (btw I am just kidding, I know why they aren't round in that picture) Actually I love drag racing... I love the way the engines make your organs feel, and I would have chose drag racing over circle track but I have a friend who does drag racing and although the purses are bigger, he spends a lot of money. Cameron Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lucky161 Posted October 8, 2007 Report Share Posted October 8, 2007 Someone had already posted this on another board I go to, but it's pretty cool stuff anyway. The part that surprised me the most was the 540 revs for a complete run. But I've done the math and that is correct. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ProTree Posted October 8, 2007 Report Share Posted October 8, 2007 Lucky,the majority 540,but the record setters and lo et cars turn up a notch to the 560's.They usually have the bigger wallets. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lucky161 Posted October 8, 2007 Report Share Posted October 8, 2007 Lucky,the majority 540,but the record setters and lo et cars turn up a notch to the 560's.They usually have the bigger wallets. No doubt, but still an engine that will do 9000 rpms only 500+ revs per run. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ProTree Posted October 8, 2007 Report Share Posted October 8, 2007 yepper,and each intake valve opening about 280 times.And next year for 2008,they go back to the 90% nitro. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Budman Posted October 8, 2007 Report Share Posted October 8, 2007 Getting you chest pounded without really trying ................. When you're in the crowd watching, while their staging, every time one of those exhaust valves opens on your side of the car, you can feel the concussion of the explosion against your chest. That's cool! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Truck38 Posted October 8, 2007 Report Share Posted October 8, 2007 Hmm... makes you excited like sniffing race fuel when you first get to the track. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Definitive Posted October 8, 2007 Report Share Posted October 8, 2007 How fast would a nitro car go nowadays without all of the rules restrictions? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rookie49 Posted October 8, 2007 Report Share Posted October 8, 2007 I think you would have to ask NASA. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ProTree Posted October 8, 2007 Report Share Posted October 8, 2007 Believe me,stand a few feet from one,It's a "sensory overload".Here's a pic of me next to Clay Millican's car at Norwalk Ohio,watching as he does a burnout,blasting by me.It will take the air out of your lungs.You have to learn how to breath when you're next to one.A clean cotton towel comes in handy when the later rounds roll around and they have em on "full load".Tears will be flowing as you try to keep your eyes open and your nose feels like somebodys holding lite Bic lighters up each nostril. The first time I ever did one of these cars,we used to stand between them up front on the line and it blew my ball cap out from under my headset and felt like I lifted off the ground about a half foot.The headset was still on my head,but the cap was gone.Now for safety reasons, we stand at the rear of the nitro cars. clay.bmp Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Definitive Posted October 8, 2007 Report Share Posted October 8, 2007 I never missed an NHRA event at either Texas Motorplex or Houston Raceway Park until the Cup guys came to TMS.There just aren't enough weekends to go around. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
txtom Posted October 8, 2007 Report Share Posted October 8, 2007 Been to two drag races in the last three weeks that had Nitro cars running. One thing I have noticed is hours after you leave the track, you can still get a whiff of nitro through your nose. Me thinks the straight liners will see more of me in the future. The first time I ever did one of these cars,we used to stand between them up front on the line and it blew my ball cap out from under my headset and felt like I lifted off the ground about a half foot.The headset was still on my head,but the cap was gone.Now for safety reasons, we stand at the rear of the nitro cars. Hated every minute of it, didn't ya??!! I saw that big smile Saturday............... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lucky161 Posted October 9, 2007 Report Share Posted October 9, 2007 Slightly off topic, but the Metroplex is having the American Drag Racing Series this weekend. From what i've been able to tell, they feature pro mods. yepper,and each intake valve opening about 280 times.And next year for 2008,they go back to the 90% nitro. I am thinking that is to keep costs down? I've asked this question before on a site with a drag racing forum but couldn't get an answer, maybe you would have an idea. How much could you back the nitro down in order to save significant money yet keep the ear shattering literal ground pounding that the current ones have? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ProTree Posted October 9, 2007 Report Share Posted October 9, 2007 Was having some fun for sure Txtom.Playing with the Gold Dust and tweakin' the grip.The crew guys with the nitro coupes wanted to know if the line would "hold it",I told em "bring it".My Recipe was working,every one of em hooked up and had one yesterday to run a 6.08 in the 1/4 with the lt frt in the air for about 700ft.He was on the bars and haulin'.Lucky,they claim going up on the Nitro % will save $$$ from not having as many blow ups and damaged components as with the lower % run now. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lucky161 Posted October 9, 2007 Report Share Posted October 9, 2007 Was having some fun for sure Txtom.Playing with the Gold Dust and tweakin' the grip.The crew guys with the nitro coupes wanted to know if the line would "hold it",I told em "bring it".My Recipe was working,every one of em hooked up and had one yesterday to run a 6.2 in the 1/4 with the lt frt in the air for about 700ft.He was on the bars and haulin'.Lucky,they claim going up on the Nitro % will save $$$ from not having as many blow ups and damaged components as with the lower % run now. Now I am really confused. I thought they were running 100% now. Oh well, that's what I get for not having enough money and time to see all the racing that I'd like to. Thanks. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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