A Top Fuel 500 cubic inch Chrysler Hemi dragster makes more horsepower than the first 4 rows at the Daytona 500.

Under full throttle, a dragster engine consumes 11/2 gallons of nitromethane 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 supercharger.

With 3000 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 1.7:1 air/fuel mixture for nitromethane the flame front temperature measures 7050 degrees F.

Nitromethane 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 ½ way, the engine is dieseling from compression plus the glow of exhaust valves at 1400 degrees 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.


The redline is actually quite high at 9500rpm.

The Bottom Line; Assuming all the equipment is paid off, the crew worked for free, and for once NOTHING BLOWS UP, each run costs an estimated US$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 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 Hemi 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 past 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 Hemi 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 1320 foot long race course.


That folks is acceleration.
:D :eek: :cool: :cheers: :smash: :thumbs: :auto: :hurray:

 

:cool: :steering:

 

sign me up :party:

 

Tires are limiting how fast they can make the dragsters go. They have a real hard time making those big soft slicks work at 300 mph!

The deceleration of the dragster at the finish line is causing detached retinias in drivers.

There was also something about how fast a dragster is going as it crosses the STAGING lights being faster than many cars can do at the 1/4 mile, but It might have been the 1/8th or 60 ft...

 

Wow, that is awesome!!! Those are some neat facts.

I've been told that we are reaching the end of the human capacity for speed in the quarter mile. In other words, they may not be able to go much faster not because the cars can't do it, but the driver can't handle it physically. Anybody know if this is true? I honestly don't know how those guys operate and react to a 330mph run at those kind of G forces. I've been on a roller coaster that starts off with a quick acceleration...something like 0-60mph in 3 seconds and even at that minimal of a G force I could hardly imagine operating a car, much less a top fuel dragster.
Those guys are NUTS :crazy:
:thumbs:

 

Now if I can just get my vette to do that :D :D :D

:steering:

 

I need more power.

 

My Civic can do that. :rolleyes:

 

Interesting information about the 'ultimate' "brass-nads/heads-up racing" class...
I've attended either/or (often BOTH) NHRA National Events in Columbus, Oh., and Reading, Pa., since '87, with an ocassional 'road-trip' (Atlanta, Montreal, etc.).
Here are a few 'interesting tid-bits' I've seen and heard, and things I've learned on a 'forum', who's members include Don Schumacher, Virgil Hartman, and Doug Kalitta crew-chief Jim Oberhoffer, amongst others.....

The fuel is only 90% nitro; it is 'cut' with alcohol. NHRA forced the '90%-rule' a few years ago, in hopes of having less 'oil-downs'. Initially, performance suffered slightly, but inventive crew-chiefs developed new combinations, and the ET/MPH barage continued...

Cars are fired, do their 'burn-outs', and back-up using a single fuel pump. As the cars approach the pre-stage/stage beams, drivers manually 'open' the second pump; the motor instantly 'idle-down', and clouds of fuel 'hang' over the cars as they leave the pad...

Last season at Reading, 2 drivers staged a 'burn-down'; sitting with their 'PRE-STAGE' bulbs lit, they try to make the 'other' stage first, a bit of a 'mind-game'.
After 50+ seconds of idling at 'full-rich', NHRA Chief Starter Rick Stewart told each driver to 'shut-'em-down', and sent them to the staging lanes to cool-off (both cars AND drivers), and re-fuel their tanks.
When later asked 'WHY' he did this, Stewart said for '2 safety-reasons':
#1- if they'd have run out of fuel DURING a run, the cylinders would've gone 'lean'; the next thing heard would've been "ka-f*&%ing-BOOM!"
#2- With the fuel-cells located at the very front of the car (for ballast), Stewart was concerned that, being light-in-the-nose', the cars might go into a 'power-wheelstand', then 'blown-back-over' on themselves. NHRA doesn't want 25'-long, 300+ MPH projectiles going into the stands...

The tires are a 'limiting-factor' with today's speeds. Early this season, Joe Amato Racing unveiled a new, one-piece 'aero-body' for driver Darrell Russell, unique to the sport. After a few races with the body, Amato's team went back to a 'traditional'-body. Word has it that the body produced great down-force #s (even @ 300+ MPH, the cars need down-force) with very low drag figures, but the current slicks couldn't take full advantage of the body-work. Team Amao still has the body, and may 'try-again' in the future...

Most owners, crew-chiefs, and drivers think the BIGGEST thing hindering even better ETs/MPH is the '3.20-gear rule'.
In the late '80s, as speeds approached 300 MPH, NHRA (and their insurance-carriers) got 'scared' of seeing '300' pop-up on the score-boards. At that time, teams were running fairly 'tall' gears; I think Gene 'Snowman' Snow of Ft. Worth, Tx., was running 2.6:1 gears!
Because nitro 'burns' very slowly (when you 'see' flames coming out the pipes, it is un-burned fuel, 'pushed' out of the header-pipe, that is still 'burning' OUTSIDE the car), and the teams had a difficult time 'igniting' the fuel at higher RPMs, NHRA decided to implement the '3.20-gear rule'.
In effect, NHRA 'forced' teams to run the motors at an RPM they COULDN'T run 300 MPH (envision running 55 MPH in 1st gear in your Vette...)
In the early '90s, Dale Armstrong, crew-chief of Kenny Bernstein's Budweiser King Top Fuel dragster (I have never driven this car, although other Forum-members may have...), hired another crew chief, Wes Cerny, to work specifically on a high-powered ignition system, that WOULD allow nitro to be 'burned' during short-cycle/high-RPM periods.
The end result was KB breaking the 300 MPH-barrier in March of '92 at the Gatornationals in Gainesville...

At maximum RPM/fuel-flow, it is thought that EACH 62 cubic-inch cylinder receives the same amount of fuel, as if you'd stuck a garden-hose into it, turning the handles 'open-wide'...

In October at Reading, Doug Kalitta's dragster was in position to be 'fired' for it's next run. Un-be-knownst to the crew, fuel had 'seeped' into a cylinder as it sat in the staging lanes. The crew engaged the starter, flipped the switch, and 'all-Hell-broke-loose'.
They think that the cylinder was almost full of fuel. First, the valves closed, then, the piston came 'up', on the compression-stroke. Filled with the nitro/alcohol brew, it 'hydraulicked', exploding on contact (think of a one-litre bottle of Pepsi filled with dynamite, under-pressure).
Although there wasn't much of a 'flash', several crew-members were reported to be 'without eye-brows' at the next race, and the concussion was severe.
One friend of mine was in a 'Port-A-John', behind the grand-stands (due to a funeral, I was unable to attend this year). He claims the 'plastic out-house' was lifted off the ground (lucky for him, it didn't fall-over).
Another friend, who had arrived late, was outside the track, on his way towards Maple Grove Raceway, when it happened. "ROSS" has been around these cars as long, or longer, than I have, and he says, "It was like a bomb going-off; I thought the terrorists had attacked again..."...

I once asked the drive-train-specialist for Corvette-bodied Funny Car racer Bruce Larson how many runs they got out of the tires, and the ring & pinion. His answer was a new rear-gear every 8 runs, and 'no MORE than 3 runs' from a set of Goodyear Eagles...

I think I heard Virgil Hartman say the modern Top Fuel axle is a one-piece affair (like a die-cast car), made of 2.5" (maybe larger?) diameter tool-steel, with splines on each end, and hubs...

Recently, on ESPN, Austin Coil said the 'typical' nitro motor costs around $62,000, and his boss, John Force, carries over 20 for his 3-car team for himself, Gary Densham, and '03 Champion, Tony Pedregon...

Between runs, each team has just 75 minutes to dis-assemble, diagnose trouble-spots, make changes, re-assemble, and re-fire the motors and clutch-management systems. 99% of the time, this encompasses swapping all 8 piston-and-rod assemblies, servicing the heads & blower, and replacing the clutch discs...

The NHRA once had a 'Pit-Crew-Challenge'-type thing, in the late-'80s/early '90s.
Teams would 'fire-up' their motors for 30-seconds, then, shut them down. Crew-members would then remove the injector, blower, intake-manifold, both cylinder heads, and oil pan. If I remember correctly, they had to remove one piston-and-rod assembly from EACH bank of cylinders, re-install a fresh pair of piston/rod assemblies, then button the motor back-together, light-it, and have it run leak-free for 30 more seconds. if memory serves me, some teams did this in 10 minutes or less...

For the price of a 'General Admission' ticket, YOU can stand less than 10' away from the action, and converse with the crew-members!
Once, a buddy had invited a guy I'd never met before (goofy-as-Hell, but a fine body-n-fender man) to go with us to Columbus.
A low-dollar, mostly volunteer-crew Funny Car team had problems during their first time-trial run, 'spitting' a spark-plug out of the head, 'through' the side of the body, and limped off the track to make hasty repairs for the evening session.
As my buddies & I walked the pits between Professional Sessions, 'goofy-Eugene' became separated from the group. He'd never been to ANY race track before, and his 'gears didn't mesh well', so we were concerned about him.
45 minutes later, we 'find' him on the other-side of the ropes, mixing a bowl of 'bondo/goop', helping the bucks-down team patch the bodywork in time for the final time-run. 'Goofy-Eugene' thought it was "pretty far-out" helping that team, but was pizzed that they "wouldn't let me drive the car thru the pits at LEAST one time....."

The NHRA is a poorly-run organization (see the Drag Racing section, under "10.99 ROLL-CAGE UP-DATE"), but EVERYBODY should experience the 'Fuel-cars' at least once in their life: the sights, sounds, and smells ("Nitro in the morning, anyone???") will stay with you forver...
:thumbs: :chevy :thumbs: :chevy :thumbs: :chevy :thumbs:

 

:eek: :eek: :eek:

 

Yeh, hehehe....i'ts been a few decades since I was soaked in dragracing....

not immersed mind you, just soaked up to my azz.....

back then they ran more or less stock axels from old Pontiacs or the like, and so forth, now a daze you gotta have major bux and lotsa sponsors with very LARGE budgets to have a prayer....I see these guys from time to time with all those custom trailers with anything they need on board, seems a million bux can't even scratch the surface anymore....not even close....

I think it would be neat for some of the top guys to take a world tour, just to demonstrate the skill/sport/gear to the other countries....

talk about freaking them out.....taking that stuff to China, Japan, Russia, India....etc.....even FRANCE,......

can't imagine building tracks to run them safely on though ....but talk about a PR tour, that would be cool....

GENE

 

I remember eading in a magazine within in the last year and a half, popular mechanics i think, that they are/were having trouble with under that acceleration the cars whould not want t ogo straight and that was one of the main limitors. Basicly the front end walks over, and you can see it out of the hole. It ststed that to fix this they were retrding the spark, intentionally slowing them down at the begginning atleast. I can only imigane what top fuels would be like today with 100% nitro and no rear end ratio rules. Now that would be cool.

MAtt