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Top Fuel Drag Racers are quite amazing
Posted on 7/1/23 at 12:29 pm
Posted on 7/1/23 at 12:29 pm
Found this on the Facebook and was pretty impressed….
*NB4 “dear Facebook*
quote:
This is what 11,000 horsepower does to a top fuel dragster tire at launch.
And the speed record was set on October 2, 2022 by Brittany force! She went 338.48 mph in her Flav-R-Pac dragster in the opening round of the NHRA Midwest Nationals at the World Wide Technology Raceway! BullSnot proud driver!
TOP FUEL ACCELERATION FACTS!
* One Top Fuel dragster 500 cubic-inch Hemi engine makes more horsepower (11,000 HP) than the first 5 rows at the Daytona 500.
* Under full throttle, a dragster engine consumes 1.2-1.5 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 merely drive the dragster's 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 gasses.
* 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 1/2 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.
* Dragsters reach over 300 MPH before you have completed reading this sentence.
* In order to exceed 300 MPH in 4.5 seconds, dragsters must accelerate an average of over 4 G's. In order to reach 200 MPH well before half-track, the launch acceleration approaches 8 G's.
* 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 9500 RPM.
* THE BOTTOM LINE: Assuming all the equipment is paid off, the crew worked for free, & for once, NOTHING BLOWS UP, each run costs an estimated $1,000 per second.
0 to 100 MPH in .8 seconds (the first 60 feet of the run)
0 to 200 MPH in 2.2 seconds (the first 350 feet of the run)
6 g-forces at the starting line (nothing accelerates faster on land)
6 negative g-forces upon deployment of twin chutes at 300 MPH An NHRA Top Fuel
Dragster accelerates quicker than any other land vehicle on earth . . quicker than a jet fighter plane . . . quicker than the space shuttle.
*NB4 “dear Facebook*
Posted on 7/1/23 at 12:30 pm to Darth_Vader
another fricking trans/drag thread
Posted on 7/1/23 at 12:32 pm to Darth_Vader
I went to Wyotech back in '07-'08 and I remember the teacher in my chassis fabrication class telling us that if you lined up four 5 gal buckets of nitromethane, a top fuel car could burn 20 gallons before you could kick all four buckets over.
Posted on 7/1/23 at 12:35 pm to Darth_Vader
My uncle tried to get into this as some kind of limited partnership investment scheme with like 6 other friends, but the costs these teams incur is absolutely insane.
It still amazes me how a simple contest from (I’d imagine) the 1920’s between fellow car owners turned into the current sport where flightless UFOs throw down.
It still amazes me how a simple contest from (I’d imagine) the 1920’s between fellow car owners turned into the current sport where flightless UFOs throw down.
Posted on 7/1/23 at 12:48 pm to Darth_Vader
Insane
Posted on 7/1/23 at 12:55 pm to Darth_Vader
Another CSB. During the summer before my freshman year at LSU, I took my cousin to to the drag track on Hwy 190 near Livonia. They had races once a month there and the draw this particular night was jet car racing. Before the main draw a thunderstorm blows thru dropping around a inch of rain. It blew thru fast and everyone returned from their vehicles to the stands. Blowers were used to dry the track but it would of taken an hour or so to dry it for racing. The track announcer comes on and says anybody wanting to run the quater get you vehicle lined up. The stands damn near emptied and you saw everything from moms station wagon to some gear heads souped up chevy. Most of em did mutiple runs. Good times.
This post was edited on 7/1/23 at 1:02 pm
Posted on 7/1/23 at 12:56 pm to Darth_Vader
quote:
Including the burnout, the engine must only survive 900 revolutions under load
This is the most amazing part to me.
Posted on 7/1/23 at 1:58 pm to Darth_Vader
Tires are quite amazing, too.
Posted on 7/1/23 at 2:33 pm to Darth_Vader
quote:
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.
and
quote:
Spark plug electrodes are totally consumed during a pass. After 1/2 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.
Those hit me, and I'm not a car guy. Those are very compelling.
Posted on 7/1/23 at 2:48 pm to Darth_Vader
They also start the engine on alcohol because it won’t start on nitromethane. Nitromethane is introduced after it starts. That why it rumbles and runs fairly smooth when it starts and then starts shaking and cackling after it starts running.
Posted on 7/1/23 at 4:18 pm to Darth_Vader
Posted on 7/1/23 at 4:57 pm to Darth_Vader
The Force family has some beautiful women, just saying.
Back in my younger years, we were involved in the racing scene. Boats, Motorcycles and Auto. Great times.
Back in my younger years, we were involved in the racing scene. Boats, Motorcycles and Auto. Great times.
Posted on 7/1/23 at 6:14 pm to Darth_Vader
quote:
Dual magnetos supply 44 amps to each spark plug. This is the output of an arc welder in each cylinder.
Okay, that one blows my mind. That's incredible.
Posted on 7/1/23 at 6:28 pm to Darth_Vader
Imagine hitting 8 Gs and going negative 6 Gs in a total of 4 or 5 seconds!
I live close to summit raceway Park in norwalk Ohio. Watching top fuels and funny cars is amazing. Rocks your world in the stands on every pass
I live close to summit raceway Park in norwalk Ohio. Watching top fuels and funny cars is amazing. Rocks your world in the stands on every pass
Posted on 7/1/23 at 9:58 pm to Darth_Vader
I've never been to see one of these races. I want to see this after reading. Thanks.
Posted on 7/12/23 at 4:51 pm to Darth_Vader
my dad let me go to bob harmon raceway in monroe when i was 12 in 1965. Q Ball Wales' chute failed and he launched off the end of the banked return road. Dad never let me go again.
Posted on 7/12/23 at 6:57 pm to Darth_Vader
quote:
*NB4 “dear Facebook*
I wanted to say TLDR, but that’s some legitimately interesting info.
This is crazy to me. NASCARs have 358 cubic engines and “could” produce 900hp (by rule they are capped at how much they can actually produce). So in 142 inches the dragster can produce more than 10x the HP.
quote:
One Top Fuel dragster 500 cubic-inch Hemi engine makes more horsepower (11,000 HP) than the first 5 rows at the Daytona 500.
Posted on 7/12/23 at 7:09 pm to Darth_Vader
Price of nitromethane is 45-55 bucks a gallon just glad they don’t run on Benjamin Moore paint
Posted on 7/12/23 at 7:30 pm to Darth_Vader
Just don't hire them to coach football. Trust me on this.
Posted on 7/13/23 at 6:56 am to Darth_Vader
NHRA is an awesome sport that goes very under appreciated. Having grown up in north central Florida, I’ve gone to the Gatornationals a bunch of times. It’s awesome. I first started going as a kid in the mid 70’s when the legends were still racing. It’s come a long way since then.
Highly recommended sport.
Highly recommended sport.
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