Some interesting Top Fuel dragster facts:

1) One dragster's 500-inch Hemi makes more horsepower then the first 8 rows at Daytona

2) Under full throttle, a dragster engine consumes 1 1/2 gallons of nitro per second, the same rate of fuel consumption as a fully loaded 747 but with 4 times the energy volume.

3) The supercharger takes more power to drive then a stock hemi makes.

4) Even with nearly 3000 CFM of air being rammed in by the supercharger on overdrive, the fuel mixture is compressed into nearly-solid form before ignition. Cylinders run on the verge of hydraulic lock.

5) Dual magnetos apply 44 amps to each spark plug. This is the output of an arc welder in each cylinder.

6) At stoichiometric (exact) 1.7:1 air/fuel mixture (for nitro), the flame front of nitromethane measures 7050 degrees F.

7) 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.

8) 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 of it's fuel flow.

9) If spark momentarily fails early in the run, unburned nitro builds up in those cylinders and then explodes with a force that can blow cylinder heads off the block in pieces or blow the block in half.

10) Dragsters twist the crank (torsionally) so far (20 degrees in the big end of the track) that sometimes cam lobes are ground offset from front to rear to re-phase the valve timing somewhere closer to synchronization with the pistons.

11) To exceed 300mph in 4.5 seconds dragsters must accelerate at an average of over 4G's. But in reaching 200 mph well before 1/2 track, launch acceleration is closer to 8G's.

12) If all the equipment is paid off, the crew worked for free, and for once NOTHING BLOWS UP, each run costs $1000.00 per second.

13) Dragsters reach over 300 miles per hour before you have read this sentence.

 

14. I can't stand right next to the fence at the track when they are running because the fumes burn my eyes so damn bad!

 

Thats insane!!!.....10) Dragsters twist the crank (torsionally) so far (20 degrees in the big end of the track) that sometimes cam lobes are ground offset from front to rear to re-phase the valve timing somewhere closer to synchronization with the pistons.

 

i thought the power of these engines was guesstimated.....i read somewhere that the power is nearing 7000hp or something like that.

and the have to slow down/stop too...ouch

 

yeah, i read slashdot too.

 

a blower on those takes about 800hp

 

Damn, that's some mad power and science

 

another intersesting fact is how many times does the crank turn for one pass?

about 500 times

think about rebuilding a motor every 500 revolutions

 

Cool info How do dragsters steer? It seems their front end doesn't really support any direction.

 

when the shoot deploys the drivers eyes litterally pop out of their sockets. KB(Kenny Burnstein) has this problem. Many racers have surgery to reattach their eye's back into the socket.

 

#1 is probably more like the first 5 rows of Daytona. 10 cars @ 600hp = 6000hp. That is the standard claimed by most dragsters. Can you imagine the fuel pump and lines needed to pump 1.5 gallons per second. Not only is there a fuel injector on top to feed the blower, there are two nozzles for each port PLUS one that screws directly into the combustion chamber to get all that fuel into the motor. However the limit of 90% nitro maximum has reduced motor explosions to a minimum. Great post

 

when the shoot deploys the drivers eyes litterally pop out of their sockets. KB(Kenny Burnstein) has this problem. Many racers have surgery to reattach their eye's back into the socket.

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You are kidding?!?!?!?!?!?!?!

 

do they ever dyno these cars, i dont understand how you can tune a car that needs re-built every pass...

 

you rebuild it every time you make a pass. you rebuild it the same so you can tune it for temp humidity, max power, traction etc. no breakin or anything. i bet the teams consistency with tolerances and assembly technique is pretty amazing.

 

i understand now my mental capacity is temperarily down

 

Not to mention a set of pistons are melted with every pass. I have a piston from a nitro burn and it looks a little mangled. You forgot the sleeves are changed after every run, and the heads also.
They estimate the horsepower by calculating the mean BTU's with the amount of in accordance with the compression ratio and drivetrain losses. They have a clutching system that controls acceleration. Instead of a normal rod & pinion transmission they have ONE gear.

I think they should turbo them instead of blowing them. I haven't gotten that far yet.

OT I might be building an alcohol engine (blown Hemi ) for my dragster team this year in case anyone is interested I'll get some specs on the engine I set-up. It's not definate yet, but I know you'll want to hear the gory details on the build even if I don't build it. I'll get my camera back EVENTUALLY and have pics. I can't wait for the new season


[Modified by tzsir, 12:18 PM 1/11/2003]

 

Crazy!

 

And they do all of this without running on EFI! Everything is mechanical, and worse yet, everything is run off of timers. For example, when the launch is made, a timer reduces ignition timing a predetermined amount so that they don't blow the tires away. Some pretty damn incredible engineering in these things

 

 

I saw a top fuel car many, many years ago that used a turbo. It was very quiet when compared to a normal t/f. If i remember right, NHRA banned it because they felt quiet top fuel racing wasn't very exciting.

 

I dont keep up with top fuel but some of the mechanics that work at my shop do.. I asked them about turbo top fuel and they told me that it had been tried, but they werent as fast.. something about 2 turbos that flow at least 3000hp each taking to long to spool for a 4 second pass..

I dunno.. could be hearsay.. it seems to me that they could use an antilag on a car like that (of course there is no antilag on a carb car)


[Modified by Phoenix GSR, 12:57 PM 1/11/2003]

 

i liek the last 2 facts, especially the last one, i had to do it twice and count, lol

 

No, I am not kidding. They don't pop out like those freaks you see on tv shows either. Just enough to be concerned about it medically.

 

lol, actually the retina(?) starts to detach from the eyeball because of the deceleration (negative G force) caused by the popping of the chute. Stopped Don Garlits from driving for many years. Newer chutes are designed to cushion the shock of a chute opening.

 

also each cylinder runs a slightly different compression ratio. this is to keep all of them running the same temperature.