Some Interesting Top Fuel Dragster Facts
 

A thread in the "Windsor" forum made me think about these tid-bits recently. That combined with the fact that several of us will be attending the NHRA Finals this weekend convinced me to post them again.

Some Interesting Top Fuel Dragster Facts:

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

* 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.

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

* 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.

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

* At stoichiometric (exact) 1.7:1 air/fuel mixture (for nitro), the flame front of nitromethane 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.

* 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 off it's fuel flow.

* 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.

* 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.

* 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.

* 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.

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

Take care,
ÅChris

:eek:


....its not miles per gallon anymore, its gallons per mile....geez...thats a lot of fuel consumption...and 8Gs? i think the only thing faster is the space shuttle...lol...

some really cool facts in there :)

Now that is POWER! :cool:

that's enough power to suck the dentures out of an old person :)

[ricemode] Ye, but my car can handle better[/ricemode]


:D :D :D

hahaha lmao...:D

I know what's going on my Christmas Wish List. :D :D :D
I remember you posted that a few months back... great stats, glad you posted it again. I gotta print it off. :D If I had one of those and like 2 days to live I'd take it out onto a public road and pull up beside some ricer. :D :D :D I'd probably kill everyone within a square mile radious but I'd be famous for it. :D Just imagin pulling up to the lights on the street agaist a topfuel dragster. :D

§am.

Yeah, but a full tank of fuel will only get you about a 1/4 mile.

:)

Take care,
ÅChris

no problem for me...i only live my life a 1/4 mile at a time... :rolleyes: :rolleyes:

Three months ago they had 1700 and 1800 hp Monster Trucks running on nitro methane up here. They were so loud I was LOVIN' it. Seeing the flames shoot out of the headers was sweet too. And the smell was pretty cool as well.

Nitromethane rules!!!!............(in my best Beavis voice) IT RULES!!!!...........

I don't think I could handle that car for a 1/4 mile anyway. :D And I'm pretty sure you could coast for along time when ya're doing 300mph. lol Just makes me think how fast I could get to school everyday, a 45 minute drive in like 2-3 minutes. :D But after a week I think it would be cheaper to buy a plain and fly to school everyday. :D How often to they rebuild the engines? and how much do they go for?

Thanks,
§am.

I don't know how you'd get to school sitting on the plain. I guess if you bought a magic carpet or had some seriously good weed and smoked it out on the plains you might get some where.

I would rather buy a plane and use your plain as an air strip and fly to places...


:D :D :D

rofl...at first i thought you used the wrong word and were dumb too... :D:D...

The engines are torn down to the bearings after every pass, and are "rebuilt" as necessary.

Here's a picture of one that belonged to a friend of a friend. It "burped" at mid-track, and, well, see for yourself...

http://homepage.mac.com/pkrwud/.Pict...%21%21/TFX.jpg

The basic costs are:

TXF block $8000.00
Heads $8,000.00 - $10,000.00
Crank $3,500.00 - $5,000.00
Blower $5,000.00
Injector (Hat) $5,000.00
Rods and Pistons $5,000.00

Thats just for the big stuff...

Take care,
ÅChris

they cost so damn much to build, run and fix...i hope they make shitpiles of money in competitions...otherwise itd be more of a money pithole than a house in renovation...

Ever hear of the NHRA?

;)

Take care,
ÅChris

yea....dont know exactly what they do tho...and i dont see the monetary connection... :confused:

Gotta love the comments... "my car handles better" ... "live my life a 1/4mi. at a time" ROTFLMAO :D

More horsepower than the first 8 rows at Daytona :eek: that's my fav.

That list was in the NMRA Race Pages a couple months back... good info.

I just learned something here. I can't out drink a dragster:D

wimp!

;) ;) ;)

:D

Take care,
ÅChris

hehe,,,

I do know Ive pulled more than 8g's before, cause I blacked out excellerating. You see one day my dogs and I tracked mud through the kitchen, uh - O, as we made our excape, I blacked out. Funny thing is, just before the excape, I felt a dull thump on the back of my head.