Top Fuel Dragster Stats...

[CSP]

A LESSON IN ACCELERATION


First, some useful info:

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

Under full throttle, a Top Fuel dragster engine consumes 1½ 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 426 cubic inch (7.0 litre) Hemi V8 engine cannot produce enough power to drive the top fuel dragster's supercharger.

With 3000 (CFM) Cubic Feet per Minute 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 nitro methane the flame front temperature measures 7050 degrees F (899 degrees C).

Nitromethane burns yellow. The spectacular white flame seen above the stacks at night is raw burning hydrogen, dissociated from atmospheric water
vapour 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 1/2 way, the engine is dieseling from compression plus the glow of exhaust valves at
1400 degrees F (760 degrees C). 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 300mph (483kph) in 4.5 seconds dragsters must accelerate at an average of over 4G's. In order to reach 200mph (322kph) well before
half-track, the launch acceleration approaches 8G's.

Dragsters reach over 300mph (483kph) before you have completed reading this sentence.

Top Fuel Engines turn approximately 540 revolutions from green light to cut off! This one’s confusing, but stop & ponder the fact that the engine is only used for apx 4 to 5 seconds.

Including the burnout the engine can only survive 900 revolutions under load.
The red-line is 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 $USD1,000.00 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 (536 km/h) as measured over the last 66 feet (20 metres) of the run (09/28/03 Doug Kalitta).


Putting all of this into perspective:
You are riding the average $250,000 Honda MotoGP bike. 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 RC211V MotoGP bike hard up through the gears and blast across the starting line and past the dragster at an honest 200 mph (322kph). The 'tree' goes green for both of you at that moment. The dragster launches and starts after you. You keep your wrist cranked 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 (402metres) away from where you just passed him. Think about it, from a standing start, the dragster had spotted you at 200 mph (322kph) and not only caught, but nearly blasted you off the road when he passed you within a mere 1320 foot long race course.

[50LTRv8]

They are just amazing machines. The g force on acceleration would be incredible.

50LTRv8

[CSP]

Heading up to WSID tomorrow to watch them

[immortality]

they are awsome machines. we had one of those reality TV series here about John Force and his family and his racing team. good watch

[pow3rslave]

those are some impressive figures...









they could almost beat my v6 exec

[xlr8_87]

seen this about 5 times before, every time I read it though because it's amazing!

[NORTI]

I miss drag racing *sniff*

[burnz]

they are awsome machines. we had one of those reality TV series here about John Force and his family and his racing team. good watch

gotta love john force, he'd could "out talk" a woman at a shopping center with a mouth full of marble's.

[adam69]

Damn i wish Calder Park was operating how it used to.Used to love watching these machines

[TheForgotten]

seen this about 5 times before, every time I read it though because it's amazing!

yeah me 2. i put it on the noticeboard at work a few years back, adn it stayed teh whole time the store manager was on holidays, but disappeared his first day back

[VH commodore]

if only i had a vl i would have a chance against 1

[andyman]

its funny how things get around ey, i had this e-mailed to me 2 months ago, very good read

[vnv8driver]

ive had the honors of stripping and rebuilding one of mick atholwoods nitro funnycars, truly magnificent setup.

[CSP]

ive had the honors of stripping and rebuilding one of mick atholwoods nitro funnycars, truly magnificent setup.

Care to elaborate?

[vnv8driver]

i learnt a thing or two with the first post that i never knew... i can add some detail of the physical charactaristics- first off the obvious, the motors are heavily worked, massive(twin 1100)carb's, lumpiest cam ive ever seen and twice the size as a regular 350 donk, the diff is about the same size as a prime mover and the axles are quite short, they dont have/run a transmission or gearbox, its a single drive straight to the diff from the motor (no reverse), the shell of the car can easily be lifted by 2 men, the only way in and out of the car is by lifting the front of the shell off the chassis, the gauges and accessories are quite limited in the cabin, besides a fire extinguisher theres an oil and water temp gauge and a tacho, no speedometer. Oh yeah, you can hear them startup a kilometre or two away : )

[burnz]

ive had the honors of stripping and rebuilding one of mick atholwoods nitro funnycars, truly magnificent setup.

your thinking of top alcohol "methanol mick" also worked as bray's engine tuner.

[burnz]

i learnt a thing or two with the first post that i never knew... i can add some detail of the physical charactaristics- first off the obvious, the motors are heavily worked, massive(twin 1100)carb's, lumpiest cam ive ever seen and twice the size as a regular 350 donk, the diff is about the same size as a prime mover and the axles are quite short, they dont have/run a transmission or gearbox, its a single drive straight to the diff from the motor (no reverse), the shell of the car can easily be lifted by 2 men, the only way in and out of the car is by lifting the front of the shell off the chassis, the gauges and accessories are quite limited in the cabin, besides a fire extinguisher theres an oil and water temp gauge and a tacho, no speedometer. Oh yeah, you can hear them startup a kilometre or two away : )

fuel car's dont run water, oil, guages. the block's are made from billit's of aluminium.
google stan sainty in granvile n.s.w. he make's the hemi type block's.

[Wombat]

Amazing figures...always been meaning to get down to Willowbank and see them.

Here's some figures for the engine in my new 120-tonne ride...
Turbocharged two-stroke V-12 diesel, 710 cubic inch per cylinder (or a total capacity of 140 liters), producing 3000hp, fed from an 8000 ltr tank...full throttle with a full load up a bit of a hill and you'll chew over 8 ltrs per kilometer (quite economical really).


...otherwise known as a coal train locomotive...

Doesn't quite match up to a top fuel dragster though...

[immortality]

Amazing figures...always been meaning to get down to Willowbank and see them.

Here's some figures for the engine in my new 120-tonne ride...
Turbocharged two-stroke V-12 diesel, 710 cubic inch per cylinder (or a total capacity of 140 liters), producing 3000hp, fed from an 8000 ltr tank...full throttle with a full load up a bit of a hill and you'll chew over 8 ltrs per kilometer (quite economical really).


...otherwise known as a coal train locomotive...

Doesn't quite match up to a top fuel dragster though...

ahhh trains, loved trains as a kid. lots of em in europe. not many here in NZ.

so what is a full load?

[AttaBoy]

I bet my V6 dunnydore can beat that.

[Wombat]

Full load is up to 10,000 tonnes chock fulla lovely coal...