Top fuel dragster facts

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shakergt

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For the car buff out there here are some facts on the top fuel dragster

How's this for some mega Top Fueller Facts! ?

-One Top Fuel dragster 500 cubic inch Hemi engine makes more horsepower than the first 4 rows at the Daytona 500. They have over half again as much horsepower in one cylinder as a Dodge Viper has in all ten. No one has ever successfully run one long enough on a dyno to get a horsepower reading. Current estimates are right around 6,000 horsepower.

-Under full throttle, a dragster engine consumes 1-1/2 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 Hemi V8 engine cannot produce enough power to drive the dragster supercharger. The fuel pump alone requires more horsepower to turn than the average street car produces.

-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.

-The 1.7:1 air/fuel mixture for nitro methane produces a flame front temperature measures 7050 degrees F.

-Nitro methane burns yellow. The spectacular white flame seen above the stacks at night is raw burning hydrogen, disassociated 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 the run, the engine is dieseling from compression plus the glow of exhaust valves at 1400 degrees F. The engine can only be shut down by running the car out of fuel. There is no way to cut off the fuel; the engine stops only when it blows or the tank runs dry.

-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. To put this in perspective; a top fuel dragster, parked next to a Super Hornet on the steam catapult on the deck of an aircraft carrier, would be in the water and sinking before the Super Hornet was halfway down the deck.

-Dragsters reach over 300 miles per hour before you have completed reading this sentence.

-Top Fuel Engines only turn approximately 540 revolutions from light to light!

-Including the burnout, the engine must only survive 900 revolutions under load. They only survive about 80% of the time.

-Redline at 9500 rpm.

-Assuming all the equipment is paid off, the crew worked for free, and for once NOTHING BLOWS UP, each run costs an estimated $1,000.00 per second.

-The engine is entirely rebuilt every run, or every 900 revolutions. New pistons and rings, new rods, new rod bearings. Sometimes a new crank. The crew does this in about two hours between rounds.

-The current Top Fuel dragster elapsed time record is 4.441 seconds for the quarter mile. The top speed record is 333.00 mph (533 km/h) as measured over the last 66' of the run.

-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 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 dragster 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.
 
Back when Bob Jane had Calder Park buzzing , we used to go to see the funny cars and top fuellers regularly. We hung around the pits inbetween races to watch the team of mechanics for each car totally strip and re-build a hot engine in probably under 15 minutes. Something that would take us normal street and strip racers hours to do.
Romeo Capitanio was my favourite top fueller. I can`t remember exactly what happened ,but one night he got disqualified for something minor like the engine stalling during practice. Great times. Victa Bray was good to watch ,too. Ben wasn`t even on the scene when i used to go. The jet cars were something else. Many years` ago when we lived about 10 kms from Calder Park, you could hear the jet cars practicing during the daytime without us even leaving home. They were that loud. The first night they ever had jet cars at Calder Park, we were seated behind the fence and nearly got roasted. The heat from the jet on the first car actually melted the metal signage on the fence.
 
The thump that hits you in the chest as they go past is something else. Its been a long time from when I was at the drags last. Might have to go when I'm in Perth next.
 
The smell of the fuel vapour up close at idle (10 metres) feels like your nostril hairs are burning let alone the chest being compounded and ear drums ripped out. They are an expensive bit of muscle no doubt about it.
 
if you have been to a F1 race you know they are loud cars, go to the nitro meetings and it will blow you away, your insides vibrate like hell and ya need earplugs big time.

i loved the old days out at calder park, no more nitro's run there though i think as its too built up now.

had a mate that built his own funny car from a model chassis, it was an alcohol funny car, very smart bloke was a mechanic.

sold it to bob sheppard i think.

1600557007_img_20200802_133002.jpg
 
Calder Park was built many years ago and then all the suburbs started to pop up where it was once barren and some new residents started to complain about the noise , even though the Tullamarine airport is not that far away either and it is noisy at times , too. Don`t know what the situation is now. Bob Jane used to live in a big house up the road in Diggers rest. Anyone know if the chapel he built is still at Calder ?
 
Used to watch drag boats at the Silverwater Bridge back in the 70's, most of the top boats in those days were only producting around 2000hp. I remember seeing one of these insane boats do a barrel roll off the start :awful: it still completed the race :eek:
 
Dihusky said:
Used to watch drag boats at the Silverwater Bridge back in the 70's, most of the top boats in those days were only producting around 2000hp. I remember seeing one of these insane boats do a barrel roll off the start :awful: it still completed the race :eek:

Only 2000 HP ? That`s a fair bit of grunt for a fibreglass vessel gliding over water.. What are they now ?
 
Anyone else get a bad headache from attending the drag races. Went years ago to Calder park to watch the jet cars run. Heaps of fun but by the end of the night, my head was exploding inside. Had to let my brother in law drive my clubsports home it was that bad. (lol, nobody drives my cars) Had the same thing happen at the inside Motorcross once. I now just have to settle for watching stuff like this on tv.
 
They gassed one up at the Clipsal 500 last year it was defending I could not believe how loud it was..
 
Yep must be showing my age here. I saw my first ever nitro car at what was known as Ravenswood international raceway. It was the strip before they built the perth motor plex. I remember seeing Victor bray race at Ravenswood.
 
just starting said:
Back when Bob Jane had Calder Park buzzing , we used to go to see the funny cars and top fuellers regularly. We hung around the pits inbetween races to watch the team of mechanics for each car totally strip and re-build a hot engine in probably under 15 minutes. Something that would take us normal street and strip racers hours to do.
Romeo Capitanio was my favourite top fueller. I can`t remember exactly what happened ,but one night he got disqualified for something minor like the engine stalling during practice. Great times. Victa Bray was good to watch ,too. Ben wasn`t even on the scene when i used to go. The jet cars were something else. Many years` ago when we lived about 10 kms from Calder Park, you could hear the jet cars practicing during the daytime without us even leaving home. They were that loud. The first night they ever had jet cars at Calder Park, we were seated behind the fence and nearly got roasted. The heat from the jet on the first car actually melted the metal signage on the fence.

I met Victor Bray a few times at Willowbank, I love his Black 57 Chevy and I saw Twinkle Taylor there on her bike and the Bandag Bullet and a couple of other Jet trucks, I knew John Payne from Superformance in Brisbane.

I got a couple of mates who are still in to it,
 
shakergt said:
Yep must be showing my age here. I saw my first ever nitro car at what was known as Ravenswood international raceway. It was the strip before they built the perth motor plex. I remember seeing Victor bray race at Ravenswood.

If your old so am I I've been to Ravenswood got some photo's somewhere of a dunny derby was a hoot & I live in SA. I remember a FJ ute called Inkaholic purple if my memory is correct no photo of it though
 
In my early days 1980-1987 I was an Official at Surfers Paradise Raceway so got to see/play with all sorts of Motorsport stuff there... Seen plenty of things over the years I worked there till its closure in 1987 8.( ..
I knew John 'Stomper' Winterburn along with Dennis Syrmis, Both dead now. R.I.P fellas.. :brokenh: :flowers:

Dennis and I used to 'Race' each other on the streets of the Gold Coast before he took things seriously and became an Official and stopped street racing... Oh the good ol days of the Goldy...

Stomper was the founding member who started Willowbank Raceway in 1985 after He predicted the closure of Surfers and started raising funds for Willowbank.. He along with a few others mortgaged their houses in order to obtain a bank loan to build Willowbank...

Highlights and some very sad lowlights at that place... :brokenh: and With a real '1/4 mile dragstrip'... Not this crap they run down now days... :/

LW....
 
LoneWolf said:
In my early days 1980-1987 I was an Official at Surfers Paradise Raceway so got to see/play with all sorts of Motorsport stuff there... Seen plenty of things over the years I worked there till its closure in 1987 8.( ..
I knew John 'Stomper' Winterburn along with Dennis Syrmis, Both dead now. R.I.P fellas.. :brokenh: :flowers:

Dennis and I used to 'Race' each other on the streets of the Gold Coast before he took things seriously and became an Official and stopped street racing... Oh the good ol days of the Goldy...

Stomper was the founding member who started Willowbank Raceway in 1985 after He predicted the closure of Surfers and started raising funds for Willowbank.. He along with a few others mortgaged their houses in order to obtain a bank loan to build Willowbank...

Highlights and some very sad lowlights at that place... :brokenh: and With a real '1/4 mile dragstrip'... Not this crap they run down now days... :/

LW....

Somewhere I have a Video of that night at willow bank with Victors Chevy and Twinkle Taylor and the Jet Trucks etc,

Life was so simple back then, Car's, BBQ's and Fishing and Shooting and then came :inlove: and that buggered every thing, LOL :lol: :lol: :lol:
 
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