top fuel drag facts

NYSpeed Automotive
1

so we have rally, f1, and champ car articles… let’s make some time for the baddest 1320 monsters in existance - the top fuel dragster.

http://www.dragracingunderground.com/images/nationals/tf03.jpg

motorheads welcome. racing “elistists” who scoff at “low-tech,” high-power straightline missiles, :gtfo:

this isn’t meant as a “see, this is better than ______,” this is simply the facts, ma’am :biglaugh:

so…

http://motortrend.com/features/consumer/112_0502_numbers05_z.jpg

using an all-aluminum (except for the titanium oil pan, IIRC) 500cid chrysler hemi, 14-71 supercharged, and nitromethane-burning, top fuelers (hence the name) make an estimated 8,000 horsepower @ 12,000 RPM, or about 1000 ponies per cylinder.

an entire NASCAR 358cid eight - 750 bhp. a formula 1 V10, about 800-850. the supercharger at WOT produces 45.5 lbs of boost. that’s more than 3.0 bar.

the engine is rebuilt 184 times a year (assuming a championship run, where the winner makes the most passes), the 6-disc clutch will last three rounds.

the fuel pump delivers 65 gallons of fuel per minute (fuel-line pressure is between 400 and 500 pounds). it’s crazy watching just a single injector powered by this pump spray fuel… think showerhead or hose instead of an automotive injector.

the dragsters use between 10 and 12 gallons of fuel for a complete pass, including the burnout, backup, and run. as fuel consumption per distance traveled (and I’m no math major), the high end of your “economy” would be about 48 GPM. these fellas get thirsty.

the complete chassis weigh about 2200lbs. the power-to-weight ratio is about .275 lbs/bhp. a new Z06: 6.5 lbs/bhp, or 23.63 times more (yes, I’ve got the calculator up now :lol: )

top fuel dragsters accelerate faster than an F/A-18E/F super hornet being launched from a carrier deck (there’s my jet reference for the day :wink: )The dragster accelerates 0-100 mph in .8 seconds - at 5Gs. top fuel dragsters can exceed 280 mph at the 660 foot mark.

when the chutes deploy, it’s 7G’s of decelerative force. that’s easily enough to snap human vertebrae.

it takes 15/100ths of a second for ALL 8,000 horsepower of a TF dragster engine to reach the rear wheels. that’s impressive in anyone’s book. the torque curve could be used for sighting in match rifles.

the rear wing on an NHRA Top Fuel dragster develops between 4,000 and 12,000 pounds of downforce. that much downforce (drag, essentially) and they still rip standing quarters in the low 4-second range, at over 330 mph.

if you’ve never been to a top fuel race, NYIRP runs them in early summer, along with funny car, pro stock, pro mod, (my uncle used to run pro mod for BDS blowers and jim oddy - fred hahn, or “fritzie”) and a few others like the bikes and exhibition shit (“cool bus,” jet semis).

but the top fuel is the draw. the thing you remember most is the feel of them passing you - it’s like your innards are set to “puree.”

I’ve been to open header dirt tracks, formula atlantic straightaway runs, flat-out cart quals, nascar road courses, etc… but for pure, unadulterated automotive fury, nothing else comes close.

2

:tup:

Nice.

3

:inbeforesomesaysturbosarebetter:

I love how when you walk past them the unburnt fuel makes your eyes water.

4

Even in the grand stands top fuel dragsters will pass by and make your chest feel like its going to explode. The feeling is heightened when standing track side.

0-330mph in 4 seconds. Thats truely impressive to consider.

Pit crews have 70 minutes to take apart and reassmble the engine in between runs. And they do it after every run regardless of what goes right or wrong.

The engines make so much power that if a racer gets on the throttle and the tires break loose or they experience tire shake, they have only one chance to let off and re-apply gas. A second try will almost certainly explode the engine.

5

Good stuff. :tup: I’ve always been partial to the funny cars and bikes, but there is nothing like standing a few feet away from a top fuel land missle @ E-town hurtling down the track.

6

Big deal 16hp per cubic inch.

:eek:

7

did you write that?

8

Some more awsome 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 than 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 its 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.
9

yeah, a lot of it is available from the nhra and through various magazines.

10

i love getting boners @ work … from the motorsports section.

11

:word: or at school for that matter…

12

Geez…lets stay on topic here.

13

oops… sorry for misleading you :wave:

BTW -

I did some of my own math here…

You could drive all year in a civic for the price of 30 passes @ the track with those things… or 8 miles.

14

now heres a thought. I myself am a supercharger type of guy mainly becuase my car has one. But would they be able to get more power out of those engines if they used a turbo set up. Would they even be able to get it to spool? Shit these motors screem to 12k.

15

what size injectors???

16

there simply aren’t fuel injectors large enough to move that kind of fuel without going to 4+ injectors per cylinder…as such, they tend to stick with carbs.
But good old John force runs 5 percylinder, 2 inside the valve cover. They are mechanical though as electronic engine controlls are not permitted.

17

think of a garden hose… now think of 2 of them

18

Wow, thats incredible.

19

Hmm interesting. A turbo would probably be more efficient to run since a supercharger takes so much power to run.

20

There was a reason they didn’t run turbos… besides being against the rules… that I can’t think of right now.