An oldie but a goodie.


One top fuel dragster 500 cubic inch Hemi engine makes more horsepower than the first 4 rows of stock cars at the Daytona 500.


It takes just 15/100ths of a second for all 8000+ horsepower of an NHRA Top Fuel dragster engine to reach the rear wheels.


Under full throttle, a dragster engine consumes 1-1/2 gallons of nitromethane per second; a fully loaded 747 consumes jet fuel at the same rate with 25% less energy being produced. (note: Nitro M weights 10# per gal vs about 6# for gasoline)


A stock C6 Z06 engine cannot produce enough power to drive the dragster's supercharger.


With 3,000 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.


At the stoichiometric (stoichiometry: methodology and technology by which quantities of reactants and products in chemical reactions are determined) 1.7:1 air/fuel mixture of nitro methane, the flame front temperature measures 7,050 deg F.


Nitro methane 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.


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 halfway, the engine is dieseling from compression, plus the glow of exhaust valves at 1,400 deg F. 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 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.


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


Top fuel engines turn approximately 540 revolutions from light to light! Including the burnout, the engine must only survive 900 revolutions under load.


The redline is actually quite high at 9,500 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. That is $60,000 per minute or $3,600,000 dollars per hour.


The current top fuel dragster elapsed time record is 4.428 seconds for the quarter mile (11/12/06, Tony Schumacher, at Pomona, CA ).

The top speed record is 336.15 mph as measured over the last 66' of the run (05/25/05 Tony Schumacher, at Hebron, OH ).


Putting all of this into perspective:


If 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 pass 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 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 1,320 foot long race course.

 

Amazing facts and more amazing that it can do it at all.

 

I don't think this fact is true at all. If 8000 horsepower found its way to the tires in 15/100ths of a second the car would probably not even be able to break the beams because the tires would just spin right up in smoke. I'm not even sure that all 8000 horsepower ever makes it to the tire in the entire run. Making horsepower in these cars is the relatively easy part of the equation, clutch management is what separates the men from the boys in all the NHRA pro classes.

But overall what these cars can do is just mind boggling. What else is interesting is how quickly drag racing is growing as a sport. Although NHRA cant seem to get there act together enough to make a run at increasing the value of the sport here in America. The international presence that has taken an interest in this sport is quite amazing. It still is the easiest motorsport to compete in with your street car and attracts a lot of participants all over the world now. Australia has been a big area for drag racing for a while now and the middle east has new tracks being built there all the time.

 

HAHAHA That's why i love to sucker guys in with there big block Nitros cars and i ask for a 5 car Sling!!

 

Very cool thanks for Sharing!

 

I admit it. I didn't fact check the entire thing before posting.

 

Yeah, I'm not trying to take anything away from the post. Imagine 8000 horsepower at the hit of the throttle. It would rip your body apart. I had a car that pulled 2.5 g's off the starting line and the feeling I got from that was awesome. I can only imagine what a top fuel car feels like pulling 4 g's crossing the finish line is just crazy. My car went to the 1/8th mile hitting just over 160mph in 4.2 second. 0-60 was probably under a second. A top fuel dragster hits about 250 mph in the 1/8th. It's just really raw power to make that happen. The biggest limiting factor has been tires. NHRA has been regulating the top speed of these cars for over a decade by changing all the rules as they get faster cause the tire technology can't keep up.

 

You're not hurting my feelings. Great info.

 

Very interesting stuff. Thanks a lot for the share. Man, I would love a ride down the strip in one of those things.