Top Fuel Dragster Facts
Milito
Posts: 1,958
I don't know how many here are into NHRA Top Fuel Dragsters, but I found this and thought you might be interested.
UPDATE: I just learned that this info is from 2004, so you can only imagine how much the cost, the technology and the speed has gone up.
Drag racing must be one of the most expensive hobbies on the Planet ! A single barrel of fuel is over $750.00 U.S., and here is what you get from that :
TOP FUEL ACCELERATION PUT INTO PERSPECTIVE
* One Top Fuel dragster 500 cubic-inch Hemi engine makes more horsepower (10,000 HP) than the first 5 rows at the Daytona 500.
* Under full throttle, a dragster engine consumes 1.2-1.5 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 merely drive the dragster's supercharger.
* 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.
* At the stoichiometric 1.7:1 air/fuel mixture for nitro methane the flame front temperature 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.
* 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. 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.
* Dragsters reach over 300 MPH before you have completed reading this sentence.
0 to 100 MPH in .8 seconds (the first 60 feet of the run)
0 to 200 MPH in 2.2 seconds (the first 350 feet of the run)
* In order to exceed 300 MPH in 4.5 seconds, dragsters must accelerate an average of over 4 G's. In order to reach 200 MPH well before half-track, the launch acceleration approaches 8 G's.
6 g-forces at the starting line (nothing accelerates faster on land)
6 negative g-forces upon deployment of twin chutes at 300 MPH. A Top Fuel Dragster accelerates quicker than any other land vehicle on earth . . quicker than a jet fighter plane . . . quicker than the space shuttle.
* 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 9500 RPM.
* The current Top Fuel dragster elapsed time record is 4.420 seconds for the quarter-mile (2004, Doug Kalitta). The top speed record is 337.58 MPH as measured over the last 66' of the run (2005, Tony Schumacher).
THE BOTTOM LINE: Assuming all the equipment is paid off, the crew worked for free, NOTHING BLOWS UP, each run costs an estimated $1,000 per second.
Putting this all 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 & 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 & pass the dragster at an honest 200 MPH. The 'tree' goes green for both of you at that moment.
The dragster launches & starts after you. You keep your foot down hard, but you hear an incredibly brutal whine that sears your eardrums & within 3 seconds the dragster catches & 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 & not only caught, but nearly blasted you off the road when he passed you within a mere 1320 foot long race!
That's acceleration!
UPDATE: I just learned that this info is from 2004, so you can only imagine how much the cost, the technology and the speed has gone up.
Drag racing must be one of the most expensive hobbies on the Planet ! A single barrel of fuel is over $750.00 U.S., and here is what you get from that :
TOP FUEL ACCELERATION PUT INTO PERSPECTIVE
* One Top Fuel dragster 500 cubic-inch Hemi engine makes more horsepower (10,000 HP) than the first 5 rows at the Daytona 500.
* Under full throttle, a dragster engine consumes 1.2-1.5 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 merely drive the dragster's supercharger.
* 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.
* At the stoichiometric 1.7:1 air/fuel mixture for nitro methane the flame front temperature 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.
* 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. 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.
* Dragsters reach over 300 MPH before you have completed reading this sentence.
0 to 100 MPH in .8 seconds (the first 60 feet of the run)
0 to 200 MPH in 2.2 seconds (the first 350 feet of the run)
* In order to exceed 300 MPH in 4.5 seconds, dragsters must accelerate an average of over 4 G's. In order to reach 200 MPH well before half-track, the launch acceleration approaches 8 G's.
6 g-forces at the starting line (nothing accelerates faster on land)
6 negative g-forces upon deployment of twin chutes at 300 MPH. A Top Fuel Dragster accelerates quicker than any other land vehicle on earth . . quicker than a jet fighter plane . . . quicker than the space shuttle.
* 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 9500 RPM.
* The current Top Fuel dragster elapsed time record is 4.420 seconds for the quarter-mile (2004, Doug Kalitta). The top speed record is 337.58 MPH as measured over the last 66' of the run (2005, Tony Schumacher).
THE BOTTOM LINE: Assuming all the equipment is paid off, the crew worked for free, NOTHING BLOWS UP, each run costs an estimated $1,000 per second.
Putting this all 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 & 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 & pass the dragster at an honest 200 MPH. The 'tree' goes green for both of you at that moment.
The dragster launches & starts after you. You keep your foot down hard, but you hear an incredibly brutal whine that sears your eardrums & within 3 seconds the dragster catches & 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 & not only caught, but nearly blasted you off the road when he passed you within a mere 1320 foot long race!
That's acceleration!
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Comments
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Outstanding!! Thanks for that!!See my profile for list of gear.
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Yes, very cool, thanks for sharing. I believe one more fact is the headers produce 750 lbs of downforce from the exhaust.
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I love drag racing and do it myself. I current car , 2020 Dodge Charger Scat pack I have run
11.7 1/4 mile
Ran 118.9 in the 1/4
60 ft times I have pulled a 1.6
This is all with a stock car with just a Drag Radial and a Hellcat lower air box and grill tube with a Hellcat air filter.
Dan
My personal quest is to save to world of bad audio, one thread at a time. -
My neighbor when I was young raced both funny cars and dragsters he built from scratch. The most exciting time in my life by far was when I was 15 and went to the track with him. I had known Jim from basically birth. My job that day was to attach the motor starter to the front of the engine to start the engine. That nitro methane will bring tears to your eyes, BADLY! By the time I lifted my leg over the dragsters rails I was almost blind from the water escaping 😂.
I see they wear a respirator type mask now, what a bunch of sissy's 😜
I remember when he was talking about racing funny cars, he said lining them up was the most important part because if you are off just a little bit you didn't drive those you pointed them and hung on and hoped they went straight 😂😂
Great article!!!
Larnt me sumptinPost edited by pitdogg2 on -
Drag racing is a ton of fun! A few years back I ran a friends asphalt sled. 138.5 mph / 9.02 seconds in the 1/4 mile. That was one of the biggest adrenaline rushes I’ve experienced.See my profile for list of gear.
