Drag Race Cars

6 responses so far ↓

• Menelaus

  Sep 30, 2010 at 2:24 pm

  

  I used to watch tractor pulling when I was a wee feller at the Royal Show…oo..about thirty years ago – back then it was a couple of dragster engines, a merlin or the odd helicopter engine. I actually thought the sport had died along with “smokey joe” and “knightmare”. How wrong am I? Why on earth has the TG quest for power not realy ventured this far? Would love to see May crapping his pants in one of these.
• Mr Potatoe Head

  Oct 3, 2010 at 5:07 pm

  

  Some useful Top Fuel info:
  One Top Fuel dragster 500 cubic-inch Hemi engine makes more power than the first 4 rows of the Daytona 500.
  Under full throttle, a Top Fuel dragster engine consumes 5.6 litres of nitro methane per second, a fully loaded Boeing 747 consumes jet fuel at the same rate with 25% less energy being produced.
  A stock Dodge 426 Hemi cannot produce enough power to drive the dragster's supercharger.
  With 3000cfm 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.
  Nitro methane burns yellow. The white flame seen above the exhaust stacks at night is raw burning hydrogen, dissociated from atmospheric water vapor by searing exhaust gases.
  Dual magneto's supply 44 amps to each spark plug, this is the out put of an arc-welder in each cylinder.
  Spark plugs electrodes are totally consumed during the pass. After half track, the engine is dieseling from compression and from the glow from the exhasut valves at 1400 degrees F. Cutting the fuel supply to the engine is the only way to shut it down.
  If spark momentarily fails early in the run, unburned nitro builds up in the affected cylinders which will ultimately explode with enough force to blow the heads clean of the block or split the block in half or both.
  In order to exceed 300mph in 4.5 seconds, dragster's must accelerate at an average of over 4G's. In order to reach 200mph at half track the launch acceleration approaches 8G's.
  Dragster's hit 300mph before you have read this sentence.
  Dragster's engine redline is 9500rpm.
  The bottome line: Assuming all the equipment is paid off, the crew works for free and for once nothing blows up, each pass costs an estimated US1000.00 per second (2001 prices). The elapsed time record is 4.441 seconds Tony Schumacher 10/05/03. Top speed recorded is 333.00 (533km/h) Doug Kalitta 28/09/03.
  Putting all this into perspective:
  You are riding a US$250.000 Honda GP bike. Over the mile up the road a Top Fuel dragster is staged and ready to launch down the quarter mile as you pass. You have the advantage flying start. You run the Honda hard up, through the gears and cross the start line at 200mph (293ft/sec). The tree goes green for the both of you at that momnet. The dragster launches hard after you.
  you keep your wrist cranked hard but you hear a brutal whine that ruptures your eardrums and within 3-seconds the dragster catches and passes you and crosses the finish line with a second to spare. That folks is acceleration end of story.
• George B

  Mar 31, 2011 at 8:13 am

  

  How far could an electric car go if every part is hand selected for best performance and the battery pack construction and charge/discharge cycle is set to maximum range at the expense of battery life?  Nitromethane Top Fuel dragster engines achieve incredible power output over a lifetime measured in seconds. Contrast this EV stunt with Ford’s introduction of the F-150 EcoBoost engine in the Baja 1000.  Ford tortured the engine with tests designed to put 10 years of wear on the engine and then put it in a brutal race.  Both are stunts, but Ford’s stunt attempts to show component ruggedness.
• SoundHound

  Apr 25, 2011 at 8:57 am

  

  Copypasta: 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 6,000+ 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 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’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 estimate $1,000.00 per second. 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: 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 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 1,320 foot long race course. …… and that my friend, is ACCELERATION!
• Mr Potatoe Head

  Aug 17, 2011 at 2:05 am

  

  Some useful Top Fuel info:
  One Top Fuel dragster 500 cubic-inch Hemi engine makes more power than the first 4 rows of the Daytona 500.
  Under full throttle, a Top Fuel dragster engine consumes 5.6 litres of nitro methane per second, a fully loaded Boeing 747 consumes jet fuel at the same rate with 25% less energy being produced.
  A stock Dodge 426 Hemi cannot produce enough power to drive the dragster's supercharger.
  With 3000cfm 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.
  Nitro methane burns yellow. The white flame seen above the exhaust stacks at night is raw burning hydrogen, dissociated from atmospheric water vapor by searing exhaust gases.
  Dual magneto's supply 44 amps to each spark plug, this is the out put of an arc-welder in each cylinder.
  Spark plugs electrodes are totally consumed during the pass. After half track, the engine is dieseling from compression and from the glow from the exhasut valves at 1400 degrees F. Cutting the fuel supply to the engine is the only way to shut it down.
  If spark momentarily fails early in the run, unburned nitro builds up in the affected cylinders which will ultimately explode with enough force to blow the heads clean of the block or split the block in half or both.
  In order to exceed 300mph in 4.5 seconds, dragster's must accelerate at an average of over 4G's. In order to reach 200mph at half track the launch acceleration approaches 8G's.
  Dragster's hit 300mph before you have read this sentence.
  Dragster's engine redline is 9500rpm.
  The bottome line: Assuming all the equipment is paid off, the crew works for free and for once nothing blows up, each pass costs an estimated US1000.00 per second (2001 prices). The elapsed time record is 4.441 seconds Tony Schumacher 10/05/03. Top speed recorded is 333.00 (533km/h) Doug Kalitta 28/09/03.
  Putting all this into perspective:
  You are riding a US$250.000 Honda GP bike. Over the mile up the road a Top Fuel dragster is staged and ready to launch down the quarter mile as you pass. You have the advantage flying start. You run the Honda hard up, through the gears and cross the start line at 200mph (293ft/sec). The tree goes green for the both of you at that momnet. The dragster launches hard after you.
  you keep your wrist cranked hard but you hear a brutal whine that ruptures your eardrums and within 3-seconds the dragster catches and passes you and crosses the finish line with a second to spare. That folks is acceleration end of story.
• dikichandra94

  Jan 22, 2012 at 4:58 am

  

  Ford Top Fuel Dragster Engine 1/6: – Free Shipping on this Item !!!!- Actual Moving Parts- Measures approximatel…