Top Fuel Dragster And Nitro Funny Car Fastest Times

[adambar]

 

 

 

 

[Rodger Pettichord]

Thanks, Adam. Cool!

[Rob Abernathy]

That was awesome Adam!  Haven't heard that sound since I saw Big Daddy Garlits at the drags in Half Moon Bay airport in CA.

[gumbypickett]

Definitely no room for errors in that sport.

I'll pass thanks Adam.

cheers

Gumby

[W2DR]

One top fuel dragster's 500 cubic inch Hemi engine makes more horsepower than the first four 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 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 which has been 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.
 
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, 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 you, but nearly blasted you off the road when he passed you within a mere 1,320 foot long race course.

And that's acceleration........

[W2DR]

12 hours ago, Rob Abernathy said:

That was awesome Adam!  Haven't heard that sound since I saw Big Daddy Garlits at the drags in Half Moon Bay airport in CA.

Rob - It's so good to  hear from someone else who remembers Half Moon Bay. I was running a Super Stock Pontiac back in 1961-62 (sponsored by BCD Speed Shop). We'd tow up and run Half Moon Bay on Saturday night then tow over the hill to run Fremont the next day. What a life 🙂.

Edited June 21 by W2DR

[Iain Emms]

Boy can these things move enjoyed watching thank you Adam. 

cheers 

Iain 

[adambar]

Rodger, Rob, Gumby, Doug thank you.

[adambar]

1 hour ago, Iain Emms said:

Boy can these things move enjoyed watching thank you Adam. 

cheers 

Iain 

Iain, here is a full race all classes of cars and motorcycles.

Glad you enjoyed it.

 

 

[Rodger Pettichord]

2 hours ago, W2DR said:

One top fuel dragster's 500 cubic inch Hemi engine makes more horsepower than the first four 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 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 which has been 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.
 
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, 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 you, but nearly blasted you off the road when he passed you within a mere 1,320 foot long race course.

And that's acceleration........

Thanks, Doug. This was very interesting. Hard to imagine that raw power. 

[adambar]

I think they are up to 10,000 to 12,000hp now.

 

 

[Rob Abernathy]

I went to the Fremont drags as well a few times, but I was mainly a surfer dude.   lol   Lived pretty close by in Castro Valley.

[wain71]

wow, what power, amazing speed they have to, that guy in the 2nd video was really not expecting such noise....

[adambar]

38 minutes ago, wain71 said:

wow, what power, amazing speed they have to, that guy in the 2nd video was really not expecting such noise....

I used to go to the drag races back in the 60s and 70s but those were nothing compared  to what they have today. 

Smelling that Nitro will make your eyes and nose run among other things. 

[W2DR]

4 hours ago, Rob Abernathy said:

I went to the Fremont drags as well a few times, but I was mainly a surfer dude.   lol   Lived pretty close by in Castro Valley.

I lived in Monterey back in those days. Never even thought of surfing. The water temperature all year-round was 55 F. Most of us even seldom went to the beach. The exception was "Monastery Beach" just south of Carmel where the parties on Friday and Saturday night were legend. I still love you Sandi Lee and thanks for the memories. 

[W2DR]

3 hours ago, adambar said:

I used to go to the drag races back in the 60s and 70s but those were nothing compared  to what they have today.

Indeed they are not. Here's what it was like back in 1962. These Winter Nationals will always be special to be. I set my best-ever time here in a Super Stock qualifying run...11.21 seconds at 115.15 mph. Today that wouldn't even get you a second look. 

 

[W2DR]

On 6/21/2024 at 10:41 AM, adambar said:

think they are up to 10,000 to 12,000hp now.

 Yeah, probably so. Remember, my drag racing days are long past. If I can find them I'll post some pictures from my SCCA days. The first race I ever saw was Pebble Beach in 1955 ( I was 12 years old). I remember there were some cars there called Porkchops. I learned later they were called Porsche 🙂. I'd give most anything for just one more lap at Laguna Seca. I was there for first race in 1957 (it was less than 10 miles from my house and I hitchhiked out Hwy 68  to get there). I remember  Pete Lovely's Ferrari was the winner. But the car I remember most was Max Balchowsky's Old Yeller. I was lucky enough to have a chance to drive the track 53 years later (don't tell anyone I wasn't supposed to do that)  when I was working the pits on my son's team (DAL Racing). Memories of racing and Sandi Lee.