top fuel fact from here at work
 

-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 styceometric (exact) 1.7:1 air/fuel mixture
(for nitro), the flame front of nitromethane
measures 7050 degrees 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.

-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 of 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 300 mph in 4.5 seconds dragsters
must accelerate at an average of over 4 G's. But
in reaching 200 mph well before 1/2 track, launch
acceleration is closer to 8 G's.

-Drivers shut off before the finish line, or even
dual parachutes will not stop the car.

-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.

You're right.

There's nothing like the sound of a nitro engine at full song.

Ever see a top fuel rail at idle? Watch the exhaust stacks. You'll see liquid spitting out, it's unburned fuel.
I saw one 'sneeze" shortly after being fired up. It blew the crankshaft right out the bottom. No joke! The block was shattered like a hand grenade went off inside.

this is a cool bunch of facts. :)

Very Interesting that is a dream of mine to run the quarter in a nitro dragster.

More;

The octane rating of Nitro is -1000 Squared

Ignition timing changes throughout the pass starting from NEGATIVE 8 to NEGATIVE 14 degrees.

It takes close to 800hp to turn the blower.

Motor accelerates from 2700rpm idle to 8200rpm in .1 sec

The exhaust valves must open against 9000 PSI.

Makes us realize how "low performance" our motors are.



;)

How about the total number of revolutions a top fuel motor makes between tear downs is about 1600.

-Greg

what??? 1600??? what r u talking about???

Heard if from Dean Skuza, also you can figure it out as roughly:

20 seconds of idle to line up (500 rev), 3 seconds for burnout (400 rev), 5 seconds for run(667 rev), that would total up to 1567 revolutions.

-Greg

Very Cool reading.

Jan

Love it, thanks for sharing!

Those are keepers. Makes for good small talk, incredible facts. :eek: :cool:

I saw on TNN once where they had a Top Fuel motor on a stand to simulate a pass and they dumped water thru the top. The water rushed out the bottom as fast as it went in. It was amazing to see how much fuel is needed. Those were some great facts. Can you imagine twice the horsepower of the biggest, baddest boat engine found? There is nothing like the sound of a burnout. Your whole body shakes. I saw th Space Shuttle take off and that was mild compared to the Dragster. I bet if I was 50ft from the Space Shuttle it would stop your Heart though:eek: Ever sit at the big end and watch the car go through the lights? The back is trying to pass the front. :D

still don't get it...rev's per what???

Total revolutions of the crank in the block ;) I do think he's a little low as there would be a little warm up time etc, but all in all a VERY short engine life.

-Greg

i see what u r trying to say...

I was standing next to Tony Petragon's crew chief on the starting line in Enlishtown when he ran a 4.777 pass. HOLY $*@*
I've never seen power like that. It's scary! I also never realized the smell of Nitro is like tear gas!

Yeah, the smell of nitro does bring tears to your eyes.
But there's nothing like it.
I'd like to have been standing at the line there myself. The thunder from two nitro cars must've been awsome.:cool: :cool:

Tbonepmp and myself attended the Creve Cour Classic Drag Boat races this past weekend and we were about 50 feet to the port rear of the top fule boat at launch and all i can say is(on this board) WOW:cool: The boat in the far lane launched to the left and took out all the timing equipment and sunk the boat.

And people wonder why I sold the funny car and got into boats, you think boating is expensive, try running one of those damn things

Those things aint got nothing on our nitro burning wheel standing tracktor :D:D

Joey - looks to me like you are spending too much time at work and not enough time packing to come to visit for the weekend. MOM:D

Can somone explain the "First 8 rows at Daytona" thing for me?
Humor me, I'm bored, so I tried to do the math. Where's the error?
First 8 rows of Daytona = 16 cars.
Winton Cup Car Hp = ~725.
725x16=11,600 hp.
Isn't a top fuel motor around 6500 hp?

Don't forget the Nascar engines usually last 500 miles at near WOT in very high temps. It takes alot of skill to build an engine to last like that.

audacity, great facts. I love drag racing and am amazed that they can even get them things to go 1/4 mile! Everything has to be perfect.

Couple other facts I have picked up:
The rear wing generates 6000-7000 lbs of down-force.
The blowers generate 40+ lbs of boost.
The fuel pumps are rated for 140 gallons/second

Tell me more!!!

With a shaft dyno they pegged it when calibrated to 5000 ft-lbs TQ and had it recalibrated to 10,000 ft-lbs TQ and now it is OK. Somewhere around ? 8000. They won't tell.