Please discuss here all your remarks and pose your questions about all racing series, except Formula One. Both technical and other questions about GP2, Touring cars, IRL, LMS, ...
to put it to perspective, they have to run 13 gallons (about 49.2 liters) it think or more for just those 2 minutes
From what I read is they use a 100 liters for tyre burnout and the race itself. By that the fuel pump delivers more fuel through injection than a f1 refueling rig.
I'm never tired of watching a 7.000 Hp engine: I cannot avoid to think that the two cars in a Top Fuel race have more power than the entire F1 grid. It's very difficult to measure the power but I've heard it's around 8.500 to 10.000 HP. Torque is equally impressive at over 8.000 N-m.
BTW, does anybody know how the traction control works in these beauties? You do it through stoichiometry... and timing advance.
At the beginning of the run you fire the spark 25 degrees before TDC until the tyres get the proper shape. During the run, you fire it at 60 degrees before TDC. Yes, nitro burns slow...
Fuel pumps reach 100 gallons per minute.
I miss Top Fuel. Frankly, my next trip to US will be to watch (or to feel, as you feel the sound in your guts) an NHRA race, the true pinnacle of racing, the fastest motorsport on Earth.
I'm never tired of watching a 7.000 Hp engine: I cannot avoid to think that the two cars in a Top Fuel race have more power than the entire F1 grid. It's very difficult to measure the power but I've heard it's around 8.500 to 10.000 HP. Torque is equally impressive at over 8.000 N-m.
BTW, does anybody know how the traction control works in these beauties? You do it through stoichiometry... and timing advance.
At the beginning of the run you fire the spark 25 degrees before TDC until the tyres get the proper shape. During the run, you fire it at 60 degrees before TDC. Yes, nitro burns slow...
Fuel pumps reach 100 gallons per minute.
I miss Top Fuel. Frankly, my next trip to US will be to watch (or to feel, as you feel the sound in your guts) an NHRA race, the true pinnacle of racing, the fastest motorsport on Earth.
the traction control isn't active. It hard set in the clutch engagement and the drivers foot. What is most amazing to me is how few times both cars made it to the end without a problem.
as you write its something to be felt not only heard. Not to mention the smell of the nitro
the ignition only fires until a out the 60ft line after that the engine is running on a diesel cycle the only way to stop it is to cut the fuel
the ignition only fires until a out the 60ft line after that the engine is running on a diesel cycle the only way to stop it is to cut the fuel
Cool, i had no idea of that. As both of you point out, it´s something to be felt rather than watched/heard. Nevertheless i wish the NHRA tv transmissions had technical insight such as what you just mentioned, but for the most part they just dribble around. I miss the ANDRA races, those aussies sure had good technical stuff mixed in between.
the ignition only fires until a out the 60ft line after that the engine is running on a diesel cycle the only way to stop it is to cut the fuel
Cool, i had no idea of that. As both of you point out, it´s something to be felt rather than watched/heard. Nevertheless i wish the NHRA tv transmissions had technical insight such as what you just mentioned, but for the most part they just dribble around. I miss the ANDRA races, those aussies sure had good technical stuff mixed in between.
I should correct my statement the ignition still fires but the sparkplugs melt off.
One top fuel dragster 500 cubic inch Hemi engine makes more horsepower
than the first 4 rows of stock cars at the Daytona 500.
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 4.441 seconds for the
quarter mile (10/05/03, Tony Schumacher). The top speed record is 333.00
mph (533 km/h) as measured over the last 66' of the run (09/28/03 Doug
Kalitta).
Putting all of this into perspective, picture this scenario: 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!
To achieve anything, you must be prepared to dabble on the boundary of disaster.”
Sir Stirling Moss
Great info Strad, thx. I'm pretty sure somewhere around there must be some very interesting statistics about how engines pretty much get rebuilt between runs, i find that amazing and can perfectly understand why sometimes you see NHRA teams where all mechanics are volunteers. I'd definitely sign up for that.
One point of clarification -- speeds wer getting so unsafe that the dragsters are now running a reduced course: they are hitting those incredible speeds in 1,000 feet. That change was brought about by a couple deaths (12 months ago? 18?)
Some one mentioned a fueler driver names Antwon. Last name is Brown.
Each team has a clutch specialist, who plays a very important role. Controlled clutch slip plays a large role in "traction control" off the line.
Enzo Ferrari was a great man. But he was not a good man. -- Phil Hill
donskar wrote:One point of clarification -- speeds wer getting so unsafe that the dragsters are now running a reduced course: they are hitting those incredible speeds in 1,000 feet. That change was brought about by a couple deaths (12 months ago? 18?)
Some one mentioned a fueler driver names Antwon. Last name is Brown.
Each team has a clutch specialist, who plays a very important role. Controlled clutch slip plays a large role in "traction control" off the line.
I believe it was to give them a little more time to pull the chutes. since @300 mph .10 seconds is a fair amount of ground
