I am a regular subscriber to "Auto Week" Magazine and just got my February 18, 2008 Issue.

This issue is doing a "profiles and information" on all of the NASCAR and NHRA Teams for 2008. In the NHRA Section, they posted some pretty interesting statistics for the NHRA Top Fuel and Funny Cars. Of them, I found these to be really interesting and a couple of them downright amazing:

1.) One cylinder of the eight cylinders on a Top Fuel NHRA Dragster or Funny Car is good for 750 H.P.!

2.) A Top Fuel NHRA Dragster launches off the line with roughly the same force as the space shuttle when it leaves the launching pad at Cape
Canaveral!

3.) An NHRA Funny Car Driver experiences 7g's of deceleration force when the twin parachutes deploy.

4.) The fuel pump used on an NHRA Top Fuel Dragster or Funny Car delivers
SIXTY-FIVE (65) GALLONS of fuel per minute while making their runs.

5.) An NHRA Top Fuel Dragster accelerates from 0 to 100 MPH in LESS THAN
EIGHT-TENTHS OF A SECOND!

---------
John_P

 

here are some more

One Top Fuel dragster 500 cubic inch Hemi engine makes more

horsepower than the first 5 rows at the Daytona 500 assuming the Nascar car is making 800 hp.



Under full throttle, a dragster engine consumes 1½ gallons of

nitromethane 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 supercharger at full throttle.



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 nitromethane

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.



In order to exceed 300 mph in 4.5 seconds dragsters must

accelerate at 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 red-line is actually quite high at 9500 rpm.



The Bottom Line; Assuming all the equipment is paid off, the

crew worked for free, and for once NOTHING BLOWS UP, each run costs an

estimated US $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).



The top speed record is 336.15 mph (533 km/h) as measured over the last

66' of the run (05/25/05 Tony Schumacher).



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 past 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 1320 foot long race course.



That, people, is acceleration.

 

Wow Rob,......that is some good stuff!! Thanks for posting all that!

--------
John_P

 

I know you got that out of a mag, but my uncle is in the industry and he said there making about 8000hp, so about 1000hp per cylinder. He also stated that they can turn 10,000 hp out of them no problem, but havent found a tire/track and clutch setting which would be able to deliver the full 10000 hp to the ground

 

i love reading stats like that!!!

 

-------------------------------------------------------
Hintz:

Yeah your right, that stat could be wrong, it is a little low, but as you said I took it right from what they had printed there.

Thanks for pointing that out though...............................

 

I assume you meant 1000 HP per cylinder

(unless they are running 80 cylinder engines)
~Rob

 

Hintz:

I corrected that "typo" in your post for you!

 

I had seen another version of Rob C's post before. That is pretty incredible.

 

thank you, sir

 

Awesome stats! I love that stuff!
A few years back I was at the CarQuest Empire Nats. (IHRA) in Leicester, NY, and was able to walk away with a spent clutch plate and a spark plug from one of Don Lampus' dragsters after hanging out in the pit area and chit-chatting with the crew chiefs for a while. Those parts were from one pass, and the business end of the plug was pretty much gone, and the clutch disk looked like it had 200k hard miles on it.
Long live drag racing!!!

 

these cars are amazing if you ever get the chance to see them in person do it you will never forget the exp. just bring ear plugs and a gas mask....