Interesting stats on NHRA Top Fuel and Funny Cars
#1
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Interesting stats on NHRA Top Fuel and Funny Cars
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
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
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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.
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.
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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
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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 100hp 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
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...............................
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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 100hp 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
(unless they are running 80 cylinder engines)
~Rob
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#11
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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!!!
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!!!
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