This was posted on one of the motorcycle forums and was fowarded to me by my youngest son. Watching a top fuel dragster make a successful run is probably one of the most impressive things you will ever see if you ever get a chance to see it.

Enjoy:

A lesson in acceleration:
-------------------------------------
First, some useful info:

* One Top Fuel dragster 500 cubic inch Hemi engine makes more
horsepower than the first 4 rows at the Daytona 500.

* Under full throttle, a Top Fuel dragster engine consumes 1= 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 426 Hemi V8 engine cannot produce enough power to
drive the dragster's supercharger.

* 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 $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:

You are riding the average $250,000 Honda MotoGP bike. 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 RC211V hard up through the gears and blast across
the starting line and past the dragster at an honest 200 mph (293
ft/sec). The 'tree' goes green for both of you at that moment. The
dragster launches and starts after you. You keep your wrist cranked
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, folks, is acceleration.

__________________
Jim

That's just incredible. I didn't know that. Damn thing is detonating for 1/8th of a mile.

__________________
You don't need a weatherman to know which way the wind blows - Robert A. Zimmerman

Actual horsepower is not known as there is not a dyno that can measure that much HP. Your mileage may vary.

__________________
95 SL500 Smoke Silver, Parchment 64K
07 E350 4matic Station Wagon White 34K
02 E320 4Matic Silver/grey 80K
05 F150 Silver 44K

wow...

intense

LOL! That's funny, considering the context.

__________________
You don't need a weatherman to know which way the wind blows - Robert A. Zimmerman

Thanks for posting!

__________________
1959 Gravely LI, 1963 Gravely L8, 1973 Gravely C12
1982 380SL
1978 450 SEL 6.9 euro restoration at 63% and climbing
1987 300 D
2005 CDI European Delivery
2006 CDI Handed down to daughter
2007 GL CDI. Wifes

Interesting points I did not know about top-fuel dragsters! I enjoy watching them race, and seeing the outcome less than 5 seconds later at over 300 mph!

I DID know from other sources that the engines are designed to last no more than six seconds under load. Each pass is followed by a complete engine teardown and rebuild...pistons are completely melted following a run!

__________________
2009 ML350 (106K) - Family vehicle
2001 CLK430 Cabriolet (80K) - Wife's car
2005 BMW 645CI (138K) - My daily driver
2016 Mustang (32K) - Daughter's car

What's amazing is the chassis torque. The thing bows just like in the cartoons.

__________________
You don't need a weatherman to know which way the wind blows - Robert A. Zimmerman

I drive super comp dragster. The best way to explain the sensation is it's like being strapped to a giant arrow on a bow. The first second of acceleration is incredible. I have yet to experience a top fuel run, twice as fast equals twice the fun! I'm going for top alcohol when I can afford it.

If you've never been to a national drag race event.... GO! Being there is way different than watching it on TV. The sound a fuel engine makes is absolutely amazing, it shakes the ground. Even the idle is unbarrably loud. And ofcourse the smell.... The best way to explain that is tear gas.

Here's some more interesting fuel car facts:

During the last few rounds of elimination, a team can tear down and rebuild an engine in less than 90 minutes.

Engines are estimated to make over 8000HP. (DSR has a dyno for testing it, I've seen it, it's huge! They are not releasing any numbers.)

Superchargers consume a little less than 1000hp. (They are actually ice cold after a run due to evaporation of the nitromethane.)

Engine blocks and heads typically last 30 runs.

Cylinders, pistons, rods, cranks and valves typically last 1 event. about 6 runs.

Spark plugs, head gaskets, clutches and oil are changed every run.

__________________
Current Stable:
01 ML55 AMG
92 500E (a few mods)
87 300E (lots of mods)
00 Chevy 3500HD Diesel Box Truck
68 18' Donzi Marine
06 GT i-Drive7 1.0 Mountain Bike (with GPS!)

PREVIOUSLY OWNED:83 300SD, 87 420SEL, 88 420SEL, 90 420SEL, 86 560SEL, 86 190E 2.3-16V AMG, 94 E320

Now thats fast!

__________________
1999 SL500
1969 280SE
2023 Ram 1500
2007 Tiara 3200

insane. absolutely insane.

pretty much u have an arc welder igniting the fuel...

head gasket every run hahahahaa .

__________________
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Check here for compatibility, diagnostics, and availability!

(4/11/2020: Hi Everyone! I am still taking orders and replying to emails/PMs/etc, I appreciate your patience in these crazy times. Stay safe and healthy!)


82 300SD 145k
89 420SEL 210k
89 560SEL 118k
90 300SE 262k RIP 5/25/2010
90 560SEL 154k
91 300D 2.5 Turbo. 241k
93 190E 3.0 235k
93 300E 195k

I have heard that the G forces can start to detach the retinas in the drivers eyes after a while. Seems plausible, but how in the heck can John Force, and Kenny Bernstein still see after all these years ?

__________________
95 SL500 Smoke Silver, Parchment 64K
07 E350 4matic Station Wagon White 34K
02 E320 4Matic Silver/grey 80K
05 F150 Silver 44K

That right there is a beautiful sight...

__________________
"It's normal for these things to empty your wallet and break your heart in the process."
2012 SLK 350
1987 420 SEL

That calls to mind the old film of the test pilot's face during the test where he is subjected to increasing G forces and his face becomes all distorted.

__________________
" We have nothing to fear but the main stream media itself . . . ."- Adapted from Franklin D Roosevelt for the 21st century

OBK #55

1998 Lincoln Continental - Sold
Max 1984 300TD 285,000 miles - Sold
The Dee8gonator 1987 560SEC 196,000 miles - Sold
Orgasmatron - 2006 CLS500 90,000 miles
2002 C320 Wagon 122,000 miles
2016 AMG GTS 12,000 miles

I've been to a few drags and the sound from the top fuelers is incredible!

Some things I observed (don't know for sure though)-

I think they burn out on gasoline or alcohol and race on fuel. You can hear them switch to the fuel on the starting line when the engine gets that characteristic crackle.

They also leave on idle rather than at high RPM's.

There's no transmission per se. The engine is linked directly to the rear end through a clutch pack with several disks that progressively engage as RPM's climb. Kind of like a giant version of your old centrifugal go-kart clutch...!

__________________
-Evan


Benz Fleet:
1968 UNIMOG 404.114
1998 E300
2008 E63


Non-Benz Fleet:
1992 Aerostar
1993 MR2
2000 F250