What do you know about Top Fuel Dragsters? Do you know that they make over 10,000 horsepower? Or that they use special nitromethane fuel that has to be pumped in using a 2.5in fuel line? Or that the supercharger requires over 800 horsepower just to run it at all?
How about how the engine needs to be completely torn down, inspected and rebuilt after every single run?
Why do Top Fuel Dragster engines only last for 3 seconds? And how do they manage to make the power that they do? Today I take a break from the Formula 1 content and dig into something I've always been fascinated with... The insane engineering of Top Fuel Dragsters.
You simply have to witness a NHRA super national event to get it….or better, believe it.
ReplyDeleteGo to the 2 minute mark (I think) and see where the driver hits the accelerator in the pits and blasts that kid. His buddy laughing at him is priceless.
DeleteI used to go to the World Finals and Winternationals in Pomona when I lived in SoCal. NUTHIN' beats the smell of Nitro!
ReplyDeleteWell...maybe Hoppes....
My NHRA races was at Sears Point. I went every year for almost 10 years. Great times.
DeleteWent to Friday night at Sears Point once. Walking thru the pits standing behind the top fuel dragster. Awesome. Still smelling like nitromethane exhaust the next morning, priceless
DeleteAt El Toro was a drag strip. After a day and night at the drags, brother and me would lay in the grass to watch and feel the F-4s take off in full burner. You know, to calm down.
DeleteWhen landing at Brackett (Pomona), I'd try to time my approaches to be crossing the strip when the Christmas tree turned green. Sometimes I was perfectly timed. Oh yes, fifty feet above I could feel that awesome HP unleashed.
DeleteIn 1972-1973, Mom and dad raced a 67 Plymouth belvedere at Laplace Raceway just outside New Orleans. Good memories.
ReplyDeleteI would attend all the Nitro-Harley races I could in Tx, La, Ms, Fla and NC....
ReplyDeleteNothing like the smell of nitro and burning rubber along tthe sound of wide-open throttle Harleys
JD
Anyone who has an interest in motorsports should attend an NHRA event at least once. Get on the fence as near to the start line as you can. plug your ears REAL tight and hang on.
ReplyDeleteBrother and me would buy pit passes. Actually got to wrench on those machines or help in some manner. Of course, the pit pass allowed us to get real close and personal during burnouts and when they lit off at the line.
DeleteRick
DeleteThere's a track nearby, No Problem Raceway, that you get full access to the pits with your general admission ticket.. Of course you have to give the guys room to work on their equipment but everyone is welcome to ask questions...
JD
I had a 96 Harley Sportster Sport that was punched out to 88 CI that I would run on the 1/8th mile at Atlanta Dragway. I was a lightweight compared to the nitromethane big boys but I could do 40 to 50 passes before I had to open it up and replace rings and sometimes pistons.
ReplyDelete8000 RPM and run 4 seconds so the motor makes roughly 534 revolutions. Standing at the finish line is amazing and as amazing as being near the starting line. I love the smell of nitro in the morning.
ReplyDeleteNothing else like it in the world- you truly feel the power in every part of your body. Even sitting in the stands, your vision blurs and your insides get all woozy when they launch. If you don't care who wins and just want the experience, go on a Friday night and watch eliminations.
ReplyDeleteBack in the mid 90's, I took my dad to the Texas Motorplex in Ennis. He who was a 60's hot rodder and hadn't been to a major drag race since the 70's. We got there late and the starting line seats were full so we walked down to the finish line seats- the look of astonishment on his face after the first Top Fuel pass was priceless!
Note of caution: If you or your companions are sensitive, bring good hearing protection- one trip I didn't and had to leave early after getting a really serious migraine.
Well done video, and yes, you have to hear it, see it, and smell the nitro to believe it!
ReplyDeleteWell, I have to admit I'm impressed.
ReplyDeleteI loved the top fuel dragesters when they push-started them. They would jump up in the air, when they fired-up....and bounce down the push-road....all front-engined stock block Chrysler Hemis.....Junior Fuel was always exciting, as the drivers had to see around a spray of oil-fuel as they hammered it.
ReplyDeleteSort of like me before sex. during sex, and after sex.
ReplyDelete.. just read what's here, didn't click link.
Are you are talking about lasting 3 seconds?
DeleteShe must be something.
DeleteI lived near Bandimere Speedway in Morrison, Co. Nothing like having you whole insides vibrate when they blast off the line. Pit pass really makes the trip to a drag strip worthwhile. We left Co. in 2012, i heard that Bandimere is relocating away from the foothill location
ReplyDeleteI always figured the reason you had to tear the engine down after every race was explained by one word - nitromethane.
ReplyDeleteI remember being at a race years ago and one of the Top Fuel engines hydro-locked because of a misfire. The block was split in half and the frame was bowed out from the force.
ReplyDeleteThat and during the actual run the crank only rotates like 600 times - Roaddevil
ReplyDeleteMost common word spoken by all of mechanics….Huh?
ReplyDelete