interesting reading for gearheads
some of these were found on Pacific Raceways web site along with some other sites, they are interesting to read thru, I don't know if they are all true or not, but it makes good conversation sometimes, one that I question is the twisting of the crank 20 degrees, anyone know on that?
Interesting Top Fuel Dragster Facts:
★ A Top Fuel Dragster develops twice as much G-Force (6 G?s) at launch as the space shuttle does achieving earth orbit.
★ A Top Fuel Dragster accelerates to 100 MPH in 0.8 seconds. (A catapult-assisted jet fighter takes almost 2 seconds.)
★ A Top Fuel Dragster will reach 0ver 300 MPH before you can read this sentence.
★ A Top Fuel Dragster can go from 0 to 330 MPH and back to 0 mph in less than 20 seconds.
★ To exceed 300 MPH in 4.5 seconds dragsters must accelerate at an average of over 4 G?s. But in reaching 200 MPH well before ? track, launch acceleration is closer to 8 G?s.
★ To give you an idea of this acceleration, the current Top Fuel ET is 4.47 seconds for the 1/4 mile. This means that you can be coming across the starting line in your average Lingenfelter powered ?twin turbo? Corvette at 200 MPH (ON A FLYING START) and the Top Fuel Dragster (FROM A DEAD STOP) would beat you to the finish line in a 1/4 mile.
★ Top Fuel Dragster drivers experience a negative 7 G?s of force when they deploy their parachutes.
★ Under full throttle, a Top Fuel Dragster engine consumes 1 ? gallons of nitromethane per second, the same rate of fuel consumption as a fully loaded 747, but with 4 times the energy volume.
★ Top Fuel Dragsters and Funny Cars use 10 to 12 gallons of fuel from the time they start the engine until they cross the finish line. They will use up to 8 gallons on an aborted run.
★ Nitromethane fuel costs over $35.00 a gallon.
★ A Top Fuel engines ONLY turns 540 revolutions from light to light.
★ The redline is quite high at 9500 RPM.
★ A single cylinder on a Top Fuel HEMI engine produces 750 horsepower, which nearly equals the entire horsepower output of a NASCAR engine.
★ A Top Fuel Dragster HEMI engine produces more horsepower than all the cars in the first 4 rows at the NASCAR Daytona 500.
★ Top Fuel and Funny Car engines produce over 7000 horsepower, more than 43 average street cars.
★ On some Top Fuel teams, they change all the exhaust valves after every full 1,320 foot run.
★ The oil rings are changed after each pass, and the compression ring are changed if they are scuffed.
★ The upper rod bearings are replaced after each run, and the lower bearings are changed every 2nd run.
★ The supercharger takes more power to drive then a stock HEMI makes.
★ Top Fuel Dragsters twist the crankshaft as much as 20 degrees torsionally at the big end of the track, that sometimes the cam lobes are ground offset from front to rear to re-phase the valve timing closer to synchronization with the pistons.
★ Engine cylinders run on the verge of hydraulic lock.
★ Even with nearly 3000 CFM of air being rammed in by the supercharger on overdrive, the fuel mixture is compressed into nearly-solid form before ignition.
★ Dual Magnetos apply 44 amps to EACH spark plug. This is the output of an arc welder in each cylinder.
★ The magneto?s and coils are changed every 3 or so runs.
★ Spark plugs electrodes are totally consumed during a pass. After ? way, the engine is dieseling from compression, and the glow of the exhaust valves at 1400 degrees F. The engine can only be shut down by cutting off it?s fuel flow.
★ If spark momentarily fails early in the run, unburnt nitro builds up in those cylinders and then explodes with a force that can blow cylinder heads off the block in pieces or blow the block in half.
★ At stoichiometric (exact) 1.7:1 air/fuel mixture (for nitro), the flame front of nitromethane 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.
★ The large rear wing on a Top Fuel Dragster produces nearly 8000 pounds of down force. The front wing adds another 1500 pounds, the exhaust gases from a Top Fuel engine produces 800 pounds of down force at an engine speed of 8000 RPM, that is enough combined down force produced, that you could turn the track upside-down and the Top Fuel Dragster would still remain ?glued? to the racing surface.
★ If all the equipment is paid off, the crew worked for free, and nothing breaks or blows-up, each run costs $1000.00 a second.