Is this true?

* One Top Fuel dragster 500 cubic-inch Hemi engine makes more horsepower (10,000 HP) than the first 5 rows at the Daytona 500.
* Under full throttle, a dragster engine consumes 1.2-1.5 gallons of nitro methane 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 merely 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 nitro methane 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.
* Dragsters reach over 300 MPH before you have completed reading this sentence.
* In order to exceed 300 MPH in 4.5 seconds, dragsters must accelerate an average of over 4 G's. In order to reach 200 MPH well before half-track, the launch acceleration approaches 8 G's.
* Top Fuel engines turn approximately 540 revolutions from light to light!
* Including the burnout, the engine must only survive 900 revolutions under load.
* The redline is actually quite high at 9500 RPM.
* THE BOTTOM LINE: Assuming all the equipment is paid off, the crew worked for free, & for once, NOTHING BLOWS UP, each run costs an estimated $1,000 per second.
0 to 100 MPH in .8 seconds (the first 60 feet of the run)
0 to 200 MPH in 2.2 seconds (the first 350 feet of the run)
6 g-forces at the starting line (nothing accelerates faster on land)
6 negative g-forces upon deployment of twin ‘chutes at 300 MPH An NHRA Top Fuel Dragster accelerates quicker than any other land vehicle on earth . . quicker than a jet fighter plane . . . quicker than the space shuttle.
The current Top Fuel dragster elapsed time record is 4.420 seconds for the quarter-mile (2004, Doug Kalitta). The top speed record is 337.58 MPH as measured over the last 66' of the run (2005, Tony Schumacher).
Putting this all 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 & 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 & pass the dragster at an honest 200 MPH. The 'tree' goes green for both of you at that moment.
The dragster launches & starts after you. You keep your foot down hard, but you hear an incredibly brutal whine that sears your eardrums & within 3 seconds the dragster catches & 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 & not only caught, but nearly blasted you off the road when he passed you within a mere 1320 foot long race!
That's acceleration!
Author's P.S. (and for Klaus too !)
Many moons ago I had two Friends who got this great idea of building a home-made dragster. The budget was a shoestring. We welded up a frame first of all. Then we installed an inline 6 cylinder, 300 cubic inch Ford truck engine. We made an intake manifold out of pipe and mounted 6 Stromberg carburetors. The headers were straight up vertical pipes. We fueled it with Jet - A aviation fuel. Did a few trial runs with it at a local airport on a Sunday morning when no aircraft were in the area. We hauled it down to Cayuga, Ontario to the dragstrip and the owner was a Friend who said we could do a couple of timed passes.
We had to borrow some slicks because we did not own any ourselves. On the first pass my Buddy made, the Widow Maker was just 3 one hundredths of a second off the Canadian record holder time. We were pretty pleased, considering we were just a bunch of goofy gear heads with an idea that sounded good. Second pass didn't go so well, blew the cylinder head right off the engine, sort of like when you see a blower come off a rail. Towed it back home and we laughed all the way back !
We sure didn't have 10,000 HP on the ground. But building a home made dragster from old used parts, and almost breaking a drag racing record was pretty cool ! It would have taken a whole Team of Plastic Surgeons to get the grins off our faces  that day!            
Good times!

(the old 1/4 mile standard is 1320 feet.)


Top 10 Fastest Nitro Runs of 2022

Sprintcyclist wrote on Dec 17^th, 2023 at 9:57am:



Yep -  544 km/hr.

I'd love to go and see that.

Jasin wrote on Dec 17^th, 2023 at 11:32am:



I don't know how the drivers can cope with the g forces?

Sprintcyclist wrote on Dec 17^th, 2023 at 9:02am:


Yes it's true

They partly  rebuild engine after every run

Mind Blowing Top Fuel Dragster Fastest Run !

First Experience ! Throttle Whack

Baronvonrort wrote on Dec 17^th, 2023 at 5:34pm:



It would just push you back into the seat ?

If I weighed say 85 Kgs  - I would weigh  85 x 6 = 510 Kgs.

That's over half a tonne - clearly a shock on the body and the heart.
I suppose if I was 25 years old it would be OK.

Jet fighter pilots lose their jobs at 33 years of age.  ( usually ) -
their bodies can't take the g forces over that age.

Baronvonrort wrote on Dec 17^th, 2023 at 5:58pm:



6 g is for young people.