I’ve always loved high performance engines. I used to build racing engines in the 80’s that sold for $25,000. That’s roughly $76,000 today. The end goal was to race in NASCAR but the bastards wouldn’t license me since I’m blind in one eye. Most of the engines we built were for circle track racing but we built some truly savage street racing engines. All the proceeds and then some were used to support our own racing habit.
I knew that Top Fuel engines were some of the most extreme engines around but I never aspired to drag racing because the ride was too short. Blink and you’ve missed it! I came across this video via knuckledraggin.com which led me to the fact sheet below. The video depicts the amount of nitro-methane fuel pouring into each of eight cylinders at idle first then at full throttle. At full throttle each cylinder is consuming a staggering 1.4 gallons per second! That works out to roughly 45 gallons per mile! Fuel cost is approximately $3000 per 1/4 mile run including warm up and burn out to heat the tires.
TOP FUEL DRAGSTER FAST FACTS
ACCELERATION PUT INTO PERSPECTIVE
* 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 dragster engine consumes 11.2 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.
* Nitro methane 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.
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 this all into perspective:
Lets say the 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 by it. 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. Just as you pass the Top Fuel Dragster the ‘tree’ goes green for both of you.
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!
Top Fuel facts from: http://www.sccoia.org/articles/top-fuel-dragster-fast-facts/
I always knew Top Fuel cars were the top of the mark when came to acceleration, g forces, speed and power but I had no idea they were this extreme! The part that always fascinated me was how they get the axles and other parts of the drive train to survive the torque generated at launch.
Those are some amazing facts, IS. I used to be the proud owner of the first real blown American 4 seater sports car, the ’57 Studebaker Golden Hawk. Came from the factory with a McCullough Supercharger and a 289 4 BBL V8. While not nearly a dragster, it came standard with a boost gauge a tach, and a 160 mph speedometer. It was hard to take off from a stop without barking the tires.
https://s16-us2.ixquick.com/cgi-bin/serveimage?url=http%3A%2F%2Ftse3.mm.bing.net%2Fth%3Fid%3DOIP.Mc49843c237e042edddc9e212551d67caH0%26pid%3D15.1%26f%3D1&sp=b7af1fb3ddbfcc6d76c8f8126a0256e7
IS….Enjoyed reading that. Pretty impressive, and this by a bunch of (basically) rednecks just screwing around. Thanks for posting.
An engine that shakes your insides 1/2 a mile away and goes 1/4 mile in 3 seconds is awe inspiring. People who are skilled enough to do that should get a lot of satisfaction from their work.
I used to go to Top Fuel races.
The guy I used to race and build engines with is still doing it. Years back after installing his own engine dyno he called me when he blew up his first engine on the dyno. I don’t think I ever heard him so excited. He had to put the phone down to go back in and put the fire out again when it flared up! Said it was the coolest thing he’d ever seen and that I should fly down so I could blow one up! 🙂
My bother supported my niece in 1/4 mile races all over the US. She was racing small time. Honda’s, Toyota’s, Scions. She was the first to break 10 seconds at that level. My brother finally pulled the plug on it. The only time they broke even was with a top three finish.
Top three may not sound hard, but the car has to last the WHOLE weekend to land in the top three which is no easy feat.
My buddy jerry duke jr. used to race top fuel. I never saw him race, but his office was full of his racing pictures. He owned and sponsered his own car. I had no idea it was that expensive. He owned a big customs clearinghouse in miami. He also was a builder on the west coast and got crushed in 2008. That is a great article, IS. Had no idea of the extremes of that sport.
At 200 mph the Vette will cover the 1/4 in 4.5 seconds flat and will finish 17 feet behind the fastest ever dragster.
No way it is caught in 3 seconds. That would mean the dragster made up 295 yards or thereabouts in the first three seconds but only gains another 17 (5.67 yard) feet in the last 1.44 seconds. Bullshit. Just saying.
Without doing an exact calc, the dragster takes around 4.3 seconds to catch the Vett. The vast majority of dragsters will not manage to beat it under the scenario described, as the fastest run ever only beats it by 0.06 seconds.
Regards,
TBP Fact Checker Llpoh
“* 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.”
Given the volume of liquid fuel being injected to the cylinders I wonder if the initial cause of failure during a loss of spark might be due to the in-compressible nature of liquids. Essentially the piston would “belly flop” into the liquid causing mechanical damage that would weaken the heads/block while continued combustion in the other cylinders would exploit that weakness leading to a hand grenade impersonation.
Another thought from the squirrel cage:
If the engine is dieseling half way down the track then the engine is in full on failure mode before the end of run. Pre-ignition alone will kill an engine.
One fact I found elsewhere but forgot to include:
Ignition timing is 50-55 degrees BTDC!
Which math challenged idiot gave me a down vote? Show yourself, and I will teach you how to count to one.
llpoh says:
“Show yourself, and I will teach you how to count to one.”
That’s a great line!
Submit all factual errors to the above cited website.
IS Interesting post
It would require 6.08 g’s of acceleration in order to catch up with the Corvette Z06 at the 3 sec mark 880 ft down the track and would be going 400.0 mph at that time. In order to cross the finish line 1.5 sec later 440 ft further down the track would require 12.16 g’s of deceleration to slow the dragster from 400 mph and amazingly would be going 200 mph, the same speed as the Vette.
The scenario described above is impossible to accomplish with todays state of the art dragsters. Lloph can validate the accuracy of these calculations.
MIA – I defer to your physics. My calcs were a quick scribble that said it could not be done – no way the dragster could finish only five yards in front at 4.4 seconds, yet catch it from behind in three.
However, MIA, logic tells me your deceleration calcs are wrng somewhere. Why? If your calcs are correct that the dragster would have to hit 400 mph to catch the Vette in three seconds, and immediately slammed on the brakes and cut speed to 200, it is has to be way in front, not just 5 yards. Just saying.
This is a great post. Guess there are not many of us speed junkies around.
I stopped my speed activities – all legal – when I entered a cornfield in my 88 Mustang GT at around 110 mph. I found I was approaching a corner far to fast and would never make the turn. The alternative was straight ahead into the field. Mowed down a very large swath of corn, but was able to back he car back up the new lane I carved in the field. And no dents! I was very lucky.