Some interesting Top Fuel dragster facts:

M

Matt Man 89SC

Registered User
* One dragster's 500-inch Hemi makes more horsepower than the first 8 rows at Daytona

* Under full throttle, a dragster engine consumes 1 1/2 gallons of nitro per second, the same rate of fuel consumption as a fully loaded 747 but with 4 times the energy volume.

* The supercharger takes more power to drive then a stock hemi makes.

* 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. Cylinders run on the verge of hydraulic lock.

* Dual magnetos apply 44 amps to each spark plug. This is the output of an arc welder in each cylinder.

* 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.

* 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 of it's fuel flow.

* if spark momentarily fails early in the run, unburned 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.

* Dragsters twist the crank (torsionally) so far (20 degrees in the big end of the track) that sometimes cam lobes are ground offset from front to rear to re-phase the valve timing somewhere closer to synchronization with the pistons.

* To exceed 300mph in 4.5 seconds dragsters must accelerate at an average of over 4G's. But in reaching 200 mph well before 1/2 track, launch acceleration is closer to 8G's.

* If all the equipment is paid off, the crew worked for free, and for once NOTHING BLOWS UP, each run costs $1000.00 per second.

* Dragsters reach over 300 miles per hour before you have read this sentence.
Click to expand...

Credit goes to Scooter at Project33.
 
Another thing

They use aluminum rods and I think they have to be replaced about every other run. There was a top fuel car that came to a loca track some time back for some exhibition runs. They were selling old rods for about 5 or 10 bucks. They werent good for putting in an engine but made good souveniers I guess. You could take a piece of sheet metal and take the cap off the rod and make a nice dustpan for your shop. I know a guy who did just that.
 
My buddy's dad drives alcohol funny cars, and he says when they launch it feels like getting hit by a truck in the back. Whats crazy is that they dont completely let the clutch out till half track.
 
Yep

But I dont think they are actually slowly letting out on the pedal. If you look closely when they launch sometimes you can see a trail of what looks like black dust coming out of the back of the cars. If Im not mistaken its either clutch material or some compound used to let the clutch slip a little to avoid overpowering the track and smoking the tires. Thats why you always here about crews adjusting or checking the clutch setup and how crucial it is. Track conditions, weather, elevation, etc all plays a factor in the clutch setup.
I have a friend who races a 53 Studebaker in IHRA Div. 2 Top Sportsman. The car has a 632cu-in Pontiac, 2 stage nitrous, and a 4-speed Lenco (I think funny cars and top fuel dragsters use ether a 2 or 3 speed Lenco or somthing similar). This car has the capability to run the 1/4 in the high 6's. I volunteer as pit crew from time to time and when we are at events he will check the clutch wear after almost every pass. He has an onboard computer on the car and among a bunch of other things, records engine and driveshaft speeds. He uploads the data on a PC and looks at it on a chart and recalls how the car felt launching to determine if the car has too much or too little clutch. If he needs to change it, he does so by changing the amount of counterweight on the pressure plate, which affects how much force the clutch will exert on the flywheel as it turns. Actually, in this transmission, the clutch is only used to launch the car, and all shifts simply invloves pulling the shift levers without depressing the clutch.
Jason Parham
 
$$$

I guess thats how a guy with big money does it, computers and all that jazz. A really good driver knows the car
 
Oh he is a good driver no doubt. When your doing fast bracket racing when every 1/1000 of a second counts, you use every little bit of info you can get. He uses his own judgement and the computer data to back him up. That computer measures exhaust temps on each cylinder, so he can tell if a specific cylinder is running lean or rich and adjust the nitrous jets accordingly. I cant recall all that computer does but its a pretty impressive piece of equipment. Sure a good driver knows his car, but when you cover 1320 ft in under 7 seconds at about 200mph you can only concentrate on so many things, mainly the guy in the other lane, being that it is bracket racing.
 
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