Kick in the balls
- Thread starter MHNCO
- Start date
Serious throttle response. A friend drives one of those, he says on takeoff, the G force gives severe tunnel vision, just what you want at 300+ mph.
Having owned and driven an old TF Dragster back in the early 70's I can confirm the tunnel vision. It was even more of a problem with our front engine car as all you could see directly in front of you was the blower and bug catcher.
Mind you that these were 200-220 MPH cars during that era.. Nothing like today.
The drags were fun then, gassers, factory experimental, etc. I remember when Dodges and Plymouths broke into the 12s.
Only ever experienced the top fuelers once at Willowbank here in Queensland, i was expecting loud, but not only was it loud, it was painfull,and i couldnt believe the pressure wave that hit you in the chest when they took off, and we were sitting almost at he top of the stand about the 60ft mark.
al i can say is their braver men than me gunga din.
kaspa
al i can say is their braver men than me gunga din.
kaspa
Just like being in the Army!....:idea:
It feels much the same as being hit by a 3 dimensional force/object that somehow manages to blast completely through your body w/o leaving any damage in its wake, duzzunit.
Don Garlits won T/F at the last drag race I attended...which should tell you how long ago that event occurred. Back then, the h.p. being produced by T/F or F/C engines wasn't anywhere near what they pump out now, so I hafta imagine the pressure wave they create today is proportionally more severe as well. :stunned:
Ever been to Atco or Colchester?
Atco yes.. Colchester I don't believe so - but may be wrong..
We went where they would pay for tow mileage and appearance. Atco did both and it was also where the car eventually moved to when I sold out.
We were also at Englishtown.
Most of the racing was in Minnesota, Iowa, Wisconsin, Illinois area. We did not have a ton of money to go well out of town other than a couple trips out east and hit Ohio, Pennsylvania, etc.
We went where they would pay for tow mileage and appearance. Atco did both and it was also where the car eventually moved to when I sold out.
We were also at Englishtown.
Most of the racing was in Minnesota, Iowa, Wisconsin, Illinois area. We did not have a ton of money to go well out of town other than a couple trips out east and hit Ohio, Pennsylvania, etc.
Pete McCluskey.
Lifetime Supporter
I'm sorry but I just don't get Drag racing, I understand the amount of engineering that goes into building a drag car, but just can't see the point of it all.
David Morton
Lifetime Supporter
Pete,
That used to be my viewpoint until the first event at Poddington
and it "dragged" me in courtesy of the US Masters Drag Race Team
Hook Line and Sinker. One of the cars was a Dodge Charger driven by Al Eckstrand the others were a couple of 'rails' and finally a motor cycle with a 5 litre v8 driven by a man called EJ Potter.
I don't think anybody was sub 12 seconds but the fun and showmanship was incredible.
For me , I joined a small team from North London called the Rat Fink Drag race Team
with a crazy v8 ford prefect. It was useless but it was a focus in life for the weekends. We had so many people at every event especially really lovely gorgeous females, I think I fell in love every weekend there was an event. Then the Royal Air Force intervened and sent me on my initial aircrew training course (the dreaded ITC).
That used to be my viewpoint until the first event at Poddington
and it "dragged" me in courtesy of the US Masters Drag Race Team
Hook Line and Sinker. One of the cars was a Dodge Charger driven by Al Eckstrand the others were a couple of 'rails' and finally a motor cycle with a 5 litre v8 driven by a man called EJ Potter.
I don't think anybody was sub 12 seconds but the fun and showmanship was incredible.
For me , I joined a small team from North London called the Rat Fink Drag race Team
with a crazy v8 ford prefect. It was useless but it was a focus in life for the weekends. We had so many people at every event especially really lovely gorgeous females, I think I fell in love every weekend there was an event. Then the Royal Air Force intervened and sent me on my initial aircrew training course (the dreaded ITC).
And talking about the shock wave etc, i managed to get to talk to one of the guys cleaning up the cyl heads on one on their in between run strip downs, a real nice guy and full of info, and he said when they nail it the upswept exhaust generates over a 100kg of downforce per side, bloody amazing. made the F5000 look like a pedal car.
kaspa
kaspa
Dave Hood
Lifetime Supporter
Mike:
Come to Charlotte and check out the Zmax four lane strip. 28,000hp all at once. Bruton Smith's legacy to himself. It's pretty awesome.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EiLYZPXRp0s
Come to Charlotte and check out the Zmax four lane strip. 28,000hp all at once. Bruton Smith's legacy to himself. It's pretty awesome.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EiLYZPXRp0s
Jim Rosenthal
Supporter
I can't believe people can actually drive Top Fuel cars. Eight thousand hp, four seconds to cover 1320 feet? It's hard to believe the human body can stand it.
Apparently a TF car can out-accelerate anything- maybe even a fighter jet? at least for the first 1320 feet. Astonishing.
Apparently a TF car can out-accelerate anything- maybe even a fighter jet? at least for the first 1320 feet. Astonishing.
This has been around for a while, still interesting. Now they turn high 3 second times.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
ACCELERATION PUT INTO PERSPECTIVE
* One Top Fuel dragster 500 cubic-inch Hemi engine makes more horsepower
than the first 4 rows of 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 4.428 seconds for the
quarter-mile (11/12/06, Tony Schumacher). The top speed record is 336.15
MPH (541 km/h) as measured over the last 66' of the run (05/25/05, 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!
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
ACCELERATION PUT INTO PERSPECTIVE
* One Top Fuel dragster 500 cubic-inch Hemi engine makes more horsepower
than the first 4 rows of 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 4.428 seconds for the
quarter-mile (11/12/06, Tony Schumacher). The top speed record is 336.15
MPH (541 km/h) as measured over the last 66' of the run (05/25/05, 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!
