ok I'm not sure if this is completely true or not but i read that the top fuel drag racers can crank out as much as 7,000 HP. My question is,how the hell can they do that? even the most powerfull supercars like the Veyron can only get 1,000 HP out of a huge W16 8.0 L quad turbo. So how is 7,000 Hp even possible? i'll post a pic of one of these things when i can find one.

the special fuel helps, nitro alcohol somthing or other.

I believe it's Nitro Methane. You have to remember that these engines were built for just a couple of runs. Realiability isn't the number 1 issue. It is for road cars. It just uses everything in exccess. It has a huge blower to just devour the air, huge injectors to soak the combustion chambers (I've seen the inside of a Top fuelie's combustion chamber at full throttle, and it was like a water hose at full bore), and a huge spark. Don't they have two spark plugs per cylinder?

Yes, they do. The fuel in the combustion chamber is a few psi off of hydraulic lock (so thick that the mixture is almost solid). If the car has turbos, you are pretty much guaranteed that it is pushing 60 psi. It's insane.. oh, and I believe they rebuild the motor after every run. You think that they might get good at it after a while.


I think someone made a thread about it. I didn't read the whole thing, but you should check it out.

Top fuelers don't run turbos. They have those huge blowers on top. That's kind of perplexing, though. Why not turbos? Maybe they can't have ANY lag. Maybe the turbo would get way too hot and the engine would be sucking in hot air? Who knows.

Oh yeah, thats true. I forgot about blowers. I just saw that drag thread and a Dodge HEMI doesn't produce enough power to spool the supercharger. Keep in mind superchargers don't 'spool' they run off the motor. So.. the motor doesn't have enough power to turn it. That's insane.

there is a class of dragster that uses turbos and they push 70psi (i think).
BTW- how much psi is = to 1bar

I saw somewhere that a blower on a dragster makes over 100 psi. Thats insane.

there is a class of dragster that uses turbos and they push 70psi (i think).
BTW- how much psi is = to 1bar

14 psi = 1 bar

How many litres are those things.
I don't think the turbos would fit in the exhusts. Or enough time to spool in 4-5 seconds.

Want the reason(What I think the reason is) they don't have turbo's...



Ever watch the exhaust on those things?

Not only would the tubing have to be 100% welded because any coupler would fly off due to pressure..

There couldn't be an intercooler or the core would melt..

And that means the air going in would be rediculously hot...

it'd be a big useless hunk of crap

Mopar, if you have time to pronouce "lag"; you lost. Better hp solution next time/got another 20/30/50 grand?

I love how the huge tires warp right at take off, pretty cool when they show it in slow motion. The rear wing also generates a couple thousand pounds of downforce to keep those weels planted.

Oh yeah, thats true. I forgot about blowers. I just saw that drag thread and a Dodge HEMI doesn't produce enough power to spool the supercharger. Keep in mind superchargers don't 'spool' they run off the motor. So.. the motor doesn't have enough power to turn it. That's insane.

I read in an article in Motortrend about drag cars that the blower needs at least 900 horses to run. That's just to turn the blower.:eek:

How many litres are those things.

Right now the NHRA restricts top fuelers to a displacement of 500 cubic inches, or about 8.2L

The reason why they can crank out so much power is because they are only designed to last about 5 seconds. And this means extreme fuel delivery, supercharging, etc.

They use about 4 -5 gallons per 1/4 mile, (excluding burn-out, and idling) so you can see that the mileage is not great. It comes to about 0.05 miles per gallon...

A Veyron's engine is not even powerful enough to begin to turn the supercharger on a top fueler.

One of the most remarkable things about top fuelers is that their engines is converted to a diesel about half-way down the track. Why? Because the insanely high pressure and temperature inside the cylinder actually melts the spark plugs and render them useless. But this is not to worry because at this point so much compression is being made by the pistons that the air-fuel mixture is ignited without the need for a spark.

Oh and another thing: these engine blocks have no coolant passages, which gives them considerable strength.

http://www.bradanderson.com/Parts/98BAE.htm is an engine block supplier for some of the teams in top fuel.

Right now the NHRA restricts top fuelers to a displacement of 500 cubic inches, or about 8.2L

The reason why they can crank out so much power is because they are only designed to last about 5 seconds. And this means extreme fuel delivery, supercharging, etc.

They use about 4 -5 gallons per 1/4 mile, (excluding burn-out, and idling) so you can see that the mileage is not great. It comes to about 0.05 miles per gallon...

A Veyron's engine is not even powerful enough to begin to turn the supercharger on a top fueler.

One of the most remarkable things about top fuelers is that their engines is converted to a diesel about half-way down the track. Why? Because the insanely high pressure and temperature inside the cylinder actually melts the spark plugs and render them useless. But this is not to worry because at this point so much compression is being made by the pistons that the air-fuel mixture is ignited without the need for a spark.

Oh and another thing: these engine blocks have no coolant passages, which gives them considerable strength.

http://www.bradanderson.com/Parts/98BAE.htm is an engine block supplier for some of the teams in top fuel.

Thanks.
About that 0.5 miles to the gallaon thing.
Its not the worst I'v heard. Theres a type of earthmover the gets 7 gallons to the mile.

Funny...Earthmover..
that was what your mom used to call me...

OOOOOOhhhhh!

Its powered by a very fast mouse packed full of caffine on a wheel

I put 4 packs of stp fuel treatment in my tank to give it more kick. (Jet fuel!)

actually i read up about dragsters on wikipedia.org and it's a combination of a few things that were mentioned in this topic:

1:Monster Engine
2:Fuel is 85% nitromethanol and 15% methanol,producing huge hp
3:the super charger is geared so high 1500 hp is needed to turn it:eek:
4:also like someone here said,the fuel and air mixture combusts without a sparkplug cause the compression is so damn high. god i can't even begin to imagine what the driver must feel when he puts it to the floor as the light turns green.

heres an example
if you have weights in your house. pile about 7 times your body wieght of weights onto your body. thats what it feels like
edit- while laying flat

except foreward..

Thanks.
About that 0.5 miles to the gallaon thing.
Its not the worst I'v heard. Theres a type of earthmover the gets 7 gallons to the mile.

ummmm..... it's 0.05 mpg, not 0.5 mpg.

At a rate of 4-5 gallons per 1/4 mile, this means if it ran for a mile (which it won't) it will consume anywhere between 16 and 20 gallons per mile.

Well you gotta remember..

in that 1/4 it's runing at WOT...this earthmover run's 7 gallons per mile doing work that isn't requiring all of it's power

As I know...there is some dragster around that 7000bhp....but how they are going to stop that freakking horse ?? 7000bhp not 700bhp.....But as i know they use the parashute(spl)......how to spell parashute ??

Parachute.......

FYI..Parachute is what i named this nifty trick i can do

That's neat. (TMI).....

sure is!

great at parties.

and the ladies love it

heres an example
if you have weights in your house. pile about 7 times your body wieght of weights onto your body. thats what it feels like

how the hell can you survive that? i'd rather fall down the stairs.

how the hell can you survive that? i'd rather fall down the stairs.

its only for about 3-4 seconds remember, then you go the other way for about 10 seconds at maybe 1-2 times your body weight

Actually it's not for 3-4 seconds.because the force reduces..The G's are there in the begingin because your body is hurled from a dead stop to..200mph that fast..

The rate of acceleration from 0-150 than from 150-300 is alot harder on the body...so it's like BOOM..then gradual relief..thenthe parachute is another BOOM in negative G's

yeah thats what i meant 3-4 seconds of pos g's then bout 10-12 of neg

oh ok..i know whatcha mean...

I thought you meant it'd be 7x your weight consistantly..

dragsters are good for going in a straight line,but nothing else unfourtunately. they are terrible on gas,have to have the engine rebuilt all the time,and can't turn as good as a family sedan. btw another fact i heard about drag cars that amazed me was the 0-60 time. less than half a second :!:

^^^
Hell, even I knew that...

dragsters are good for going in a straight line,but nothing else unfourtunately. they are terrible on gas,have to have the engine rebuilt all the time,and can't turn as good as a family sedan. btw another fact i heard about drag cars that amazed me was the 0-60 time. less than half a second :!:

I didn't know you could change the direction of a top fueler.
That would be very dangerouse if something happend during a run.

dragsters are good for going in a straight line,but nothing else unfourtunately. they are terrible on gas,have to have the engine rebuilt all the time,and can't turn as good as a family sedan. btw another fact i heard about drag cars that amazed me was the 0-60 time. less than half a second :!:

Top fuelers and most drag cars are built with the sole purpose of going in a straight line as fast as possible. They are not designed to turn or get good gas mileage.

dragsters are good for going in a straight line,but nothing else unfourtunately. they are terrible on gas,have to have the engine rebuilt all the time,and can't turn as good as a family sedan. btw another fact i heard about drag cars that amazed me was the 0-60 time. less than half a second :!:

now that might be the reason why car dealerships don't have drag racing cars in their showrooms. The cars aren't meant to be used for getting groceries so the cornering ability of the car doesn't really matter. Neither are they meant to drive circles (nascar) or race on tracks (rally with a dragster anyone?)

Talking about gas mileage for racing cars is like complaining about why fish die when you put them on the dry.

Racing cars are not supposed to be as economic as the average anti-greenhouse-hippy-environment-friendly-all-in-one-living-and-travelling-vehicle.

Drag racing cars are quite impressive to behold. Not my thing though to look at cars driving for very short periods of time on a 400 meter long racing track.

The audio is good for background noise when painting though :) (if only those people would stop talking all the time. People talk too much)

I didn't know you could change the direction of a top fueler.
That would be very dangerouse if something happend during a run.

How the heck does it get on the track if it couldn't turn at all? i believe the drive has some form of a wheel to steer it in case of emergency or just to line it up on the track.

Front wheels have the ability to steer. They also have steering wheels, indicating that the cars have the ability to steer.
Seen the length of the car and the fact that the front wheels don't touch the ground for a short while after the start the driver does not have a lot of time to steer.

They steer...they have control of the cars...Which is why sometimes the cars are seen swining back and forth on the track..

if 1 wheel loses traction at 200MPH and with 7000HP you're car is gonna go nuts...So you let off the gas, and correct with the steering wheel

http://www.northernthunder.com/fearpic51.jpg

you can slightly see the workings in this pic

lol the spoiler is about 8 feet high

Yes and when the spoiler breaks all hell breaks lose and it's one SPECTACULAR crash.

it wouldnt be nice if the spoiler broke...

This is a qusetion for John Force.
:cool:

First of all John Force is a Funny Car driver and second they do steer. The driver is constantly making steering corrections the length of the track. If the wing comes off (VERY rare btw) they tires will lose traction and if the driver's experienced enough will back out of it so the rear tires don't hop and go sideways. Also, the axles are solid, if one tire loses traction they both do...

Yeah.. I didn't think just one wheel would give out.

copied from NHRA.com

Rolling Chassis
http://www.nhra.com/sidebars/redline.gif A Top Fuel chassis -- which usually has a wheelbase of between 285 and 300 inches -- is fabricated from 300 feet of 4130 chromoly tubing and costs between $30,000 and $40,000. For the price, the customer also receives front spindles, a steering box, seat, floor pan, motor plates, rear-end plates, wing struts, a body, fuel tank, brake handle and master cylinder, clutch pedal, fuel-shutoff and parachute-release levers, control cables, oil-overflow tank, and, in most cases, front-wing and nose assembly. The chassis alone weighs approximately 600 pounds.


Engine
http://www.nhra.com/sidebars/redline.gif The engine of choice for the majority of teams is an aluminum replica of the famed 426 Chrysler Hemi. At least four manufacturers sell the engine blocks, which fetch $4,500 and will displace a maximum of 500 cubic inches once the crankshaft and rotating piston assemblies are in place. When equipped with cylinder heads and connecting rods carved from chunks of aluminum and when the intake manifold, supercharger, and fuel pumps are bolted in place, a nitro engine costs approximately $50,000.

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(http://www.sportscarforums.com/) Drivetrain
http://www.nhra.com/sidebars/redline.gif (http://www.sportscarforums.com/)
To prevent a loss of traction, power is transferred from the engine to the rear tires via a complex timer-controlled clutch system. The centrifugal pressure that squeezes the four discs and three steel floater plates together is applied gradually in a series of infinitesimal stages controlled by a hydraulic-fluid-powered throwout bearing and ram until complete one-to-one lockup with the engine and drivetrain is achieved, approximately three seconds into the run. Clutch temperatures can soar to more than 1,000 degrees F. All Top Fuel cars run a standard rear-gear ratio of 3.20-1.


Supercharger
http://www.nhra.com/sidebars/redline.gif (http://www.sportscarforums.com/)
Mounted atop the engine's intake manifold, this belt-driven mechanical device rams air into the engine at a staggering rate. A nitro supercharger, spinning at 10,000 rpm (based on the typical rate of 30 percent more than the engine speed of approximately 8,000 rpm), will displace 100,000 cubic inches of air per minute.


Specifications
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Top Fuel dragsters must weigh a minimum of 2,025 pounds and may not have a wheelbase that measures more than 300 inches or fewer than 180 inches. From the front of the car to a point 12 inches behind the centerline of the front axle, the cars must maintain a minimum ground clearance of three inches. The remainder of the car must have a two-inch clearance. The top of the rear wing may not be more than 90 inches from ground level. The front overhang of the nose may not exceed 30 inches, measured from the centerline of the front spindle.


Tires
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The fat Goodyear slicks on back are 18 inches wide and nearly 10 feet in circumference (118 inches). Air pressure is a low four pounds. Two types of front tires are used -- small airplane-style tires, for quicker reaction times, and larger, bicycle-size units, for better elapsed times.


Fuel
http://www.nhra.com/sidebars/redline.gif (http://www.sportscarforums.com/)
The powerful elixir that helps coax more than 10 horsepower from every one of the engine's 500 cubic inches is the fuel, nitromethane. Nitromethane is produced by the nitration of propane; the end result is CH3NO2. It originally was produced in the 1800s and has been used widely as an organic solvent in the chemical industry during the last 50 years. Fed by a fuel pump that delivers 50 gallons per minute -- the equivalent of eight showerheads -- a typical Top Fueler will gulp 15 gallons of nitro, at $18 per gallon, usually cut with a small percentage (2 percent to 5 percent) of methanol, during the burnout procedure and quarter-mile.


Brakes
http://www.nhra.com/sidebars/redline.gif (http://www.sportscarforums.com/)
The rear-brake rotors measure 10 3/4 or 11 1/2 inches in diameter and are made from either steel or carbon fiber, activated via a hand lever in the cockpit, and utilized only on the rear tires. The car's primary braking system is a pair of parachutes that can produce up to five negative G forces of stopping power, enough to throw even a well-belted driver forward a few inches.


Wings
http://www.nhra.com/sidebars/redline.gif (http://www.sportscarforums.com/)
Keeping a Top Fueler's 5,000 horsepower glued to the racing surface at more than 300 mph is no mean feat, and a driver's best friends are the huge rear wing and the front canard wings that keep the race car from becoming an airborne missile. The carbon-fiber rear wings, which can measure no more than 1,500 square inches, produce 6,200 to 6,500 pounds of downforce on the rear tires. The amount of downforce depends on many factors: the number of elements (horizontal slats) on the wing, the angle of attack of the wing (its setting relative to level), the type of air, and how the car is set up. The canards, which are made of magnesium, can produce as much as 1,800 pounds of downforce, though the front tires are subjected to only 300 pounds due to the rear wing's leverage. The rears cost $4,000, the fronts approximately $1,000.













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