Top Fuel Dragster Data

  • Thread starter Lethalchem
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Lethalchem

Lethalchem

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Just thought it was interesting to get some of the numbers for the engines the "big boys" are running at the drag strip here (and probably everywhere else Top Fuel dragsters are running). I hear a lot of people put down drag racing on this site, stating how "easy" and "mindless" it is. They say it takes no skill etc etc. Well, I'd like to see those same people behind the wheel of one of these monsters and have them tell me just how much of a "joke" it is. :D

Anyway, here's some random data on these bad boys:

Top fuel by the numbers.

500 cubic inches

7500 horsepower

16 spark plugs

6 clutch discs(@ $115 per) which last 3 runs

28 quarts of 70weight oil used per run

77 gallons per minute of $900 per drum Nitromethane(the car uses 22.75 gallons for warm up, burnout and the run), 1 drum per 2 passes.

45.5 pounds of boost

12,564 rpm the supercharger spins at max. engine speed(@8500rpm it uses 900hp just to turn it)

165 degrees F., the 14-71 supercharger after just 4.5 seconds of maximum boost.

569 times the crankshaft rotates during a quartermile pass(each valve opens 284 times)

58 bead locks on each wheel

8.5 inches of tire growth during a 325mph run

12,000 pounds of downforce created by the rear wing at speed

0.84 seconds to 100mph :scared:

4.441 seconds to the current record quarter

333.08 mph

..and a whole season with less than 7 minutes of race time.

I can't even imagine what 0-333mph in 4.4 seconds would feel like. What a ride that must be! :crazy: We need cars like this in GT4 :lol:

Found a video of a mustang that gives you "some" idea of what it's like, but he's just running a lousy 7.43@186mph. Heh, what a slow poke. :P

Drag Vid
 
I actually saw some drag racing on TSN a while ago. It was a lot more interesting then I expected, guess it fits my attention span. They didn't go into the tech enough though, so after the initial "holy $#!% that's fast!" wore off I was just watching the tires expand, which I find inexplicably amusing.
It surprised me that the funny cars were almost as fast as the top fuels too.
 
Emohawk
It surprised me that the funny cars were almost as fast as the top fuels too.
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Actually, I think funny cars held the 1/4 mile world record a few years ago. I'm 99% sure John Force was the driver for the record run. It was somewhere just below 320mph if I'm not mistaken.
 
It's not that I find a lack of skill in driving those top fuel dragsters, I certainly think it requires some pretty big balls to drive one. It's that all of the time, money, parts and such that go into it for it just to go in a straight line is kind of pointless. Or maybe I'm not seeing the point? I really don't have any interest in non-street legal cars because if you can only drive a car at the dragstrip then where's the fun in that? I realize it's a completely different type of sport (if you call it a sport) but it just seems restricted to the track and that's why I find it boring. Oh well.
 
gmartin
It's not that I find a lack of skill in driving those top fuel dragsters, I certainly think it requires some pretty big balls to drive one. It's that all of the time, money, parts and such that go into it for it just to go in a straight line is kind of pointless. Or maybe I'm not seeing the point? I really don't have any interest in non-street legal cars because if you can only drive a car at the dragstrip then where's the fun in that? I realize it's a completely different type of sport (if you call it a sport) but it just seems restricted to the track and that's why I find it boring. Oh well.
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Technically speaking, what kind of racing is NOT supposed to be restricted to some sort of track??

While I can see your perspective to a certain point, we're discussing the top level of the sport (yes, it's a legitimate motorsport) in this thread. Keep in mind that drag racing is probably MORE open to you or I participating than any other kind of motorsport. For $10 you can go down to your local drag strip and bracket race all night with your buddies in nothing fancier than the car you drive to work in every day, and the best part of it is..you could actually win!

Does it have it's drawbacks? Sure, the track is always going to be the same (without getting into the fine details which change variables like humidity, track elevation, etc etc), but that doesn't take away from the pure fun of it that you and a group of friends can enjoy it on any given weekend without having to mortgage your home to get involved in.
 
Wow, 0-100 in under a second has got to be absolutely terrifying. I wonder what car holds the world record for a 0-100mph time...Cuz that's gotta be deadly too. Hell, at 2G you start to lose colour in your eyesight. At 3G you go blind, temporarily. And at 4G you pass out. I'd hate to see the effects of a car doing 0-100 in less than a second.
 
Lethalchem
Technically speaking, what kind of racing is NOT supposed to be restricted to some sort of track??
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The fake Kind.


I heard somewhere that the motors would drain a regular car's gas tank in 2 seconds. :eek:
 
PublicSecrecy
Wow, 0-100 in under a second has got to be absolutely terrifying. I wonder what car holds the world record for a 0-100mph time...Cuz that's gotta be deadly too. Hell, at 2G you start to lose colour in your eyesight. At 3G you go blind, temporarily. And at 4G you pass out. I'd hate to see the effects of a car doing 0-100 in less than a second.
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Check this out then. This will make a good addition to this thread.
http://www.bankspower.com/mercedes-pro-mod.cfm
What will driving this beautiful beast be like? As Lefever describes it, "Imagine yourself sitting at a red light and a truck going 100-mph plows into the back of your car." While jet pilots have been known to black out at 4.5-5 Gs, this baby will go from 4.5 Gs to a negative 4 Gs (after the chute deploys)—all within six seconds!
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Lethalchem
Technically speaking, what kind of racing is NOT supposed to be restricted to some sort of track??

While I can see your perspective to a certain point, we're discussing the top level of the sport (yes, it's a legitimate motorsport) in this thread. Keep in mind that drag racing is probably MORE open to you or I participating than any other kind of motorsport. For $10 you can go down to your local drag strip and bracket race all night with your buddies in nothing fancier than the car you drive to work in every day, and the best part of it is..you could actually win!

Does it have it's drawbacks? Sure, the track is always going to be the same (without getting into the fine details which change variables like humidity, track elevation, etc etc), but that doesn't take away from the pure fun of it that you and a group of friends can enjoy it on any given weekend without having to mortgage your home to get involved in.
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Right, but that's not really what I mean.. I should have been more specific. I find it fun to take a street legal car to the track too, just I find it "restricted" if it's just for the track and not street use. You can also take a street legal car autocrossing and still have fun. That's all I'm tryin to say 👍
 
Thats pretty damn cool, but damn....that must be the scariest 4 seconds of someones life!
 
Hiya! :D :embarrassed: :lol: Meow! (='.'=)

Oh my goddess...:drool::crazy: Those numbers you put there just made me want to get a dragster and burn everything on the road! :embarrassed: I wonder how I can drive a 7,500 HP car daily... :dunce: :embarrassed:
 
ExigeExcel
If you plan going 1 mile down the road in a straight line feel free.


I thought the normal person could handle 5/6G...
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Actually, if you want to get technical, people can survive massive G forces, like for example 100g's. It all depends on the period of exposure. Most people would blackout after being exposed to 5-6gs for an extended period of time. But, most people would be fine after being exposed to 10-15gs for a fraction of a second (albiet probably a bit winded).
 
What would be the top speed if a top fuel dragster kept on going? and would'nt the tires explode going 300+mph for a long period of time?
 
Here's my favorite little tidbit about Top Fuelies:

Take a supercar - any supercar will do, as long as it will go 200+ mph. Stage the dragster somewhere with a lot of lineup room, and have the supercar come into the staging area at 200 miles an hour, flat out, so the tree goes green just as the supercar lines up with the fuelie. In other words, the dragster launches from a standing start, while the supercar comes into the quarter at 200 mph.

Who wins?




























The dragster.
 
neon_duke
Here's my favorite little tidbit about Top Fuelies:

Take a supercar - any supercar will do, as long as it will go 200+ mph. Stage the dragster somewhere with a lot of lineup room, and have the supercar come into the staging area at 200 miles an hour, flat out, so the tree goes green just as the supercar lines up with the fuelie. In other words, the dragster launches from a standing start, while the supercar comes into the quarter at 200 mph.

Who wins?

The dragster.
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Hiya! :D :embarrassed: :lol: Meow! (='.'=)

Wow kind of observation would be very fun to watch! :embarrassed: I wonder how many car lenghts would the dragster be ahead of the supercar :odd: And what about a missle? :crazy: Have a jet park there at the start and LAUNCH IT! Well, assuming the missle will go straight and not down! ;) Do you think a missle being fired from a jet can be as fast as a dragster?
 
I don't think so...A missile is designed to catch up to a jet travelling at speeds in excess of 400mph, so it'll probably be doin a good 550mph.
 
McLaren'sAngel
Hiya! :D :embarrassed: :lol: Meow! (='.'=)

Oh my goddess...:drool::crazy: Those numbers you put there just made me want to get a dragster and burn everything on the road! :embarrassed: I wonder how I can drive a 7,500 HP car daily... :dunce: :embarrassed:
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Heh, yeah, I've got a video of that white turbo mustang dragster I posted earleir driving down the street to pick up some fast food...in the winter no less! It's a boring video because he doesn't get on it or anything, but the idea of it is funny. :D
 
I6-4-eva
What would be the top speed if a top fuel dragster kept on going? and would'nt the tires explode going 300+mph for a long period of time?
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Yeah, I've always thought it would be cool if they had longer drag races. Maybe 2 miles or so. If it was that long, they would be have to be more aerodynamic & economical. Since it is going 8 times the distance it would have to be a little de-tuned to save fuel. Its crazy, but I bet the could reach speed of around 450 mph on a 2 mile strip.
 
ND4SPD
On another note, how fast in MPH does a bullet usually travel?
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It depends. A typical pistol bullet (ex. 9mm) normally travels at high subsonic speeds, which is around 600mph at sea level. A powerful rifle bullet on the other hand, can travel upwards of 5,000 feet per second (someone please do the conversion to mph, I was raised on metric :dunce: )

And as for the top speed of a top fuel dragster, I would never want to see one do more than a 1/4 mile run. Anything more, and the engine would be almost guaranteed to break down, seeing how they are already notoriously unreliable in 1/4 mile runs. Otherwise, a serious de-tune would be in order, which would severely effect the car's performance, most likely lowering the top speed.
 
Actually, they'd have to be substantially de-tuned. Both the sparkplugs in each cylinder are pretty much burned up by the 1/8th mile mark, and the engine is effectively dieseling for the second half of the run.
 
Who.....heres another cool thing, if you have the land speed record holding car, Thrust SSC, which btw does around 763mph. If you have it pass you the moment you shoot a gun, you'll still be faster than a bullet....Whoa, or if you have a bit higher powered bullet that matches the Thrust SSC car, you can have a bullet right beside you....Cool.
 
*M4 Carbine 5.52 MM round travels at an average speed of 2900ft/s. I suppose a 9mm would be about....1/2-2/3 that speed.

2900ft/s equates to approx. 1927.3mp/h.

1/2 that speed would be approx. 960mp/h, which is slightly faster than an F18.

Now, Mach 1 is 340m/s. That's approximately 1071f/s. That means that a rifle bullet travels at approx Mach 2. The highest speed achieved (unofficially) by a fighter jet is the "Aurora", a top secret military fighter who's existence has been denied multiple times since the early '80's. The official top speed ever reached by a fighter jet is Mach 4, which is to say the very least, damn fast. Micheal Schumacher in his 2003 F1 Ferrari can reach a top speed of 229.4mph, which beat a the Eurofighter in a 600 metre dash. The 900m and 1200m dash however proved that Eurofighter was indeed capable of besting the best. Well those are my fun facts of 2005, don't expect to see much more.

*Muzzle Velocity

[Edit] 5000ft/s = aproxx. 3100mph. [Edit]
 
ND4SPD
Who.....heres another cool thing, if you have the land speed record holding car, Thrust SSC, which btw does around 763mph. If you have it pass you the moment you shoot a gun, you'll still be faster than a bullet....Whoa, or if you have a bit higher powered bullet that matches the Thrust SSC car, you can have a bullet right beside you....Cool.
Click to expand...

Hiya! :D :embarrassed: :lol: Meow! (='.'=)

If I can have a bullet right beside...I would try to reach out of the cockpit and grab that bullet! :embarrassed: Although my arm would probably be heavily thrusted back because of the pressure of going 763 MPH.

And LethalChem, can you please post that link of that Mustang Turbo going to a fast food place? I am sure we all want to see it. :embarrassed:
 

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