Facts about a Top Fuel Dragster
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One dragster's 500-inch Hemi makes more horsepower then the
first 8 rows at Daytona.
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Under full throttle, a dragster engine consumes 1 ½ gallons of
nitro per second, the same rate
of fuel consumption as a fully loaded 747
but with 4 times the energy
volume.
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The supercharger takes more power to drive then a stock hemi makes.
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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.
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Dual magnetos apply 44 amps to each spark plug. This is the
output of an arc welder in each
cylinder.
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At stoichiometric (exact) 1.7:1 air/fuel
mixture (for nitro),
the flame front
of nitromethane measures 7050 degrees F.
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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.
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Spark plug electrodes are totally consumed during a pass. After
½ 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.
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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.
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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.
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To exceed 300mph in 4.5 seconds dragsters must accelerate at an
average of over 4G's. But
in reaching 200 mph well before ½ track
launch acceleration is closer
to 8G's.
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Drivers shut off before the finish line, or even dual parachutes
will not stop the car.
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If all the equipment is paid off, the crew worked free, and
for once NOTHING BLOWS UP, each
run costs $1000.00 per second.
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Dragsters reach over 300 miles per hour before you have read
this sentence.