Just been watching drag racing on TV (NHRA Drag Racing, Mondays 7pm Channel 5 US Freeview 35) where the fastest top fuels do 0-325mph in about 4.5 seconds over the 1/4 mile straight, side by side. Amazing- I would love to see Top Gear do a feature on this, especially if Richard Hammond chose to do a comparison with driving that rocket thing (although I would understand if he wasn't keen).
Anyone know how fast the top fuels can go if given a long enough straight, or are they designed with such single-minded purpose that they just fall apart if pushed past the 1/4 mile distance? Has anyone tried it?
John
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The engines are tuned to such a state that they're always on the brink of 'grenading' as it is. They are subjected to a total stripdown after every full pass. Going much further than 1/4 ml would be lunacy.
But maybe John Force would have a go...
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I don't know if they still do it but they used to fill the cooling passages in the block with epoxy resin to strengthen the engine.Even at 10,000 rpm, 4 secs is only 667 revolutions of the engine.
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Thanks jc2, that's a very interesting figure!
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They're geared to do the 1/4 mile as fast as possible, so you really want to reach maximum speed just before the 1/4 mile mark. They're pretty much flat out at 325mph although if geared higher I'm sure they could go faster (engine life excepted, as said above!)
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They do run the engines "dry" -- no coolant -- but no idea what they use for oil ....
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The link below is in American, so it says "wet sump system with 16 quarts of mineral or synthetic racing oil". As you say, the blocks are CNC machined from solid aluminium and there are no coolant passageways. The engines are only designed to run for about 3 minutes, then are stripped down and many parts replaced.
There was a piece in a magazine about them I read recently. It was saying to put the acceleration into perspective, what would happen if you raced a Bugatti Veyron up a drag strip. If you gave the Veyron a running start so it was doing 200mph when it crossed the start line, the dragster would still beat it over the quarter mile.
This link has some technical info., mainly about the engines; the fuel injection and ignition timing sounds quite complicated:
snipurl.com/1a12j
;o)
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snipurl.com/1a12j
"0-100mph in less than 0.8 seconds" !!
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The bit that has always amazed me too is that at full whack, over 400bhp is required just to drive the supercharger, but this is fairly insignificant as the engine can produce over 6000bhp...
The fuel consumption is crazy, they can use over 40 litres of fuel to do the 3 minute "lap" including burnout and 1/4 mile run.
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Carp on the twisties though ;-)
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Those things aren't cars of course. Can't run for more than a couple of minutes, can't go round corners or over anything resembling a bump, need a parachute to slow down. They are even less like cars than F1 cars, and that's saying something.
Marvellously, wonderfully dramatic devices though. But I can't help feeling that a day spent at Prescott or Shelsley Walsh would end up a lot more rewarding for the spectator.
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