NS Dev
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 posted on 20/5/05 at 12:02 PM |
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Anybody who's driven up Santa Pod will know how quick this is!!!!!
I just found this photo too, I was there on the day and yes, it's the quickest car I have ever seen of any sort anywhere..................Kim
Reymond setting the UK drag race record, think it was the year before last...........................yes it does read 317.56 mph!!!!!!!!!!
 
UK Record
 
Kim Reymond
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flak monkey
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| posted on 20/5/05 at 12:51 PM |
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Astounding!! 4.6 secs
Its always fun to see the top fuel drags race, then see people run ferraris etc. They seem (and are) so much slower and seem to take an age to cover
the 1/4!
Can you still stand behind the drags at Santa Pod? Im betting you cant...
[Edited on 20/5/05 by flak monkey]
Sera
http://www.motosera.com
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Fifer
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| posted on 20/5/05 at 12:59 PM |
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You may find this of interest also. These are facts I got from an American friend, I like the camshaft machining fact....
Some Drag Car FACTS: (A Hemi is a V8 engine commonly used in Drag racing)
- One dragster's 500- cubic inch (8193cc) Hemi makes more horsepower then the first 8
rows at Daytona
- Under full throttle, a dragster engine consumes 1 1/2 gallons of nitro
per second, the same rate of fuel consumption as a fully loaded 747 but
with 4 times the energy volume.
- The supercharger takes more power to drive than a standard V8 puts out.
- Even with nearly 3000 Cubic Feet per Minute 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.
- Dual magnetos apply 44 amps to each spark plug. This is the output of
an arc welder in each cylinder.
- At stoichiometric (exact) 1.7:1 air/fuel mixture (for nitro), the
flame front of nitro-methane 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.
- 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 off it's fuel
flow.
- 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.
- Dragsters twist the camshaft (torsionally) so far (20 degrees at the
fast part 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.
- To exceed 300mph in 4.5 seconds, dragsters must accelerate at an
average of over 4G's. But in reaching 200 mph well before 1/2 track, launch
acceleration is closer to 8G's.
- Drivers shut off before the finish line, or even dual parachutes will
not stop the car.
- If all the equipment is paid off, the crew worked for free, and for
once NOTHING BLOWS UP, each run costs $1000.00 per second.
- Dragsters reach over 300 miles per hour before you have read this
sentence.
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Scotty
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| posted on 20/5/05 at 01:53 PM |
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wow!
reckon my volvo stands a chance ????????
PLEASE NOTE! All comments made by this person are to be considered "Tongue in Cheek" and are not meant to be taken seriously in any way - so there!
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NS Dev
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| posted on 20/5/05 at 01:55 PM |
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Jeez! I knew a few of those bits but have learnt a lot too!! The crank twist is just incredible!!!!!!!!!!
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NS Dev
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| posted on 20/5/05 at 01:57 PM |
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quote:
Originally posted by flak monkey
Astounding!! 4.6 secs
Its always fun to see the top fuel drags race, then see people run ferraris etc. They seem (and are) so much slower and seem to take an age to cover
the 1/4!
Can you still stand behind the drags at Santa Pod? Im betting you cant...
[Edited on 20/5/05 by flak monkey]
Still did last year when I was there!
The day they stop you standing in the tin shack at Santa Pod will be the day we really know we live in a nanny state!
It's just awesome there. You can't really appreciate the sound of a V8 until you have watched a top fueller launch off there with no
earplugs in!!!!
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flak monkey
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| posted on 20/5/05 at 02:25 PM |
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quote:
Originally posted by NS Dev
It's just awesome there. You can't really appreciate the sound of a V8 until you have watched a top fueller launch off there with no
earplugs in!!!!
And after a few runs you also dont appreciate how much you love your sense of hearing! 
Sera
http://www.motosera.com
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Dillinger1977
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| posted on 20/5/05 at 02:27 PM |
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is that picture above from the instant it launches? is that the tyre scrunched up from torque? 
[Edited on 20/5/05 by Dillinger1977]
-Rog
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NS Dev
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| posted on 20/5/05 at 02:28 PM |
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Yes it is, I didn't take that picture!! (a good photographer did)
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DarrenW
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| posted on 20/5/05 at 02:44 PM |
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If you watch them setting off in slow motion you can see the tyres buckle and bend into all sorts of shapes. Awesome. A bit like my mountain bike
tyres when im on full throttle (who ate all the pies???:)
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The Shootist
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 posted on 20/5/05 at 03:36 PM |
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A few more facts...
The final drive ratio rises dramaticlly after launch. (The tire diameter stretches from centrifugal force)
The blower, at speed, draws over 400 Horsepower from the crank. (a car in the 70s was built using scuba bottles and a giant regualtor to reclaim this
lost power)
It is not uncommon for an ignition coil to fall off the engine during a run, and the driver not even know it.
The tires are glued and or screwed to the rims. (Shirley Muldowney(Cha-Cha or The Bounty Huntress) was nearly killed when a front tire seperated from
the rim at over 250 MPH)
The pit crews can work VERY fast, as the engine MUST be torn down after EACH run. (the engine WILL burn a minimum of 1 piston on each pass. Sometimes
replacement isn't required after each pass but they'll need 2 the next run)
Believe it or not Top Fuel is not the most expensive class to race. Pro Stock requires an insane level of technology because the rules restrain so
many aspects of the cars construction.
One of the cheapest FAST classes is AA, or Top Alcohol. With configuration roughly the same as a Fueler, AA burns straght alcohl and the engine often
hold up for an entire season, with weekend teardowns for damage inspection.
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Stuart Ainslie
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| posted on 20/5/05 at 04:39 PM |
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Not quite a top-fueller but this is a friends Super Gas Chevy Nova.
Runs the quarter in sub 9.9 seconds still though....
 
Rescued attachment brendon_clancy.jpg
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NS Dev
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| posted on 20/5/05 at 04:41 PM |
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Think I recall seeing that car, was it out at a few meetings last year or the year before?
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Stuart Ainslie
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| posted on 20/5/05 at 04:47 PM |
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Last ran in the championship year before last but engine took a massive dump in the finals at the last race of the season.
Didn't run last season due to housey and baby-type stuff.
Had major works over this winter, ran at a test day a few weeks back and gearbox, prop and diff took a dump too!
Car is now rebuilt again and will be at the Main Event next Bank Holiday weekend running in Super Gas.
The owner / driver is a guy named Brendan Clancey from Romford.
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Browser
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| posted on 20/5/05 at 04:49 PM |
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4.6 second ET I remember when a lot of fuss was being made about the first 5 second ETs in Top Fuel in this country, I think Barry Sheavills was
first to crack it (please correct if wrong)? Now what's the goal, 4 sec ET?
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Stuart Ainslie
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| posted on 20/5/05 at 05:50 PM |
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quote:
Originally posted by Browser
4.6 second ET I remember when a lot of fuss was being made about the first 5 second ETs in Top Fuel in this country, I think Barry Sheavills was
first to crack it (please correct if wrong)? Now what's the goal, 4 sec ET?
It was Sheavills - Saw it at Santa Pod in I 'think' summer 1998
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