NHRA Nationals this weekend?
- Thread starter hmwave
- Start date
Is this a PIR or loacal event? I had to work through the MNW weekend so a little catch-up is in order. Much as I loathe the I5 corridor, I've friends in Portland I would not mind seeing.
Billy Pilgram
New Member
I'm taking my daughter down on Saturday, not sure what time yet though. Figure Saturday is better cause you can see more teams run.
Got class in the morning and then I have a Work picnic and then off to saleens if I get time that day....this is all my saturday
Rick
Rick
Mean saleens house to work on his car, I think that getting his car up and going is more important right now, I hate seeing cars down you know... hopefully we can get it going soon...I wouldnt mind going to the races though....alot farther than Joeys...(means kido.....LOL)
rick
rick
I'm helpin mean on Sat and goin to the races sun.
what time do they start on sunday?
hey rick let me know what time u go maybe i could catch a ride with you again....... cause every moment in that cobra is golden... and i would like to see 5 sec cars lol.
JOEY
JOEY
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mean saleen, you need another sn for your son
mean saleen jr
cuz its kinda hard to tell who it is...
mean saleen jr
cuz its kinda hard to tell who it is...
That is true, hey joey just start signing your name at the bottom like I do.....
Rick
Rick
ok guys that ill do.
JOEY
JOEY
I was thinking of going to the races this weekend and I might. It will depend on how much I work on my car friday. Oh ya, Rick, my parts just came in today. I put my X-pipe in about a week ago, sounds nice. Tonight, I put in my accufab single blade t-body and the mac straight shot intake and filter. Just those mods made a big difference, why did I wait so long..lol, anyway I'm probably going to be installing the rest of the kit on friday, I'll let you know how it goes.
so how were the races? what was the fastest time?
First time I'd experienced the Top Fuel and Funny Cars close up.
Fastest was the US Army Top Fuel at 4.64, 320mph.
John Force won the Funny Car race at 4.90, 309mph.
Man, those things are visceral!
4.6secs of pure hell unleashed, an estimated 8000HP ripping down the quarter. Your whole body vibrates as they go by.
0-100mph in 0.8s, 5G off the line, 7G when the chutes come out, 280mph in 700ft, and one gallon of nitromethane per second (at $30 a gallon) with a fuel pressure of 500psi.
We stood in the pits behind a Top Fuel they'd just rebuilt and were running at idle. Fingers in ears all round.
When they blipped the throttle my eyes hurt and the air around was electric.
Can't wait for next year.
Here's some other stats meantime...
One Top Fuel dragster's 500-cubic-inch Hemi engine makes more horsepower than the first four rows at the Daytona 500.
A stock Dodge Hemi V-8 engine cannot produce enough power to drive the dragster's supercharger.
With 3000 CFM of air being rammed in by the supercharger on overdrive, the fuel mixture is compressed into a near-solid form before ignition. Cylinders run on the verge of hydraulic lock at full throttle.
At the stoichiometric 1.7:1 air-fuel mixture for nitromethane, the flame front temperature is about 7000 degrees Fahrenheit.
Nitromethane burns yellow. The spectacular white flame seen above the stacks at night is raw burning hydrogen, separated from atmospheric water vapor by the searing heat of the exhaust gases.
Dual magnetos supply 44 amps to each spark plug. This is the output of an arc welder in each cylinder.
Spark plug electrodes can be totally consumed during a single pass. After half-distance, the engine is dieseling from compression plus the glow of exhaust valves at 1400 degrees Fahrenheit. The engine is shut down by cutting the fuel flow.
If a spark plug fails early in the run, un-burned nitro can build up in the affected cylinder and explode with sufficient force to blow the cylinder head off in pieces or split the cylinder block in half.
In order to exceed 300 mph in 4.5 seconds, dragsters must accelerate at an average of more than 4 g's. In order to reach 200 mph before half-distance, the launch acceleration approaches 8 g's. A Top Fuel dragster reaches more than 300 mph before you have completed reading this sentence.
Assuming that all of the equipment is paid off, the crew works gratis, and nothing breaks, each run costs an estimated $1000 per second.
The current Top Fuel dragster elapsed time record is 4.441 seconds for the quarter-mile (October 5, 2003, Tony Schumacher). The top-speed record is 333.25 mph as measured over the last 66 feet of the quarter-mile (November 9, 2003, Doug Kalitta).
Putting all of this into perspective: You are driving the average $140,000 Lingenfelter twin-turbo Corvette Z06. More than a mile up the road, a Top Fuel dragster is staged and ready to launch down a measured quarter-mile as you pass. You have the advantage of a flying start. You run the Vette up through the gears and blast across the starting line and past the dragster at an honest 200 mph. The "tree" goes green for both of you at that moment. The dragster launches and starts after you. You keep your foot down, but you hear a brutal whine that sears your eardrums, and within three seconds, the dragster catches you and beats you to the finish line, a quarter-mile from where you just passed him. From a standing start, the dragster spotted you 200 mph and not only caught you but nearly blasted you off the road when he passed you within a mere 1320 feet.
Fastest was the US Army Top Fuel at 4.64, 320mph.
John Force won the Funny Car race at 4.90, 309mph.
Man, those things are visceral!
4.6secs of pure hell unleashed, an estimated 8000HP ripping down the quarter. Your whole body vibrates as they go by.
0-100mph in 0.8s, 5G off the line, 7G when the chutes come out, 280mph in 700ft, and one gallon of nitromethane per second (at $30 a gallon) with a fuel pressure of 500psi.
We stood in the pits behind a Top Fuel they'd just rebuilt and were running at idle. Fingers in ears all round.
When they blipped the throttle my eyes hurt and the air around was electric.
Can't wait for next year.
Here's some other stats meantime...
One Top Fuel dragster's 500-cubic-inch Hemi engine makes more horsepower than the first four rows at the Daytona 500.
A stock Dodge Hemi V-8 engine cannot produce enough power to drive the dragster's supercharger.
With 3000 CFM of air being rammed in by the supercharger on overdrive, the fuel mixture is compressed into a near-solid form before ignition. Cylinders run on the verge of hydraulic lock at full throttle.
At the stoichiometric 1.7:1 air-fuel mixture for nitromethane, the flame front temperature is about 7000 degrees Fahrenheit.
Nitromethane burns yellow. The spectacular white flame seen above the stacks at night is raw burning hydrogen, separated from atmospheric water vapor by the searing heat of the exhaust gases.
Dual magnetos supply 44 amps to each spark plug. This is the output of an arc welder in each cylinder.
Spark plug electrodes can be totally consumed during a single pass. After half-distance, the engine is dieseling from compression plus the glow of exhaust valves at 1400 degrees Fahrenheit. The engine is shut down by cutting the fuel flow.
If a spark plug fails early in the run, un-burned nitro can build up in the affected cylinder and explode with sufficient force to blow the cylinder head off in pieces or split the cylinder block in half.
In order to exceed 300 mph in 4.5 seconds, dragsters must accelerate at an average of more than 4 g's. In order to reach 200 mph before half-distance, the launch acceleration approaches 8 g's. A Top Fuel dragster reaches more than 300 mph before you have completed reading this sentence.
Assuming that all of the equipment is paid off, the crew works gratis, and nothing breaks, each run costs an estimated $1000 per second.
The current Top Fuel dragster elapsed time record is 4.441 seconds for the quarter-mile (October 5, 2003, Tony Schumacher). The top-speed record is 333.25 mph as measured over the last 66 feet of the quarter-mile (November 9, 2003, Doug Kalitta).
Putting all of this into perspective: You are driving the average $140,000 Lingenfelter twin-turbo Corvette Z06. More than a mile up the road, a Top Fuel dragster is staged and ready to launch down a measured quarter-mile as you pass. You have the advantage of a flying start. You run the Vette up through the gears and blast across the starting line and past the dragster at an honest 200 mph. The "tree" goes green for both of you at that moment. The dragster launches and starts after you. You keep your foot down, but you hear a brutal whine that sears your eardrums, and within three seconds, the dragster catches you and beats you to the finish line, a quarter-mile from where you just passed him. From a standing start, the dragster spotted you 200 mph and not only caught you but nearly blasted you off the road when he passed you within a mere 1320 feet.
Billy Pilgram
New Member
Those cars are incredible! Anything that makes your eyeballs shake like that is quite an experiance. We went down on Saturday and it was frying hot.
I'm with you, can't wait till next year
I'm with you, can't wait till next year
We arrived at midday so had to park right in the furthest corner of the furthest away car lot, maybe a half mile away. When I turned off the Cobra and opened the door one of either the TF or Funny cars happened to make a run.
It sounded like some kind of monster had been unleashed and was very loud even at that distance.
My son turned to me and said "is that a crash Dad"!
His friend had a look of amazement/fright on his face, LOL.
I knew they'd be loud but had no idea the experience would be quite so 'violent' in terms of the shock waves experienced.
It amazes me that we are blowing up motors at 600hp and 20psi and these things are pushing out 8000HP. How do they stay together? (I know sometimes they don't).
I was surprised to see the Funny Cars don't appear to have any protection between the motor and the drivers seat. If/when that motor comes apart it's gonna make a dent in the driver! Two words, "strawberry smoothy".
It sounded like some kind of monster had been unleashed and was very loud even at that distance.
My son turned to me and said "is that a crash Dad"!
His friend had a look of amazement/fright on his face, LOL.
I knew they'd be loud but had no idea the experience would be quite so 'violent' in terms of the shock waves experienced.
It amazes me that we are blowing up motors at 600hp and 20psi and these things are pushing out 8000HP. How do they stay together? (I know sometimes they don't).
I was surprised to see the Funny Cars don't appear to have any protection between the motor and the drivers seat. If/when that motor comes apart it's gonna make a dent in the driver! Two words, "strawberry smoothy".
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