Fun Facts:
A few facts about Top Fuel dragsters from the March 2004 Automobile
magazine:
One Top Fuel dragster's 500 CI 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 a redline than can be as high as 9500 rpm, Top Fuel engines turn
approximately 540 revolutions from light to light. Including the
burnout, the engine needs to survive only about 900 revolutions under
load per run.
Putting all of this in 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 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 past
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 1,320 feet.
The current Top Fuel ET record is 4.441 seconds for the quarter mile and
the speed record is 333.25 mph as measured over the last 66 feet of the
quarter mile.
Jeff
A few facts about Top Fuel dragsters from the March 2004 Automobile
magazine:
One Top Fuel dragster's 500 CI 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 a redline than can be as high as 9500 rpm, Top Fuel engines turn
approximately 540 revolutions from light to light. Including the
burnout, the engine needs to survive only about 900 revolutions under
load per run.
Putting all of this in 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 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 past
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 1,320 feet.
The current Top Fuel ET record is 4.441 seconds for the quarter mile and
the speed record is 333.25 mph as measured over the last 66 feet of the
quarter mile.
Jeff
