Top Fuel Dragracing
When taking power and acceleration, there is nothing more brutal then a Top Fueler.
Nothing even comes close.
Here you will find some facts that are kinda scary. You will love it.
If you haven´t gotten the experience of seeing and hearing a Top Fueler run for yourself, you haven´t lived. Grab your chance and go to an event near you. You will not believe your eyes nor ears.
Do come prepared since a Top Fuel duel can produce up to 150 decibel during take off and will register a cool 3,1 on the Richter scale!!! Yes, it is that brutal.
As those guys used to say :
gas is for cleaning parts
alcohol is for drinking
nitromethane is for racing
POWER
A Top Fuel dragster produces more horsepower then the first 4 rows at the Daytona 500;
A Top Fuel dragster produces about 1000Hp PER CYLINDER;
A stock Dodge Hemi 426 engine cannot produce enough power to merely drive the dragster´s supercharger;
SPEED
A Top Fuel dragster will accelerate from 0 to 100 mph (160 kmu) in less then 0,8 second are about 11 seconds faster than it takes a production Porsche 911 Turbo to reach teh same speed;
A Top Fuel dragster will exceed 280 mph (450 kmu) in just 660 feet (201 m);
From a standing start a Top Fuel dragster is faster than a fighter jet;
A Top Fuel dragster will reach over 300 mph (480 kmu) before you have completed reading this sentence;
COST
A Top Fueler will consume over 10 gallons of nitromethane over a complete pass;
During take off, a Top Fueler will burn over 1 gallon of fuel PER SECOND;
Nitromethane costs about 40 USD per gallon;
A engine only has to survive 900 revs under load of which 540 revs during the run itself;
The 17inch rear rubber of a Top Fuel dragster will last, if you are lucky, four to six runs or about 2 miles (3,2 km);
If all equipment is paid off, the entire crew works for free and nothing goes wrong nor blows up, each run will set you back about 1000 USD each SECOND;
PERSPECTIVE
Let´s picture it this way so it is clear to each and all of you :
Say you have cool 140000 USD stached away somewhere. You have decided to spend it wisely and go out shopping for some cool wheels. You end up selecting a Lingerfelter twin turbo Corvette Z06.
You think you are the fastest guy in town and take a spin to the local quarter mile strip.
It just so happens that you go flat out and are passing the christmas tree at 200 mph (320 kmu) when a Top Fuel dragster is all warmed up and is ready to move while you are still accelerating.
You hear a brutal whine that about sears your eardrums when the Top Fueler explodes into action right next to you. Within 3 seconds the Top Fueler will not only catch up with you but will pass you and beat you to the finish line a full quarter mile away from where you passed it.
THink about this a bit. From a standing start the dragster has spotted you 200 mph and not only caught up with you but nearly blasted you off the track at a mere 1320 feet ( 402 m) from where it started.
This my friends, is horsepower and acceleration.
To get a feel for it, please look at the attached (not perfectly edited) film.