NHRA Drag racing
 

I am not a fan, but the wind is blowing in from Sonoma just right and I can clearly hear the Top Fuel dragsters from home here in the Napa countryside.

It's about 15 miles away and I'm getting these low tone 4 second rumbles as they throttle up to 320 mph.

Makes me want to watch it live.

I hear it is comparable to a space shuttle launch in awe factor.


KT

Different strokes...

I have loved drag racing for the last 40 years. Never been to a road race.

You should go at least once. T.V. does not do it justice. The brutal POWER those cars produce (Top Fuel and Funnys) has to be seen/heard in person.

And visit the pits, watch them completely overhaul an engine in 45 minutes!

Even sitting in the stands, you will feel like someone is thumping you in the chest when they make a pass. And to be there at night (Qualifying) watching the header flames, a sight to behold.

+1, truly awesome machines. The guy's and gals that drive drive them are indeed brave people

Avoid pain, bring ear protection! ;)

Last time I went about 6 tears ago (nothing has changed), I had to hold my over-the-ear set tight. It's incredibly loud. I wonder what the decibel level actually is.

Schumacher blew his blower right in front of me at about half track. It scared me so much I haven't been back. Loudest noise I've ever heard. It literally pushed the people back. I've not heard of people getting hit by debris from these things, but it has to be possible.

Trekkor, it's on TV in a little while.

I've been out to Sears on their wednesday nite drags several times. $10 to get in, $20 to run.
I even ran my 914 down the strip myself one night.

They only had it open for 1/8 mile passes due to recent rains.
The track was dry and cold. A run wasn't long enough to get on the power in third gear. :mad:

The top of third, upshift into fourth in my car is quite fun.
No drag car, mind you.

I watch a little bit on TV ( rarely ), but I don't know who's who.

When is it on TV?


KT

I would encourage anyone who has never seen top fuel and/or funny cars run to go at least once. It is impossible to describe the sensation of having a couple of these go by at wide open throttle. These things have more horsepower in one cylinder than any single F1, Nextel Cup, or Le Mans LMP1 car has in the entire motor. They will burn almost 8 gallons of 85% nitro / 15% methanol in one burnout and quarter mile run. Seen the Blue Angels of Thunderbirds perform? One top fuel car at full melt will drown out all eight of them in a full afterburner low fly-by. No kidding. It's hard to overstate how loud they are; I wear foam ear plugs under full ear muffs and I still whince when they go by. Your whole body just shakes from it; it's like being in a low-level earthquake. Definitely a must-see, at least once in your life.

I absolutely have to agree with all that's been said. These vehicles are utterly beyond comprehension when seen in person. I highly recommend going to a NHRA National race and getting seats abeam the starting line. TV in no way prepares one for the (and I'm not kidding) shock and awe these cars create. And yes, Top fuel drivers are some of the bravest people on the planet as far as I'm concerned. The violence they submit themselves to is unbelievable.

The first few passes you see of two of these cars racing a full tilt will cause you to question the seeming impossibility of what you just saw (and felt down to your core).

Great show. I'm going to try to get a few local Pelicans to get together at the World Finals here in SoCal this Fall.

Now I'm really sorry I skipped the event :mad:

I was BBQing for some friends this evening and heard a few more passes.

How loud is it at the track in decibels to send the sound 15 miles?

Must be deafening.


KT

LOUD!!!! But it's also a different, much deeper, more full sound than any gasoline engine.

When it so LOUD you can feel your bones shake and the ground move....it's loud. The first time I felt it I couldn't believe it.

There's some discrepancy about how much power they make. There's no good way to meaysure power at this level. Their announcers say 7000hp. Years ago I saw measurements using drive shaft deflection that showed over 9000 hp.

As far as the sound, once I saw a guy loose his balance & almost fall down.

Everyone has heard strings of firecrackers going off. Replace those little fellers with sticks of dynamite going off at the same rate. You are still less than halfway there... I know that sounds like an exageration, but it quite honestly is not.

Almost eight gallons of fuel in 4.5 seconds. The motor actually only makes 900 revolutions or so in an entire pass. To burn eight gallons of fuel - imagine the the force generated in just one ignition cycle in one cylinder. They run very close to full hydraulic lock when at full throttle. A Dodge Viper does not generate enough horsepower to run the blower and the fuel pump on one of these motors.

They have no way to reliably measure what one really puts out, but they have extrapolated by running the same motors on pure methanol on a dyno. Latest estimates claim they are close to 8,000 horsepower. Watching one run leaves little doubt as to the veracity of that estimate.

Your average GT3 could pass one at full speed while it is sitting on the starting line. The top fuel car's que to go is the GT3 passing it at 180-ish mph. The top fuel car will catch the GT3 at about 3/4 track and beat is easily to the finish line.

Yes, the sheer violence of the whole thing kind of leaves you a bit stunned; every time you see it. I've been watching since I was a kid and still find myself a bit surprised by it when I first return to a drag race. And to think there is a man or a woman sitting in that damn thing... wow...

I went to see these things in Kent, WA last year. After seeing the top fuellers run for the first time, I was pretty much convinced they were powered by the fury of God himself! It really is hard to magine how somebody would want to get close enough to brush off the tires on the starting grid, much less drive it!

You can watch these machines on TV, largely the same as seeing them in person. But listening to them on TV bears absolutely no resemblance whatsoever to the real sound. Some of the comments above will seem like hyperbole. It's not. The above remarks are understatements, and you will understand this better AFTER you have personally witnessed one of these events.

At one of these events, you will see street rods. Sixteen seconds. Then 14 seconds. Then twelve. Then eleven. Then ten and nine. By this time you're seeing cars that amateur racers have spend mega dollars to build. No mufflers. These would be the loudest cars you ever heard, but nothing compared to what comes later. Next, you will see the Pro Stock cars. These are the world's fastest gasoline-burning drag cars. The beginning of the professionals. A whole new level of noise and speed. And then they fire up the alcohol burning rails and funny cars. These are LARGE vehicles that are difficult to distinguish from the Big Boys (Top Fuel). The noise made by these alcohol burning cars, and their speed, can be misleading. They are a whole new world of noise and speed. But even at this point, you ain't seen nuthin' yet. When they fire up the first Top Fuel vehicle you will know why you brought the ear plugs. Again, the hyperbole above is understated. You really HAVE to see these cars at least one time. After you have done this, you will have a whole different perspective when you see them on TV.

Top Fuel Drag Racing (seen live) can best be described as "Unf**king believable !!" There is absolutely no motorsport that impacts the fan with sound pressure and noise that those things generate.

Last weekend we had the Southern Nationals for drag boats down here in Augusta. Similar concept for the Top Fuel boats, running a quarter in the 4-5 second range and VERY loud. I was stunned watching these run. It was the first time I have ever seen a boat with a 'chute.
Even when they shut the motor down and punched the chute as they passed the finish it must have been a good half to three quarters of a mile down the river that the things were going slow enough to turn.

Thanks for all the replies. sounds pretty exciting.

KT

That racing was great yesterday and I would have loved to have been there!

If you use the 9000 hp figure, 2 T/F cars make more power than the entire field at Daytona (400 hp * 34).

"If you use the 9000 hp figure, 2 T/F cars make more power than the entire field at Daytona (400 hp * 34)."
__________________

Just shows how much these engines have changed over the years. Early on of course all 'stock' blocks, heads etc. that were modified/massaged by the builders. Later on, new metals/alloys/techniques for cranks, blocks, rods, heads, cams, etc. Guys started casting aftermarket blocks, heads... based on the Hemi or B.B. Chevy's, etc. Different deck heights, bore spacing, stronger main cap areas, etc.

One can only IMAGINE the stresses being placed on those components. The engine is literally trying to destroy itself with each pass ...and sometimes they
do so...in awesome fashion!

If you look at the blocks, a lot of them look like Frankenstein. Apparently an amazing amount of damage can be repaired with no ill effects.

It just needs to hold together for 4 seconds...

Key word being "just."

The new blocks are forged, not cast, and not based upon any production design. They are actually tough enough to have a motor "blow" and fully contain the pieces. They can break a rod, or even a crank inside these new blocks and still likely run it in the next round.

I remember seeing the old Keith Black cast aluminum (based on the 426 Hemi) blocks, or the Donovan cast aluminum 417 (based on the old 392 Hemi) blocks with an astounding number of visible welds on the outside. They kept blowing big pieces right out of them and simply welding them back together.

They get "new" rods and pistons for every pass these days. They typically get about eight passes on these components, but every weekend they only get run once, then put into the "inspection" pile, with the number of total passes carefully tracked. As long as they keep passing inspection back at the home shop, they keep running them. The big money teams give them out as souveniers after about eight runs, the teams that are scraping by might try to get up to twelve passes on a set. The crank will generally run all year unless they break it; it does run all weekend without inspection.

Weird, seemingly innocuous little things make a big difference in these cars. The torque pattern used on the head bolts, for example. Changing the torque pattern and/or values can raise or lower the power output by up to 1,000 horsepower. Yes, just from torquing the head bolts differently. That points to just how much these motors deflect under power. It took the teams years to fugure this one out; why would the clutch and tires "hold" a certain amount of power (derived through ignition advance and fuel percentage) one round, then go up in smoke the next? Because the guy torquing the heads was doing it willy-nilly, and giving the clutch set-up man a surprise bonus of hundreds of horsepower he didn't have in the last round. Made it impossible to use data from the previous round to set clutch slip for the next.

That's just one example. There really is a lot more going on in these cars than most people realize, both mechanically, and as far as driving one. It's kind of a seemingly weird mix, but my two favorite motorsports are top fuel and F1. Both get much more interesting the more you learn about the technology involved.

**UPDATE**

One year later.

I went last night.

Unreal.
Earplugs- check
Full through-body vibration- check

I cost me $50 to get in which was pretty steep considering I got there at 7:30pm.
They ran until 10:00pm due to some blown engines/oil downs.

Thye have these strange riding oil removers.
They spray chemical out the front, machine underneath ( brushes/vacuum ? ) and flames out the back aimmed at the track surface. 'Zambozi on Steroids' :D

It was a neat experience. I don't plan to go again.

Road racing is my thing.

KT

Very Cool! Everyone should experience it at least once, even if it's not your cup o' tea. The sound percussion is almost enough to make your heart go out of rhythm. ;)

The garage area is great too. Most teams are outside working on the cars between rounds and you are just a couple feet away from these beasts. They will fire them up in the pit area too, so always have your ear protection handy.

I wanted to listen *once* with an earplug, just to see...

Bad idea. My ears were ringing.

It's probably the kind of sound that would kill you if you were subjected to it for very long.

There were people everywhere open-eared like it was no big deal. HUH?!?


KT

I had a friend that was into NHRA and I used to go to Pomona with him almost every year, have not been in a long while.

Like everyone said it is something you should see at least once in your life.

Went to my first and last NASCAR race two years ago, interesting but not my cup of tea.

I would consider going to a NHRA race again.

Don't forget Pro-Stock....

500cu inch, Carbuator no blower, gas no nitro

Now launch and shift five times in 6.6 secs!

Back in the 1970's, Grady Clay told me he used to hang out at drag strips..."Because those guys really know engines"...:)

I still vote these guys as the real nut-jobs:

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Sorta like the volume at a Ted Nugent or Grateful Dead Concert. http://forums.pelicanparts.com/suppo...eys/gitaar.gif
Actually, those dragsters put the concert in the hospital zone category!

FWIW, my old Power Wagon has Keith Black pistons...Not just any hypereutetic piston mind you...but Keith Black hypereutectic pistons! For you guys who think Mahle makes the best? HOOT!

This has been posted before, and some people including our host, Wayne, has disagreed with portions of it, but it's still mostly true.

One Top Fuel dragster 500 cubic inch Hemi engine makes
more horsepower than the first 4 rows at the Daytona 500.

* Under full throttle, a Top Fuel dragster engine consumes
18½ gallons of nitro methane per second; a fully loaded 747
consumes jet fuel at the same rate with 25% less energy
being produced.

* A stock Dodge 426 Hemi V8 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 nitro
methane the flame front temperature measures 7050 degrees F.

* Nitromethane 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.

* Dual magnetos supply 44 amps to each spark plug. This is
the output of an arc welder in each cylinder.

* 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 the fuel flow.

* If spark momentarily fails early in the run, unburned
nitro builds up in the affected cylinders and then explodes
with sufficient force to blow cylinder heads off the block
in pieces or split the block in half.

* In order to exceed 300 mph in 4.5 seconds dragsters must
accelerate at an average of over 4G's. In order to reach
200 mph well before half-track, the launch acceleration
approaches 8G's.

* Dragsters reach over 300 miles per hour before you have
completed reading this sentence.

* Top Fuel Engines turn approximately 540 revolutions from
light to light!

* Including the burnout the engine must only survive 900
revolutions under load.

* The red-line is actually quite high at 9500 rpm.

* The Bottom Line; Assuming all the equipment is paid off,
the crew worked for free, and for once NOTHING BLOWS UP,
each run costs an estimated $1,000.00 per second. The
current Top Fuel dragster elapsed time record is 4.441
seconds for the quarter mile (10/05/03, Tony Schumacher).
The top speed record is 333.00 mph (533 km/h) as measured
over the last 66' of the run (09/28/03 Doug Kalitta).

Putting all of this into perspective:

You are riding the average $250,000 Honda MotoGP bike. Over
a mile up the road, a Top Fuel dragster is staged and ready
to launch down a quarter mile strip as you pass. You have
the advantage of a flying start. You run the RC211V hard up
through the gears and blast across the starting line and
past the dragster at an honest 200 mph (293 ft/sec). The
'tree' goes green for both of you at that moment. The
dragster launches and starts after you.
You keep your wrist cranked hard, but you hear an incredibly
brutal whine that sears your eardrums and within 3 seconds
the dragster catches and passes you. He beats you to the
finish line, a quarter mile away from where you just passed
him.

Think about it, from a standing start, the dragster had
spotted you 200 mph and not only caught, but nearly blasted
you off the road when he passed you within a mere 1320 foot
long race course.

I liked reading that.

Thanks.


KT

nothing quite like it. Especially during testing in the pits when they change from alky to nitromethanol..

Nasty.

"They will burn almost 8 gallons of 85% nitro / 15% methanol in one burnout and quarter mile run" Jeff

" Under full throttle, a Top Fuel dragster engine consumes
18½ gallons of nitro methane per second" Hugh's quote

I'm leaning towards the first one being correct.

Regardless, it's amazing.
Les

Anybody know when it will be broadcast from Sonoma? ( today's racing )


KT

Found it! 4:00 pm PST on ESPN.



KT