9 Top Fuel Dragster Facts & Statistics (2022 Update)

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You may well know them as drag racers or drag automobiles. If you’ve watched these kinds of races, then you have most likely noticed Best Gasoline dragsters in motion. If you could not previously explain to by their special visual appeal and outstanding pace, there is much more to these cars than satisfies the eye. Under, we will look at a number of Prime Gas dragster engine information and the autos that contend in these outstanding one thousand-foot races.

The 9 Top Fuel Dragster Engine Facts

  1. Top Fuel dragster engines burn up to 15 gallons of fuel in one run.
  2. Horsepower numbers are estimated on most Top Fuel dragster engines.
  3. Top Fuel dragster engines have to be rebuilt after every run.
  4. Nitromethane powers Top Fuel dragsters instead of regular gasoline.
  5. A Top Fuel dragster’s primary braking method is parachutes.
  6. The current quarter-mile record for a Top Fuel dragster is 3.667 seconds.
  7. At Launch, drivers of a Top Fuel dragster can be subjected to nearly 5 Gs of gravity.
  8. Top Fuel dragsters can cost over $500,000.
  9. No special license is required to operate a Top Fuel dragster.

Top Fuel Dragster Engine Facts

1. Top Fuel dragster engines burn up to 15 gallons of fuel in one run.

(NHRA)

If you ever believed your automobile received horrible gas mileage, it could bring a modest sum of comfort to know that these amazingly powerful engines will burn up to 15 gallons in a solitary run. The capture: 1 run will typically be much less than 5 seconds when the auto will take off from the start off line. Not only is that horrible fuel mileage, but this motor burns nitromethane, which is around $16 per gallon!

9 Top Fuel Dragster Facts & Statistics (2022 Update)
Top Fuel Dragster – Santa Pod 2010 (4667510440) (Image Credit: Tim Felce (Airwolfhound), Wikimedia Commons CC SA 2.0 Generic)

2. Horsepower numbers are estimated on most Top Fuel dragster engines.

(Hotcars)

The very best Leading Gasoline dragster engines are believed to be upwards of ten,000 or far more horsepower. To set this into viewpoint, most of the speediest supercars in the entire world barely split one,000 horsepower. Best gasoline dragster engines are created for absolute greatest acceleration. Simply because of the engine’s intense horsepower, dynos don’t last prolonged adequate to get a exact horsepower reading. Consequently, the horsepower ratings are believed primarily based on the engine’s specs and how it need to carry out.


3. Top Fuel dragster engines have to be rebuilt after every run.

(Hotcars)

Probably 1 of the most surprising Prime Fuel dragster engine details is that the engines are rebuilt after every run. In inventory automobile racing, it’s widespread for cars to require several things changed in the pit end during the lengthy race. But a Prime Gas dragster is acquiring this rebuilt after every quarter-mile operate. Typically talking, it is new pistons, rings, rods, and bearings. Nonetheless, at times the engine requirements a entire new crank as nicely. The craziest point? The crew typically only has a pair of hours to do the perform.


4. Nitromethane powers Top Fuel dragsters instead of regular gasoline.

(Hotcars)

As mentioned earlier, Top Gas dragsters run nitromethane as an alternative of regular gasoline. Basically, nitromethane is different from gasoline in that it carries its own oxygen, so it doesn’t call for the same sort of consumption. Every single stroke of your motor generates more electrical power since it’s burning more gasoline with no needing additional area for as significantly oxygen.

Have you at any time questioned why flames often shoot out of the tailpipes of Prime Fuel dragsters? It is since nitromethane burns slower than gasoline. So what you’re observing is truly ignited but unburnt fuel currently being pushed out of the exhaust.

9 Top Fuel Dragster Facts & Statistics (2022 Update)
FIA Top Fuel Dragster – Santa Pod (Image Credit: MamboTone, Wikimedia Commons CC 2.0 Generic)

Top Fuel Dragster Racing

5. A Top Fuel dragster’s primary braking method is parachutes

(Autoweek)

Can you imagine driving a vehicle so rapidly that you essential parachutes to cease? This is the situation with most Prime Gasoline dragsters. They do have standard brakes. Even so, their primary signifies of stopping at the finish of their run is the deployment of one particular or two parachutes out the again of the vehicle. It is all about timing because the driver has a lever within his cockpit that he need to pull at just the correct time. Too early and the parachutes impede his time, way too late, and he pitfalls not obtaining them end him in time.


6. The current quarter-mile record for a Top Fuel dragster is 3.623 seconds.

(Hotcars)

Tony Schumacher holds this record. Just before deploying his braking method, he experienced the auto touring 336.57 miles for each hour. This was a document, but the rest of the racers probably all passed the 300 miles for each hour mark in the course of that race. This is a testomony to the crazy amounts of electricity these car engines set out.


7. At Launch, drivers of a Top Fuel dragster can be subjected to nearly 5 Gs of gravity.

(Motortrend)

We are usually subjected to no a lot more than one G of gravity in our day-to-day life. Prime Gas dragsters engines set out so significantly electrical power that the drivers are typically subjected to nearly five Gs of gravity. This means that the driver feels five times his entire body bodyweight being sucked into the seat. It requires coaching to be in a position to stand up to this pressure with out emotion unwell.

9 Top Fuel Dragster Facts & Statistics (2022 Update)
Image Credit: clickphoto, Pixabay

Owning a Top Fuel dragster

8. Top Fuel dragsters can cost over $500,000.

(HowMuch)

This price only will take into account getting a fairly new or large-tech dragster. It does not essentially account for aggressive, ongoing expenses this sort of as nitromethane gasoline and motor rebuilds soon after each operate.

A Top Fuel engine will generally be approximately $sixty,000 with a rebuild price of about $five,000 each and every time. When you account for how a lot of instances the engine will most likely have to be rebuilt in a calendar year, that places the common price in surplus of $one million dollars for every yr for rebuilds alone.

An additional important cost is the particular gas. Nitromethane is generally all around $sixteen per gallon, and at around 15 gallons per operate, that puts one operate at about $240. This may possibly not look like a enormous amount, but if you account for doing above one hundred fifty operates per 12 months, it provides up in a hurry.


9. No special license is required to purchase a Top Fuel dragster.

(HowMuch)

Even even though no special license is needed, it’s not fairly that straightforward. If you have the income to purchase and keep a Prime Gas dragster, then you can technically buy one. Nonetheless, the only individuals you will at any time see driving 1 of these potent machines will be skilled pros. You really do not just soar from a Honda Civic into a dragster! Some dragsters are owned by rich enthusiasts who employ expert motorists to race for them.

Top Fuel Dragster Engine Facts: FAQ

Why Do the Drivers Spin the Dragster’s Tires Before Its Run?

If you’ve at any time watched a drag race, you are going to discover that most drivers will spin the tires of their automobile in spot prior to they start their run. This is primarily for grip. As the tires spin, they heat up, and the rubber softens and grips the floor of the street just a bit far better.

How About Those Spark Plugs?

Because a Leading Gas dragster motor operates so hot, the electrodes on the spark plugs are completely wrecked at only halfway via a run the motor operates on its existing combustion and exhaust valves from that level on. Due to the fact of this, only stopping the flow of gas via the motor will switch it off. You cannot just turn a key to shut the engine down.

How Loud is a Top Fuel Dragster Engine?

All this talk about how strong these extraordinary engines are you may possibly be questioning how loud they are. Not only do many Prime Fuel dragsters measure a 2.3 on the Richter scale on launch, but they have also calculated 144db’s and even into the 150s. So, needless to say, you’ll need some quite excellent hearing security if you want to watch a single of these races live. (ESPN)

Conclusion

You won’t see Leading Fuel dragsters using hairpin corners, but they are exhilarating in their possess way. To sit in the group and actually really feel the ten,000 plus horsepower scream by in your chest is an knowledge that you will not quickly overlook. If that sort of event isn’t your point, even seeing it after on Television is something to behold.

Sources

 


Featured Picture Credit score: clickphoto, Pixabay

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