Top Fuel Dragster Tire Distortion

Well, considering its only a few thousand lbs (at most) going sideways they certainly should. It took the Saturn 12 seconds to clear the tower and about 1 minute to break the sound barrier (which isn't too bad for 6 million lbs going straight up).

We used to live about 10 miles from Atlanta Dragway, when the top fuel cars ran it shook the whole house and rattled every window.

 

I guess it's just my mental disposition on such things. Do people really involve which logo they saw on a drag car in part of their purchasing decision making process? My wife could probably explain why it's of advertising value but I guess I would be looking for concrete proof of the ROI. Does tossing those cubic dollars at a drag team really have a positive impact on the business and how do you quantify it? Those are the parts I don't fully grasp.

 

I didn't bring up missiles...to be sure they probably couldn't outrun a sidewinder.

 

I wonder what top speed would be if they had a half mile run with unlimited shutdown room.

 

Rockets go sideways really really fast LOL

 

I read somewhere that theoretical top speed of a top fuel dragster, eliminating factors like equipment malfunction (which is ludicrous in something so volatile) and other assumptions, is approaching 800-900mph.

 

Don't think we'd ever know. I'm sure the motor wouldn't last that long.

 

you just figured out a way to add cubic dollars to a race program that is already exponentially expensive...lol.
It would involve some NASA level safety engineering & training.
Land speed racers have gone maybe 700 mph??

 

The blocks are billet and have zero water passageways

 

After I typed it I figured that was some very old school stuff I was talking about and that most of them are probably billet 1 off blocks.

 

Not really one off. But the cost about 25000 each. Lol.

 

That's worse than my current obsession of trying to buy a defunct radial P&W engine.

 

But in reality they last a season. We could pull our motor down with only two guys, to the bare block, in the car in 45 minutes. We would bang the sleeves out, drop in new sleeves, put in new rods and pistons and hit the go button. I'm not positive on where the wording the cams are a one time use came from but we would use the same cam for a couple months. My main job for the longest of time was the clutch guy. I would have the driveshaft pulled, trans pulled back, bell housing off, the 5 disc clutch out, I would cut the clutch, grind the steels, put it back together, set all the heights on the pedistals, add or remove weights depending on ambient temp, track temp, amount of clutch slip, engine rpm vs clutch rpm vs driveshaft rpm, vs wheel speed. I would the. Reinstall everything, then pull the oil pan, and start yanking out the rod bolts etc.

What's even more impressive is, the motor and clutch versus the wheel speed and vehicle speed never match. Meaning, the clutch never fully engages. It slips the complete pass. It's the only way to get down the track. 98% lock up is optimal. If you get less than 2% slip then it kills the tires and you go to tire shake hell, and more slip will not get vehicle speed, welding the clutch together then it'll smoke the tires halfway down the track. Very very balanced and everything is precise. As the weights on the clutch, we used aluminum bolts, nuts and washers. And everything was weighed before we put it on. One washer typically 1oz, would cause the car to weld the clutch.


I miss it. I miss it daily. For now I'll just enjoy working on the cars for the dumbass show street outlaws in my spare time.

 

Well, I haven't been to a top fuel car drag race, but I have been to a national level boat drag race. 500 cu in max nitro-methane burning top fuel motors in the top drag boats are not whimpy. You do NOT want to stand behind the boats when they fire them up in the pits to test them out, because unlike the cars, the exhaust goes straight back on the boats. This was many years ago, but per the web site, it looks like they still run them as the Lucas Oil Drag Boat racing series. The viewing "stands" are generally not as close as to the "track" as the car race, but you still feel the things shaking your innards as the blast down the lake / river.

 

I'd love to have one of those sweet bitches! Something I could roll out of the garage and fire up once in a while and look at just to satisfy my inner child. I've always been drawn to those ever since I was a kid and barely had any interest yet in mechanical things.

 

You were the clutch guy? On Top Fuel? That's only the most important guy on the team.

 

A lot more people than I ever thought of are brand loyal to "their" teams. I saw some data a while back and in sports like NASCAR it was actually pretty high for retail items. Other corporations with a smaller client base use it as an exciting hospitality event. It allows you great out of the office face time with customers. For a lot of CEO decision makers their name on the car is for their ego and not ROI. It's really all over the map and ROI means a lot of different things to sponsors.

 

those guys build their own cars in there little garages. I seen it on the tv, so it has to be true.

how much to build a turbo LS that will push a 2800# 3rdgen camaro into low 8's

 

The show is terrible. But they have real equipment. Everything they have is the best of the best. "JJ" from Memphis is nothing like he is on the show. Queit, calm, and a nice guy. The car he has "the prostitute", is really a good car. My buddy is fixing to build "the queen of the streets", a new truck for the show. It won't show up until late next year.