The basics of drag racing are indeed rather elementary . Everyone lines up and depart on the same signal , accelerating to a stain some aloofness aside on a straight course , and whoever capture there first wins . That ’s consistent across all four National Hot Rod Association ( NHRA ) Camping World Drag Racing Series : Top Fuel Dragster , Funny Car , Pro Stock and Pro Stock Motorcycle . The starting light , popularly recognize as the Christmas tree , dash a series of amber lights to let the drivers get ready . At the end , there ’s a light-green brightness to go , but if anyone take off too early , that ’s a foul that gets a red ignitor . The distance varies depending on the specific series . Top Fuel gondola and Funny Cars sprint to a distance of 1,000 feet ( 304.8 meters ) to determine the victor .
TheNational Hot Rod Association ( NHRA)divides its airstream cars into family , based on standard such as engine type , the machine ’s weighting , satisfactory modification to the railcar , aeromechanics and fuel type . The fuel type is in the first place what we ’ll be focusing on , since it ’s the main gene that severalise Top Fuel dragsters from other eccentric of cars . They ’re some of the fast vehicles on the planet . In fact , just one of the eight cylinders in a Top Fuel locomotive produces as much horsepower as a NASCAR Sprint Cup car [ origin : McGee ] .
Top Fuel engines ca n’t burn veritable gasoline , or even backwash gas . They need nitromethane , a exceptional kind of fuel , which is how these cars got the Top Fuel name . It ’s a complicated balance , require the gondola to be tuned specifically for the fuel and the fuel to be make up specifically for the cars . All the effort is deserving it to the racers , who travel at antecedently unheard - of upper , and the devotee , who have sex the flames that now and then blast from Top Fuel dragsters ' tailpipes .
Top Fuel cars get their big businessman from custom railway locomotive that are 500 three-dimensional inches and boast superchargers , make them capable of around 8,000 - horsepower , though some estimates go as high as 11,000 - HP . A dynamometer , the motorcar typically used to measure a car’shorsepower and torque , ca n’t actually plow the extreme torque of a Top Fuel car . So , Top Fuel power numbers are calculate by mathematical equation , which can leave some way for argumentation .
Why Is It Called ‘Top Fuel’?
The people who built the predecessors to Top Fuel auto — engineers , mechanics and amateurish pull racers around the macrocosm — eventually came to the conclusion that a nitromethane blending is the good character of fuel for these special types of engines . Nitromethane is also know by its chemical makeup , CH3NO2 . It ’s a dangerous and fickle center that ’s often used for pesticides , medicine manufacturing , heavy tariff clean result and even skyrocket fuel . Nitromethane burn at a relatively slow pace equate to other fuels , and some unburned nitromethane may get away through the exhaust system system and ignite when it come into contact with the atmosphere , resulting in the exhaust piping flames that contribute to the spectacle of a Top Fuel race .
An engine that runs on nitromethane is typically much lower compression than a gas engine [ reference : Davis ] . Unlike gasolene , nitromethane carry atomic number 8 , so the engine does n’t need to force in as much air for the combustion cycle , allowing it to function at lower compression . Still , all of the association ask to be inspected and repaired on a regular base . For exemplar , the welds on the custom headers set about to fail after about 50 or so runs [ root : Mazlumian ] . If a Top Fuel machine ’s railway locomotive is not running decent and unburned fuel builds up in the engine , it can set off with a force out unattackable enough to crack the engine ’s point or block .
presently , Top Fuel fly the coop on a portmanteau word that ’s 90 pct nitromethane and 10 percent methanol , according to NHRA rules [ source : Davis ] . The methanol helps stamp down explosion , which makes the fuel more stable . The fuel is slippery to flux at the proper ratio because it ’s merge by weight , which depends on its temperature . And to further refine matters , the fuels themselves can vary in whiteness by a few percentage points . immix top fuel for stability and premium power can yield varied termination ; in most instance , the fuel works as intended . Nitromethane can be blended with substance other than wood spirit to help hike its power electric potential , but such maneuver are banned by the NHRA and most other racing organizations , in part because other fuel blend are more dangerous and also harder to regulate .
Race Day!
Even though whoever gets to the finish line first is crown the victor of an NHRA drag wash , that does n’t mean the winning car is inevitably the fastest . If a railroad car is the first off the furrow , that ’s a huge advantage in a airstream that only cover a light distance . Even if another elevator car has a quicker top speed , it might not be able-bodied to make up the baffled ground to take the win .
Top Fuel cars take off from the starting origin and reach a speed of 100 miles per hour ( 160.9 kilometers per hour ) in less than a second . This makes them the fastest quicken railcar in the world . A Top Fuel railway locomotive ’s tycoon reaches the wheel in a fraction of a second . Top Fuel drivers endureG - forcessimilar to astronauts during aspace shuttlelaunch . And almost just as quickly , they call for to stop . Since these cars would wear out through brake moderately quickly at more than 300 mile per hour ( 482.8 kilometers per hour ) , Top Fuel dragsters are equipped with a special type of primary braking organization . After crossing the finish line , the driver hit a substitution that deploys two parachutes behind the motorcar , and the vivid wind underground slows the railroad car , minimizing the risk of mechanically skillful failure .
Funny Cars , another stratum of drag racing fomite , employ the same kind of engines as Top Fuel railcar , but there are peck of differences . In Top Fuel cable car , the railway locomotive is fix behind the driver , but Funny Cars put the locomotive engine up front . The dissimilar wheelbase of Funny Cars may account for some of the difference in speed and quickening since the immense amount of power going to the rear wheels can cause a lot of extra movement as the elevator car zipper down the strip .
Funny Cars use the wheelbase of a product car from the model year 2000 or later , and then a fiberglass replica of the dead body is fabricate to dilute weight . The convention for using production cars tender a lot of margin . Racers can use sportswoman gondola , coupe , or sedans from any domesticated or import motorcar manufacturer , as long as the gondola was originally mass produced . In other word , race teams ca n’t modify concept cars , show car or hand - built boutique cars . To be eligible under the NHRA ’s rules , the railroad car must have been built on a factory assembly descent .
Top Fuel retarding force cars and Funny Cars have like performance specs , thanks to the related to mechanically skillful components . Over the 1,000 - foot ( 304.8 - meter ) straightaway , both types of dragsters reach hurrying above 300 miles per hour ( 482.8 kilometers per hour ) and complete the distance in three to four seconds , burning about 1.2 gallons ( 4.54 liters ) of nitromethane blending per moment , and about 17 gallon ( 64.35 liters ) per race [ origin : Mazlumian ] . Another way to get a good sense of these cars ' capabilities is to await at the records . As of 2022 , the record book for fastest Top Fuel railcar in the series was 338.94 nautical mile per hour ( 545.47 kilometers per hour ) , held by Brittany Force , and for the Funny Car , the top - pep pill recorded is Robert Hight ’s 339.87 miles per 60 minutes ( 546.97 kilometers per 60 minutes ) . Brittany Force completed a Top Fuel streamlet in just 3.641 seconds , and Robert Hight ’s Funny machine criminal record is 3.793 seconds .
Don’t Forget Your Earplugs
Motorsports fans are advised to wear some variety of ear protection when they ’re watching Top Fuel racing live . Easily obtainable foam earplugs , like the kind that you ’d endure to catch some sleep on a long plane trip , can tailor the sound by about 20 decibels [ source : McGee ] . That ’s not a lot , as you ’ll see , but it ’s better than nothing . get word damage is usually permanent . And Top Fuel dragsters are the worst noise offenders out there .
Top Fuel dragsters are the NHRA ’s cheap cars , in part because of the way the engine is mounted . If it was under a hood like a normal elevator car , there ’d be at least some detachment to tone down the sound ; however , it ’s altogether exposed , and all the engine ’s workings are right out there — oh , and there are no damper either . The NHRA once allowed a team of seismologist to stand at the starting line to measure the raceway the means they would mensurate anearthquake — the two cars rated a 2.3 on the Richter scale [ origin : McGee ] . That ’s tantamount to a minor temblor .
According to ESPN , even though the NHRA will allow seismologists take metre reading , they ’ve never recorded officialdecibel levels , and it ’s unlikely they ever will . It ’s all part of the mystique ring the sport . In 2010 , an ESPN reporter scrambled around to find a sound metre adequate to of testing a Top Fuel retarding force ladder — the highest he could immortalise was 140 dB , with the meter twinkle to bespeak its capability was pinch out [ source : McGee ] . Experts calculate Top Fuel car can reach over 150 decibels , a degree that can do forcible damage to the eardrum . For comparison ’s sake , a distinctive sway - concert is about 104 to 120 decibels .
There ’s no sign of Top Fuel popularity slowing down anytime before long . In fact , over the years , the car themselves have become even more powerful . And the faster a Top Fuel car go , the louder it get , which means that as technology continues to improve , more and more drivers are come across hearing loss [ source : McGee ] . Fans will have to deal with more potential earreach damage , too . It ’s just one of the many well - advertise endangerment of racing , but for the drivers and the fans , the thrill of the slipstream is well worth it .
Lots More Information
When I bug out to explore this article , I had to go to the beginning . I ’d heard of nitromethane , of course ( thanks mostly to repeated viewing of " The Fast and the Furious " ) but I did n’t know it go by other names . The National Hot Rod Association website is a little superannuated , but a nice bozo in the marketing office was happy to provide me with some update statistics . Attaining such a focal ratio in a car is a little mind - blowing , to tell the truth , because of airwave ohmic resistance and traction and the laws of physics . I ’ve gone about half that tight before , but I was falling through the sky with an as - yet - undeployed parachute on my back .
