Wouldn’t car racer folk always use the best fuel available? So why the “Top Fuel” distinction for certain types of races?

[image] keith: Edit: because of the explosiveness of this fuel, the lifetime of these engines is only about a mile. Then they have to be replaced. Also, NHRA requires these engines to be torn apart and rebuilt after every single run. It takes a good crew about 45 minutes to do this, (there’s…

[image] oldtimer-11: Top Fuel cars only race to 1000 feet now rather than 1320 in the name of safety. And yet they’re still hitting 330 mph. Go figure.

Current NHRA rules restrict the fuel used in Top Fuel to a nitromethane/methanol blend with a maximum of 90% nitromethane. All other fuels are prohibited so they can no longer use nitro/propylene oxide blends. Nitromethane is a dense fuel, heavier than water, around 9 pounds per gallon and is surp…

Thank you for saving me the trouble. GEEEEZE!

One of the more interesting things about nitromethane and methanol is that when you mix the two, the temperature of the liquids drops markedly as the two liquids dissolve each other. Something I found out when mixing my own model airplane fuel. It doesn’t become ice cold, but it’s much cooler than…

They will pull 5 G’s plus on launch and exceed 3.5 G’s the entire 1000 feet… So 330 mph! Yeeow!

Length of race was shortened because of the Scott Kalitta crash in Jersey?

The ability to reach 330 MPH IN 1000 feet is exactly why they no longer run 1320 feet. With speeds that high, there was not a long enough track to reliably stop before going off the end. Cutting back to 1000 feet is for driver safety.

Thanks for the informative posts :slight_smile:

What does "Top Fuel" mean in car racing terminology?

General Discussion

Cavell May 27, 2017, 4:26pm 13

Interesting that during a 4 sec run, the motor only turns 1000 revs total. 8k rpm is 60 sec. Spark plugs melt after 2-3 sec and motor is in compression ignition mode. No spark.

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What does "Top Fuel" mean in car racing terminology?

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