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Top Fuel Dragster Final at LVMS April 1st 2012. Spencer Massey(Fram) Beats Antron Brown(Arron's)
Because of the speeds, this class almost exclusively races to only a 1,000 ft distance, and not the traditional (1,320 ft). The shortening of the distance was used in the FIA at some tracks, and as of 2012 is now the standard Top Fuel distance by the FIA. The International Hot Rod Association, which now sanctions Top Fuel in Australia, dropped the distance in September 2017 after Santo Rapisarda, a car owner who often runs NHRA races in the United States, pushed for the change.
A top fuel dragster accelerates from a standstill to 100 mph in as little as 0.8 seconds (less than one third the time required by a production Porsche 911 Turbo to reach 60 mph) and can exceed 280 mph in just 660 feet. This subjects the driver to an average acceleration of about 4.0 g0(39 m/s2) over the duration of the race and with a peak of over 5.6 g0 (55 m/s2).
The fuel
Since 2015, NHRA regulations limit the composition of the fuel to a maximum of 90% nitromethane; the remainder is largely methanol. However, this mixture is not mandatory, and less nitromethane may be used if desired.
While nitromethane has a much lower energy density (11.2 MJ/kg) than either gasoline (44 MJ/kg) or methanol (22.7 MJ/kg), an engine burning nitromethane can produce up to 2.3 times more power than an engine burning gasoline. This is made possible by the fact that, in addition to fuel, an engine must burn oxygen in order to generate force: 14.7 kg of air (21% oxygen) is required to burn one kilogram of gasoline, compared to only 1.7 kg of air for one kilogram of nitromethane, which, unlike gasoline, already has oxygen in its molecular composition. For a given energy output, this means that an engine can burn 8.7 times more nitromethane than gasoline.
Top Fuel Engines
Engine of a top fuel drag racing car, European Finals 2005, at Santa Pod Raceway.
Top Fuel Cars
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