Originally being a down-home guy from the farm I could'nt afford pro-dragracing. I did manage somehow to be on my good buddy's put crew rhough! We travelled many miles, with lots of wins too!!
That OMG button should be a LOT bigger IMO... fist-punching size. If things are going south at 250mph and things are shaking and shimmying... I'd want that button to be BIG and RED :)
6 лет назад
What's even more impressive is that the tires hook up with very little weight over them
Tire pressure now days 6-7 psi with a bead lock! Some alky guys with a inner liner tire run as low as 5psi . And yes their is a throttle stop for the burn out to control rpm... But also the fuel shut off is about 2/3-3/4 the way closed up until the driver pre stages and puts the car on the "High SIde " meaning the fuel shut off is all the way open . The crew chiefs pull a pice of tape off the injector hat right before they go in the beam to raise the idle to composite for the extra fuel and the driver stepping off the clutch peddle,and that is called the "Tug"
Had the opportunity to drive a top-notch fuel car! I almost kissed myself for having the opportunity, but I chickened out (due to I no like speeds in excess of 250 mph!)!!!
What tire pressure do they use? (I'm sure it varies some based on track conditions, air temp, etc). When Peter walked on water and then began to sink after he got scared he pushed the 'Oh, my God' button, and prayed the shortest prayer in the Bible.... He prayed....." Lord Save me ' Maybe in addition to the fuel shut off and the others things, it should automatically play a recorded message....." Lord, save me " (on a 3 second run that's all you would have time to pray :-) )
wow, that low. I'm amazed the tires almost always hold together under that torque and those speeds. Its fun to watch them skinny up as the power comes on. I wonder why the NHRA does not allow even wider tires so they can get a better grip and make it a little easier to tune so the tires don't spin? I remember as a kid in the mid 60s watching them smoke the tires the entire 1/4 mile. Was there no one back then who could figure out that doing a burn out first would help? I wonder what the history of the burn out is? Who first got the idea and when did NHRA start allowing that in the warm up?
yes track prep is everything - NHRA Safety Safari arrive at the next venue early wednesday and begin a very articulate track prep shaving the surface slick as possible, then they spray an industrial adhesive for many coats especially on sunday, the rear wing down force is tremendous and if you see a run from the side you will experience those huge slicks "going square" on the backside of each one, the enormous downforce causes this affect - however those rear slicks fail now and then - a great kid named Eric Medlin who raced a Force Nitro FC was killed several years ago in monday testing after the gator nationals and experienced A catastrophic failure right at the finish line when a huge chunk of the tire separated causing a horrific side to side harmonic vibration that literally beat his brain to mush hitting the roll cage each side so violently
and Hey Men if my enthusiasm and passion for the Nitro cars brought me off as an asshole or rude know it all, I meant no disrespect to Any of my fellow fans, maybe at the track we can sling a beer at each other, I'm buying :-)
Your right, they only use between 5% to 10% throttle. If you look closely when the car comes back the crew chief will take off a device from the blower
throttle stop its called - if you watch during a burnout the supercharger butterflies barely crack, they roll through a "water box" to aide in the initial tire slippage - a very necessary procedure if you want to compete - A few years back in Las Vegas Robert Hight went no where when the lights hit, crewman failed to remove the throttle stop, in addition after the burnout as they approach the first light you will hear the engine idle go down, the driver turned on the second massive fuel pump, and released the clutch, he pulls a hand brake until he launches and now the clutch welds at about 600 feet, nothing but fuel starvation will shut off the engine at this point despite two massive magnetos that would light up chicago (ok kiddin) firing two spark plugs per cylinder trying to keep the massive volume of fuel firing in all cylinders - when a single cylinder drops (no longer fires the fuel) thats a 1000 hp takeaway from one side or the other and often tries to turn the car that direction, its a crazy sport but I have personally been in the Nitro classes (Fan) since a 1970 funny car match race south of houston, I often challenge friends who have zero interest in the sport to come just one time, few ever do just one - brutal, massive power on a level most of us cannot comprehend, things happen so quickly if your not on your game, bad things gonna happen - at 65 I wouldnt dream of idling one down the track :-) FYI for those who dont know Nitromethane is not a petroleum product though it has some of the propderties, in this sport Nitro is the king, it can contain more air to fuel ratio than any other fuel anywhere, thats where the savage horsepower is developed with aforementioned fuel pumps, mags, plugs, and probably the most important single peice of equipment the belt driven super charger - it takes several hundred horsepower provided by the off board starter and huge battery pack, once set at the line and hit go, huge amounts of co2 are merged with the fuel in the manifold and 10,000 hp comes alive - its so damn addictive been doing his for almost 50 years, nothing on earth can accelerate for a thousand feet any quicler, nothing .....got to love those monsters or as Don Prudhomme once said, there is nothing funny about s funny car, they got that name bnack in the 70's when factory bodies were beaten into confirmation, looked funny yes, Don said however they are without comparison the most violent cars in racinng
It should be the I just shit my pants button .....and they didn't mention that why the tyres go from fat to skinny during the run as they don't have a gear box just a centrifugal clutch the only gears are in the diff the tyres do that because it gives more top end gearing as the tyre grows towards the end of the run and for that reason so the engine doesn't over rev at maximum RPM ...but that would be to technical for some people to understand dah!! Jokes!!
