WHY TOP FUEL DRAG RACERS USE NITRO! NITROMETHANE EXPLAINED BY NHRA MOTORCYCLE DRAG BIKE TEAM 

I can call BS on a lot of what is said about nitromethane. Nitromethane is not the super exotic, highly explosive fuel from hell exploding with this huge violent explosion belting the piston down at Mach three. Nitromethane, CH3NO2, is slightly more volatile than kerosene, the cousin of diesel! Kerosene has a flash point of 40 degrees Celsius, nitromethane is 35 degrees Celsius. So if you get a lid full of nitro and set a match to it, it would not light. Drop the match into it, the match will be extinguished like dropping it into water. Adding methanol is a routine practice with nitro, and is almost always mixed with methanol when used as a racing fuel. Methanol lowers the flash point, and raises the octane rating of the blend somewhat. Nitromethane has a flash point of 35 Celsius, well above room temperature, you'll see somebody like Steve McBride, as well as others with a pressure pack full of methanol or methanol and gasoline, spraying it into the intake of the supercharger until the bike is switched to nitro once there is enough heat in the cylinder to vaporize the flood of nitro when it comes into the engine when the tap is opened. What sets nitromethane apart is the fact it has only 28% of the net energy content of gasoline. (11.3 MJ/kg). Gasoline is lesser or equal to 44 MJ/kg, ethanol is typically 20 MJ/kg, methanol is around 15.8 MJ/kg. Every fuel has a specific stoichiometric ratio, i.e a specific ratio of air to fuel for one part of fuel. Gasoline needs around 14-15 kg of air to burn 1 part of gasoline, ethanol needs around 9kg of air to burn one kg of ethanol, methanol is around 6.47 kg of air to one kg of methanol. Now here is where nitromethane stands out from the crowd. Nitromethane, (not at all the super explosive fuel it's made out to be), has a stoichiometric air to fuel ratio of just 1.7 kg of air to one kg of nitro! The amount of air required to burn 1 kg of gasoline is typically around 14.7 kg, but only 1.7 kg of air is required for 1 kg of nitromethane. Since an engine's cylinder can only contain a limited amount of air on each stroke, 8.6 times as much nitromethane as gasoline can be burned in one stroke. Nitromethane, however, has a lower specific energy: gasoline provides about 42-44 MJ/kg, whereas nitromethane provides only 11.3 MJ/kg. This analysis indicates that nitromethane generates about 2.3 times the power of gasoline when combined with a given amount of oxygen. Nitromethane has a laminar combustion velocity of approximately 0.5 m/s, somewhat higher than gasoline, so it burns slightly faster than gasoline. It also has a somewhat higher flame temperature of about 2,400 °C. So it is somewhat hotter burning than gasoline. Nitromethane is almost always run with rich air-fuel mixtures, because it provides power even in the absence of atmospheric oxygen. The high heat of vaporization of 0.56 MJ/kg together with the high fuel flow provides significant cooling of the incoming charge (about twice that of methanol), resulting in lower operating temperatures When rich air-fuel mixtures are used. That's why top fuel cars and bikes don't have radiators. They are cooled by nitromethane! Hydrogen and carbon monoxide are two of the combustion products, and these gases often ignite, sometimes very explosively, and it is in fact hydrogen, and carbon monoxide fuelling those big flames out the exhausts along with unburnt nitro being discharged out of the engine when that nitro car or bike is in the process of running that latest new world record, or in our case for example, running that awesome 5.50 like the Spider-Man did on the the quarter mile at 264 MPH!. So generally, most of the fuel is still burning as it exits the exhaust ports when that nitro fuelled 'bullet' is full open powering that pass down the quarter mile, as one or more columns of fire lighting up the trackside. Very rich mixtures are mandatory to reduce the temperature of the combustion chambers in order to control pre-ignition and subsequent detonation. It's ultimately the only coolant there is! An awful lot depends on the particular mixture and engine characteristics. In the same way alcohol and gasoline are susceptible to premature combustion, nitro must burn rich to keep the engine cool, or end up seizing, and destroying the engine right in the heat of that quarter mile battle! Something that is bound to make many crew chiefs a little more high strung! Keeping it cool is critical. So nitro is a little more friendly when running rich. So if nitro is more like kero and not like high explosive, why does it blow heads off nitro Harleys? The reason for this is due to the fact nitro does not tolerate being squeezed into confined spaces that much, and it is why nitro engines run relatively low static compression ratios. Just enough squeeze without setting the beast off too quickly, but even then, (especially when lean), and on a failed startup attempt, no ignition for example, it can result in a mercy trip to the E.D. (something a few teams have had experience with) That's why nitro Harley racers are never on the bike when it's being started. So nitromethane has a relatively low octane rating, and when combined with the fact there's 8.6 times the quantity of combustible material in those cylinders, it stands to reason things can get nasty very quick even when a Kevlar belt is doing its best to hold the mayhem in should it decide to auto-ignite. So there's a little crash course in the world of nitro, a world that favors the brave and fearless!

No background music please as it’s a distraction to the beautiful bike sounds

Nitromethane cost $1195 for a 42 gallon drum, as of 2018. That's around $28.00 per gallon. Yeah, I looked it up.

Good stuff....! 👍👍

Great Vid!...I had to look up the price before you said it....big boy toys for sure....Thumbs Up!

Nice video man 👍

pump gas is about 2.5 % oxygen by weight race gas is about 8-10 % oxygen by weight methanol is about 35-40 % oxygen by weight nitromethane is about 53 % oxygen by weight nitro can be used as a monopropellant meaning it does not need added oxygen to burn nitro can produce about 2.5 times more power than gas in an internal combustion engine you know the old saying....gas is what gets you to the track.....alcohol is for drinking....nitro is for real racers

It’s basically chemically charging the engine, around 90% nitro 10% methanol = stoichmetric ratio for best combustion. The air coming in is just basically just to atomize the fuel and keep it in a gaseous state.

Doesnt matter what you burn it in , always has that sound. Nitro hill climb bikes are bad ass.

NHRA Nitro cost $1700 a drum in Baytown. Checked the price last weekend.

Nitro remote control car engines have a hp/cc ratio of 1/1 or even more. So 1hp out of 1cc and thats about the same as a topfuel funnycar that needs a very big compressor to get that power,and it can only be used for a couple of minutes. I know that a RC is some kind of 2 stroke and a funnycar 4 stroke but i think its pretty cool and u can use it much longer before it dies 😂

When there’s nothing left to tune on a bike

Question for you bike guys, why do fuel Harley's not run blowers? We run a 600 cu in blown fuel engine at Bonneville that goes through 15 gallons in one 5-mile pass.

Where can I get nitromethane from

I like the smell of nitro in the morning

So you have two identical engines, one burns gas and one burns nitro, how much more hp will the nitro engine have? Double, triple, quadruple?

I wanna KNOW MORE about Nitro.... & if anyone over there in the USA uses Nitro in any motorsports besides DragRacing (eg: Burnouts & Drift)

Wicked, the sound, smell, you know when you hear those motors start and change over to nitro they are the business.

What's the difference between the into your are talking about and nitroglycerin??? I am pretty sure these racers aren't running around with drums of nitroglycerin in their race trailers

What engine ?

How does a crew chief not know how much a drum of nitro costs?

"Gasoline is for washing parts. Alcohol is for drinking. Nitro methane is for making power." -Larry McBride

So much go larry

Dave's bike is so bad ass..the yellow sucks...but the bike is a piece of art

@2:25 Shows just how sticky a track is.... LOL...

*density

Just came across your videos tonight , The video and the interaction between you and the subject are great but what blows it all is the sound ,you goda get control; over the back ground sounds that just drowning out any conversation you trying to have , even 1 on 1 conversations you having its hard to hear your subject ,just a little advice , interviewing some one ion the pits if you have others warming up , cut the conversation and start once things are a bit quieter

I buy nitro fuel for my nitro RC car and I pay $42.99 a gallon

Bout 2500 bucks for 55 gallon barrel of nitro

Sham u can't run nitro in a motocross bike. I ran 115 oct turbo blue and fast gas.

U need a microphone

Hydrometer, test the density of a liquid.He didn't answer the question.

NHRA Motorcycle team, bull......