17 replies to this topic

[mariner]

Robert Hight just broke into the 3.7's for a Funny car over 1,000 ft.

 

The 1/8th mile velocity of 294 mph at 3.073 seconds caught my eye. caught my eye. That is serious sustained G force.

 

http://www.dragzine....9-338-mph-blast

[gruntguru]

Yep. 4.3 g average, 5.07 g to 60 ft.

[thegforcemaybewithyou]

For the last part of the track from 1/8 mile to 1000ft, from 294.31 to 338mph, the acceleration is still extremely high.

 

2.7G

 

F1 cars peak at about 1.5G around 150km/h with different tyres and non glued tracks of course.

[gruntguru]

. . . and weight distribution not optimised for drag racing.

[MatsNorway]

Almost no matter where you look you get impressive numbers for both sports.

 

Though Laptime/cost ratio could have been way better for F1 i think I think Top fuel is fairly lean and cost efficient that way. Simple materials but very efficient designs for their purpose. for instance a top fueler would probably not gain much from DOHC.. 

 

Slight OT: Laptime/cost ratio gives lower value with better laptimes or higher cost.. hmm not ideal. but reverse it and you get a "good" rating with high cost.. not ideal either.. 

How does one do it analytically? i suppose cost/laptime is the best because the cost is a big number divided by a rather small one so chances in laptime means more.

 

Shame they do not do the quarter mile.. 1000fot means nothing to me. i have no point of reference.

[thegforcemaybewithyou]

The slow motion of Hamilton accelerating out of the last corner looked like was using dragster tyres.

 

So much wobbling...

 

See here: https://www.reddit.c...ical_vibration/

[MatsNorway]

So little air. so much rubber

[bigleagueslider]

Shame they do not do the quarter mile.. 1000fot means nothing to me. i have no point of reference.

The NHRA reduced the track length for TF and FC from 1/4 mile to 1000 ft when the top speeds got to crazy levels (>330 mph). Imagine trying to control a TF dragster or FC at speeds of 330 mph. The 1000 ft top speeds have now increased to similar crazy levels, so the NHRA will change the rules to slow the cars down.

 

People think TF/FC cars don't involve much technical effort due to the strict limits of the NHRA regulations. But it is no simple task to get a TF/FC race car with no electronic controls to consistently run 1000 ft in well under 4 seconds.

[gruntguru]

Slight OT: Laptime/cost ratio gives lower value with better laptimes or higher cost.. hmm not ideal. but reverse it and you get a "good" rating with high cost.. not ideal either.. 

How does one do it analytically? i suppose cost/laptime is the best because the cost is a big number divided by a rather small one so chances in laptime means more.

You want to minimise laptime-cost product (laptime X cost).

[MatsNorway]

The NHRA reduced the track length for TF and FC from 1/4 mile to 1000 ft when the top speeds got to crazy levels (>330 mph). Imagine trying to control a TF dragster or FC at speeds of 330 mph. The 1000 ft top speeds have now increased to similar crazy levels, so the NHRA will change the rules to slow the cars down.

 

People think TF/FC cars don't involve much technical effort due to the strict limits of the NHRA regulations. But it is no simple task to get a TF/FC race car with no electronic controls to consistently run 1000 ft in well under 4 seconds.

 

The sport needs to be kinda crazy. And shorter track will not be fun. 2 sec runs would get kinda silly.  if you ask me they should perhaps reduce nitro levels and get back to the quarter mile.

[MatsNorway]

You want to minimise laptime-cost product (laptime X cost).

I wanted a ratio but was stuck. A sum of a product is ofc. the solution.

[chunder27]

THe uneducated are persistently snobby about drag racing.

 

You wan to try talking about it in the UK, we only have one real track and most race fans have never been, it Is a real cottage type sport in the UK

[mariner]

Not every US drag strip is NHRA sanctioned so some still run the full quarter-mile.

 

A new 1/4 mie record hs just been set in Michigan. under 4.5 seconds and nearly 340 mph by a privateer.

 

http://www.dragzine....fuel-speed-ever

 

I suspect that if the NHRA hadn't cut back to 1,000 ft we would soon have  seen  a 350 mph terminal speed.

 

BTW for the numbers guys here they used to measure the terminal speed over 120 ft , 60 ft either side of the quarter mile line but now I think it is just the first bit of that, which is the last 60 ft to the line.

 

So, theoretically, the cars are doing more than the quoted speed at the actual line and have slight penalty versus records set under the old system.

Edited by mariner, 15 September 2017 - 07:25.

[NeilR]

I knew a property developer locally that ran a funny car, had the B-double trailer and team for the car. Then one weekend he drove a GT3 Ferrari and the following weekend ordered one from the factory. His perspective was that he could easily spend $10,000 in fuel alone going Melbourne to Perth to race, with the whole weekend costing up to $30,000 and he might spend 25 seconds driving the car. For him sportscar racing was great value for money, so really whatever floats your boat.

[Magoo]

This has been around for a while now but in case you haven't seen it -- solid quantification of some heretofore fuzzy numbers. 

 

[E1pix]

NHRA only uses a 1,000-foot track for the two fuel classes, and for Pro Stock. Could be wrong unless things have again changed, but think all other classes -- including the bikes -- still run a quarter mile.

The change wasn't a long-thought process, but rather happened almost immediately after the death of Scott Kalitta, when he ran out of track after (I think) a parachute failure.

[chunder27]

Drag racing has use the eight mile for decades as a means of establishing performance and I think some classes used it anyway.

 

And with the accidents you can understand why the tracks and governing body did what they did.

 

The cars are still spectacular, staggeringly highly developed and the tracks can still accommodate the numbers of fans they need to.  So a win win.

 

But yes most sub classes run the quarter, even stuff like Pro Mod which run seriously quick and can run nitro.

 

I would have though the bikes could run eighth

[7MGTEsup]

THe uneducated are persistently snobby about drag racing.

 

You wan to try talking about it in the UK, we only have one real track and most race fans have never been, it Is a real cottage type sport in the UK

 

We might have only 1 track but it is the fastest racetrack on earth.

 

Been at least a dozen times in the last few years and nothing comes close to a top fuel car running a pass (although I think the pro street bikes are pretty crazy)