Might be old but still very very cool:

This is an interesting comparison of a GP Bike vs. NHRA Top Fuel Dragster.

First, some useful info:

One NHRA Top Fuel dragster 500 cubic inch Hemi engine makes more
horsepower than all the cars in the first four rows at the Daytona 500.

Under full throttle, a Top Fuel dragster engine consumes 1½ gallons of
nitro methane per second; a fully loaded 747 consumes jet fuel at the
same rate with 25% less energy being produced.

A stock Dodge 426 Hemi V8 engine cannot produce enough power to drive
the dragster's supercharger.

With 3000 CFM of air being rammed in by the supercharger on overdrive,
the fuel mixture is compressed into a near-solid form before ignition.
Cylinders run on the verge of hydraulic lock at full throttle.

At the stoichiometric 1.7:1 air/fuel mixture for nitro methane the
flame front temperature measures 7050 degrees F.

Nitro methane burns yellow. The spectacular white flame seen above the
stacks at night is raw burning hydrogen, dissociated from atmospheric
water vapor by the searing exhaust gases.

Dual magnetos supply 44 amps to each spark plug. This is the output of
an arc welder in each cylinder.

Spark plug electrodes are totally consumed during a pass.

After 1/2 way, the engine is dieseling from compression plus the glow
of exhaust valves at 1400 degrees F. The engine can only be shut down
by cutting the fuel flow.

If spark momentarily fails early in the run, unburned nitro builds up
in the affected cylinders and then explodes with sufficient force to
blow cylinder heads off the block in pieces or split the block in half.

In order to exceed 300 mph in 4.5 seconds dragsters must accelerate at
an average of over 4G's. In order to reach 200 mph well before
half-track, the launch acceleration approaches 8G's.

Dragsters reach over 300 miles per hour before you have completed
reading this sentence.

Top Fuel Engines turn approximately 540 revolutions from light to light.
Including the burnout, the engine must only survive 900 revolutions under load.
The redline is actually quite high at 9500 rpm.


The Bottom Line;

Assuming all the equipment is paid off, the crew worked for free, and for
once NOTHING BLOWS UP, each run costs an estimated $1,000.00 per second.

The current Top Fuel dragster elapsed time record is 4.441 seconds for the
quarter mile (10/05/03, Tony Schumacher).

The top speed record is 333.00 mph (533 km/h) as measured over the
last 66' of the run (09/28/03 Doug Kalitta).

Putting all of this into perspective for you bikers:

You are riding the average $250,000 Honda MotoGP bike. Over a mile up the
road, a Top Fuel dragster is staged and ready to launch down a quarter mile
strip as you pass. You have the advantage of a flying start. You run the
RC211V hard up through the gears and blast across the starting line and
past the dragster at an honest 200 mph (293 ft/sec). The 'tree' goes
green for both of you at that moment. The dragster launches and starts
after you. You keep your wrist cranked hard, but you hear an incredibly
brutal whine that sears your eardrums and within 3 seconds the dragster
catches and passes you. He beats you to the finish line, a quarter mile
away from where you just passed him.

Think about it, from a standing start, the dragster had spotted you
200 mph and not only caught, but nearly blasted you off the road when
he passed you within a mere 1320 foot long race course.

That, folks, is acceleration

 

I love top fuel. I Worked on an Acohol team for awhile that was a blast!

 

strange thing is funny cars are faster then top fuel rail cars

 

AMAZING I had no idea.

 

No they aren't....

The average Top Fuel Dragster runs 4.50 - 4.65 in the 1/4 mile

The average Top Fuel Funny car runs 4.70 - 4.85 in the 1/4 mile

Current National Records are:

Dragster 4.43 E.T. 336mph
Funny Car 4.66 E.T. 333mph

Sorry, but I'm a huge drag racing fan....

 

My dad took me to NHRA drags in Joliet, IL as a graduation present in 2004. One thing that I thought was really cool was we were sitting at mid track about 100 feet up from the actual track. We could see the cars take off very clearly, but as soon as they got straight in front of us, everything went blurry because they were so loud. Another cool thing is watching night runs when they shoot flames up in the air.

Those are some amazing facts, most of which, I had never heard before. Top fuel dragsters are very impressive machines.

 

Going to the Top Fuel drags the first time was a religious experience..period...

 

anybody else ever get to drive a rail?
my uncles got one...
wow....200 is fast.
heh
i only went down the quarter in 9 sec....but jesus.

 

One thing not stressed enough is the noise - from beside the track it is incredible.

I used to live 8 miles (straight line, not driving distance) from a local track, and could easily hear them from my back yard...

It used to be fun on a nice summer day to go get deafened and eat burgers tasting of burnt rubber. :D

 

^^^ he has a point there we live about that far away way from the indianapolis raceway park and we can hear 'em too and i can still hear 'em 14 miles away when i'm at work too thru the hills and tree's 'n' all

 

sad thing is they are trying to shut down the track by me.
some developer starting buliding homes in the area. then the homes got within 1/2 mile of the tracks grounds.

people bought the houses not knowing the track was there or even active...

now these people are lobbying to shut it down for noise polution....

i say people should research more about the places they are planning on moving to...

 

I had the privilege many years ago of having a friend who raced alcohol dragsters and he took me to an event he was competing in. There was a place behind where the starting line was (quite a ways back of course) where you could stand and watch. The two most vivid things I remember was 1. the sound being so loud I could feel it and 2. the sting of the alcohol exhaust being so intense it actually made my eyes water and burn. It was a great time!

 

"Dragsters reach over 300 miles per hour before you have completed reading this sentence."

-THATS FREAKIN AMAZING! ...but I'm sure if I put enough stickers on a tC I could hang :op

 

LUCKY!!! That would be a dream come true to drive a rail down a quarter. My goal someday is to have a pro stock car. 200mph would be just fine in my opinion.