Top Fuel: This Is What 0-316 MPH In Under Four Seconds Looks Like
By Paulo Acoba
Don Schumacher racing stuck a Go-Pro on one of its best drivers and let you ride along on its blast to 316 MPH.
By the time you’ve finished reading this sentence, a Top Fuel Dragster would’ve reached its terminal velocity of above 300 MPH. Have you ever wondered what that feels like? According to Don Schumacher Racing on its facebook post earlier this weekend, they let their ace driver Shawn Langdon strap a Go-Pro to his helmet as he unleashed more than 11,000 horsepower through the engine and onto those giant slicks. Check out this awesome POV video below.
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Top Fuel Dragsters are literally the fastest accelerating vehicles on planet earth. The most common engine found in Top Fuel Dragsters include Hemi V8’s in all sorts of monster displacements (usually above 500 cubic inches.) The basic recipe to any engine creating gigantic power numbers is lots of fuel and lots of air. Where a regular sports car’s fuel pump can handle less than one gallon per minute, Top Fuel Dragster fuel pumps can meter out more than 65 gallons per minute. The video below should demonstrate that quite clearly.
Add a supercharger that on its own consumes close to 700 HP and shoves air into a big block, enough to provide the right amount air for the fuel to combust properly and you have a recipe for gigantic power.
In the POV video provided by Don Schumacher, it’s absolutely mind-boggling to see just how fast a quarter mile goes by for these titans of racing. The driver, although clearly skilled and trusted by the engine builder and the team, isn’t so much driving as he’s hanging on for dear life.
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In Top Fuel Drag racing, it’s a question of hundredths (nay..even thousandths) of a second and if everything lines up just right, you have a hot pass on your hands. For Shawn, that means a quick reaction time, a steady driving hand and the fortitude to man handle this marvel of engineering down the quarter mile. Shawn wasn’t the 2013 NHRA Top Fuel Champion for no reason.
H/T- Car Throttle