1 Gallon per run less Fuel used by Nat'l Hot Rod Assoc Top Fuel and Funney Cars

[i_am_socket]

Perhaps not having the sand trap and fence 25' from the concrete barrier might help... but yeah, not having the gas up front is the low hanging fruit here.

[metromizer]

Originally Posted by BlackDeuceCoupe

I dunno... maybe putting fuel tanks in back (instead of the front) would help!

Hello?!?!?


That's the first thing that gets whacked in a crash...

If you haven't been close to the sport, you might think so... But not so.

Those cars rarely hit the front on anything, and contrary to what most think, the fuel tanks almost never catch fire or explode. By design, the fuel tank is as far away from the driver and engine as possible. The spectacular fire footage you normally see is the result of 3 gallons of engine oil and engine fuel being pumped out the head gasket, then igniting on the headers. The multi-layer fire suits are good for a full-on nitro fire for (don't quote me) a couple minutes. Driver's walk away from much worse fires than the one Kalitta experienced.

The fuel pumps typically move more than 2.5 gallons per second with a high capacity return circuit (think radiator-cooling-hose size supply and return). So long as the engine is turning, the fuel tank is temporary storage at best.

At half track, those engines are dieseling, the driver must shut off the fuel supply to stop the engine, and to tug on the brake handle to slow the car. And key: must be concious to do so.

I don't know what happened, but he likely wasn't able to squeeze the fuel shut off handle, for some reason. RIP Scotty

[crexcrex]

Sounds like i am on some race car site or simply wannabe street racers, is this an ecomodder site or have i inhaled some mind altering fuel additve Acetone?

Ecomodding or racing site.............as far as i am concerned i am not trying to save gas for guys trying to prove how macho they are by running around a track or down my street in the dead of night.
The info imparted does little to enlighten those interested in saving gas.

[ajax_6531]

crexcrex-

The original post was bout this class as a whole cutting back (for whatever reason) and saving gas overall.

Sports won't be going away, though; even the wasteful ones :-)

[crexcrex]

How does one save gas racing? racing a wasteful sport indeed! when you are paying over five bucks at the pump you will be biking to the race track to watch them on three wheel bikes pedalling across the finish line.
You are paying four bucks? hell try over five in Canada what do you think the gas prices will be in less than a year? your thinking is as antiquated as a DODO bird

No reply wanted if aany will be deleted without bieng read...........

[ATaylorRacing]

Originally Posted by crexcrex

How does one save gas racing? racing a wasteful sport indeed!..........

Actually, both of the cars that I drag race I have modded to get BETTER economy...one on purpose and one by accident. My main car is a....ready....84 Plymouth Horizon 4 door with a stock 2.5 MiniVan 4 banger. Every since I changed to an automatic with 3500 stahl converter and drag race final drive ratio my BEST was a bit over 17 mpg. I drive this to and from the track and even its 1810 lbs does nothing to save fuel....this April some of my sponsors changed it to a barely okay street gear set and now it gets a happier 23. My 05 SRT4 Neon was rated at 31 and got 31...that was at 230 stock hp...now with a stage 2 set up and 285 hp it gets 32.8!

The car I traded for this Neon was a 98 SOHC Neon that was rrated at 39 mpg and 132 hp....I got it up to 180 hp and was getting 46 mpg! When I was using nitrous it would run 12.17 at 117 mph with about 305 hp...maybe 10 mpg in 1/4 mile sprints that way.

You should also consider ANY sport that is held ANY where as wasteful because of all the people that drive there to watch them, including high school swim meets. Lightenup...you sound like my 83 year old Dad.

As far as street racing....the last time I engaged in that was when I was 40...17 years ago...I WAS STUPID!

By the way...LOVE Canada and never met a Canadian I did not like...including you.

[ATaylorRacing]

By the way, my avitar shows that Horizon kicking a SRT8 Hemis' but at the 05 SRT Nationals at Topeka KS....I had been getting 17 mpg since 1990!

Oh yeah, I make more money drag racing street driven cars than I do from my retirement as a disgruntled mail man....There are numberous people that make a living from wasteful sports!

I won their SRT race...I have even won the Corvette Nat'ls twice with this car...it has won the vast majority of my 34 NHRA/IHRA National events...driving there and home.

I think that nitromethane has about 1% gas content, if any.

[i_am_socket]

I don't begrudge racing. I'm sure many improvements in vehicle safety/economy that we take for granted in our vehicles had some start in the racing scene. Anything from "how to get more power/efficiency/etc. out of [existing engine]" to "how to prevent death when [emergency] happens" could have started there since that's likely where the issue would first come up.

And darn those wasteful bicyclists! Exhaling their excessive CO2 and tossing away plastic bottles like they're nothing! And all that extra food they eat just serves to promote corporate farming; just shameful. This athletic travesty must end! < /sarcasm >

[TheDon]

Originally Posted by LUVMY02CREW

ARGH......they cant do that can they!?!?! What government agency told them that was ok????

A quarter mile time is based on a quarter mile of distance....not 1000'! Too much math involved figuring out what your true 1/4 mile time would be. I can just see it now....after every run, pocket calculators spring forth to get accurate times

just extrapolate....

[ATaylorRacing]

I always told people that I would race them for $$$ IF they would follow me to the track and not stop for anything but red lights, signs, and traffic....my old low 12 second Neon could go 400 miles on a tank of gas while my SRT4 can go a bit over 300.....I just decided that I will from now on challenge those willing to be foolish enough to drag race my Geo Metro!!! I just got 50.8 mpg with a partial tune up, now I have my tires aired up and have lightened it up by nearly 20 lbs....I KNOW I will still have at least 6/10ths of a gallon left after a 508 mile drive to a race track....how many muscle cars can go that distance?

Just think of how much fuel would be used if there were no rules in top fuel classes, like the good old days....you could see many 2 engine cars ans some with 4 rear slicks...today they are limited on gear ratio, cubic inches, rpm, wt, and the list is endless.

I take an afront to my expelling of CO2.....I used to race bicycles before I raced cars!