1/4 numbers would be? (1 Viewer)

[Nitronutcase]

Hello all,

New here, please forgive me if this has been asked before but I can't seem to find it.

Before I ask, I WAS a huge NHRA fan, attending anywhere from 8 to 12 events a year. That was until the changed to an 1000 foot. I swore I'd never attend another race until they went back to 1/4 mile racing and I plan on sticking to that. I also only attended the "fast tracks" as I was one of those number freaks ( I know, I know, visually you can't tell the difference from 4.50 @ 330mph or a 4.42 @ 300mph) but that doesn't matter to me. Never really had a favourite either, whomever was running the quickest or the fastest, I was cheering for.

So my question, does anyone know (or care to guess) what the Nitro boys would be running nowadays in the 1/4 mile?

Would top fuel be in the 4.20's yet? Would 355mph have happened?

Would Funny cars be at 4.40's or low 4.50's? 355mph also?

 

[Huge]

When did nhra change to 1/8 mile?

 

[Dragracer]

Must have changed when I was sleepimg.

 

[RM FAN]

I told you could not tell the difference.

 

[mole]

WAIT.........DIDN'T GRAHAM LIGHT RETIRE ?

 

[Nitronutcase]

Sorry, I mean 1000 foot and not 1/8 mile. See, I totally stopped once they got rid of 1/4 mile racing. My bad.

 

[Z28LT1]

Rule of thumb has been to add 7 tenths to the 1000' ET, that wold roughly be 1/4 mile ET. There is no exact science. MPH? No clue what that would be.

 

[Rudos1]

Tony Pendregon was saying on a recent broadcast that they could be getting close to the 350MPH if they went the full 1/4 but if they allowed even a few tracks to try it they would likely have rules to keep them down some so they could stop the cars safely. I am not holding my breath for 1/4 mile to come back...

 

[Bobby Bennett]

They, being NHRA and insurance companies, would never have allowed them to get to the 4.20s much less 350 miles per hour.

 

[Rat]

I am pretty sure a 3.90 works out to a 4.60. I feel breaking the 3.5 barrier (if they ever allow it) would be like breaking the 4.3 barrier. They would be over 350 and the NHRA seems to be fully against even allowing a 340 to pop up. I have a feeling if they do stay the course as the NHRA did in 2019, I think we could break 3.5 in TF and 340 in fc (I don't think tf would break it as easy). Then the NHRA would tighten the belt and it would probably be the record et/mph never broken again.

 

[Jack]

Not sure it's always exponential. The tuneup on most of the top performing cars have the engines pretty much used up at a thousand feet, not sure they would be able to keep accelerating at that rate for another 320 ft without issues.

 

[T.Smith]

Not sure it's always exponential. The tuneup on most of the top performing cars have the engines pretty much used up at a thousand feet, not sure they would be able to keep accelerating at that rate for another 320 ft without issues.

Maybe some, but I know of a few that would absolutely make it another 320 feet.

 

[Nunz]

Sorry, I mean 1000 foot and not 1/8 mile. See, I totally stopped once they got rid of 1/4 mile racing. My bad.

Just my opinion, but I think you’re missing out on an awful lot of good racing. The purist in me wishes the fuel cars still went to 1320, but these cars are still an unbelievable spectacle. Not to mention all the other classes.

 

[mgty3whlr]

Maybe some, but I know of a few that would absolutely make it another 320 feet.

Dom come to mind??

 

[Usual password less 1]

I don't think that high 4.20's for Top Fuel and high 4.40's for FC would be that far off for record runs. Back in the day FC's would pick up 60 mph no problem in the back half, so without a rev limiter (and as aero a body as they have now), I dont see why 345-350mph in the 1/4 mile would be an unreasonable guess

 

[T.Smith]

Dom come to mind??

They've done it, but I'm speaking of some top ten touring cars.

 

[twostep]

4.35/345 and 4.50/345, respectively would be my guess. Maybe a little faster for one of Hight's gonzo passes. Dom Lagana went 338 a couple of years ago at US 131 (1000' speed was 324), so it's not like they'd gain 30-40mph and run 370. The power is there for more speed but two factors would limit it - the incredible aero drag at such speeds, especially the dragsters as a result of their huge wings....and the 'rev limiter', which cuts the power by a bunch in a hurry. And since we're just speculating, given the space, no restrictions, and no traction, tire or other issues, such as the engine not staying together or the bodies flying apart, how fast would one of these cars be capable of? As in Bonneville-style top speed? I'll start the guessing.....450.

Memo to the OP who's apparently a 1320-foot martyr, I don't know if you've ever attended a 1000-foot nitro event but if you haven't, you should. It took me watching all of about 3 passes (Texas Motorplex, 2008) and a bit of mental number comparison before it was as routine as 1320. If you're purist to the point you'll never attend another race, then I reckon you're resigned to either watching pre-2008 videos the rest of your life or taking national events off your plate - because NHRA isn't going back. I think your point of view is ridiculous, but hey, it's absolutely your business.

 

[vegasnitro]

As in Bonneville-style top speed? I'll start the guessing.....450.

It took Danny Thompson 3 years and a streamliner with 2 nitro motors to make that kind of speed at Bonneville. The Challenger II is still the only piston powered vehicle to ever run that kind of speed.

Top Fuel chassis make too much drag and downforce, and you want neither at Bonneville. The chassis also couldn't carry the weight, cars pushing for the 400 mph plus speeds weigh over 5,000 pounds.

400 MPH is really, really hard.
450 MPH has only ever been done ONCE.

 

[Luke Nieuwhof]

From user Just Paul back in 2009 on this forum:

“Robert Hight went 3.95 to 1000' and went 273 to the 1/8 mile on his 4.63 pass, both are quickest ever. A funny car going 4.63 stll seems crazy fast to me.
Tony Schumacher went 3.759 on his 4.428 pass.
Doug Kalitta went 3.758 on his 4.420 pass.”

It is highly likely the dragsters would be in the 4.2s by now and the funny cars in the 4.4s, even if the speeds weren’t dramatically higher.

 

[Cliff]

What is interesting to me is that F/C is slightly faster than T/F, just cuz they are more streamlined. ET's are only about 2 tenths apart now, & used to be 3 tenths cuz of the weight. If it comes to pass that NHRA returns to 1320, I would expect F/C to stay fastest. Like Carl said, the drag on these cars is tremendous at these speeds, especially T/F. Don Garlits talked about "punching a hole thru the air" with these cars & F/C bodies do that best. Years ago, the thought was that a streamlined dragster would be the way to run really fast speeds, but they were always too heavy. Well, F/C really is a streamlined, front engined T/F car now & streamlining has finally got to the point where it's faster than open bodied dragsters. I wonder what the ultimate limit would be on these cars. Mechanical or just the G force on the human body.