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Has anyone experimented with a nitro turbocharged car?
- Thread starter Mike
- Start date
stitcherbob
Nitro Member
Banks Pacemaker Top Fuel Dragster
Gale Banks and Ron Hodgson developed the first twin-turbocharged nitromethane dragster to compete in the elite Top Fuel category of the NHRA. Gale Banks
official.bankspower.com
Gone Dead Train
Nitro Member
Can't forget about Gene Snow (Jake Johnston in the seat) early 70s and Gordie Bonin and Jerry Verhuel, early 80s.
Bob Reese post (above) saw the Banks & Hodgson Top Fuel car run at the 1986 ADRA World Finals at Spokane.
Pretty sure the car didn't qualify and I believe funny car journeyman driver Rick Johnson was in the seat.
I do remember the car was super quiet (compared to blower cars) and it did fantastic smokey burnouts.
AA/FC Gene Snow and Jake Johnston
AA/FC Gordie Bonin
Bob Reese post (above) saw the Banks & Hodgson Top Fuel car run at the 1986 ADRA World Finals at Spokane.
Pretty sure the car didn't qualify and I believe funny car journeyman driver Rick Johnson was in the seat.
I do remember the car was super quiet (compared to blower cars) and it did fantastic smokey burnouts.
AA/FC Gene Snow and Jake Johnston
AA/FC Gordie Bonin
none
Nitro Member
My thought would be that with the fuel volume they are running today, leading to the exhaust pressure and heat they are generating, there is not a way to keep them from blowing the turbos right off of the pipes, or blowing the pipes right off the heads.
I base these thoughts on watching compound turbo tractor pullers that when they try to achieve 400+ lbs. of boost will sometimes spin the turbo backwards when the boost pressure overcomes the exhaust pressure. A modern TF engine produces well over 1000 lbs. of pressure from each pipe.
Am I wrong?
Alan
I base these thoughts on watching compound turbo tractor pullers that when they try to achieve 400+ lbs. of boost will sometimes spin the turbo backwards when the boost pressure overcomes the exhaust pressure. A modern TF engine produces well over 1000 lbs. of pressure from each pipe.
Am I wrong?
Alan
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stitcherbob
Nitro Member
Looking at the manifold set up on the Banks dragster, I wouldn’t want to be a crew member having to disassemble that searing hot stuff in 60 minutes or less between rounds…. add to that the computers and fuel injection wiring needed compared to good old fashioned mechanical fuel injection….
LoPony
Nitro Member
I remember this article like it was yesterday in Hot Rod. Well maybe not yesterday, more like last week. They were going on like there’s nothing in a turbo charger to go boom. I bet they could find a way to make them go boom these days.View attachment 14554Banks Pacemaker Top Fuel Dragster
Gale Banks and Ron Hodgson developed the first twin-turbocharged nitromethane dragster to compete in the elite Top Fuel category of the NHRA. Gale Banks
Mostly, I remembered they twisted the input shaft off of the transmission, and the engine they were using hit 14,600 RPM with no damage.
No. And common sense tells us a turbo nitro car wouldn't offer a performance gain but rather a performance loss thanks to the difference in off-line response compared to the turbo's positive-displacement counterpart. Raise your hand if you believe you could spool up a turbo nitro TF car similar to a PM turbo car.
And you'd lose the main thing that fans love about fuel racing - the aural experience of the ground pounding supercharged nitromethane fueled engine. To say nothing of the added complexity assuming you could make it work at all.We'll never see a turbo car compete in Top Fuel even if they were legal because there's simply no plausible reason to even try.
I remember seeing the Flo-Rite turbo car in the pits at Boise in '81 at the AHRA Ignitor. They won the race with the conventional FC. The turbo car never made a pass. I remember reading, I think in SS&DI that Bonin never liked the car. It was more Jerry Verheul's baby.
Gone Dead Train
Nitro Member
Chris, a buddy and I was just talking about the Bonin turbo car, we saw it at Seattle in 1981. It was a booked in funny car
race in June we think. 8 AA/FC and 8 BB/FC Chicago Style. They ran the first round and Bonin was in the staging lanes
and was going to make a pass and it started to rain, we got rained out, so I never saw it run, only the Banks & Hodgson
top fuel turbo car is the only turbo car I ever saw run (Spokane 1986). And how about that 1981 and 1982 season here
in the Northwest when Seattle, Boise and I think Portland switched to AHRA. We did get a AHRA National Event at
Seattle 81 and 82, The Autumn Nationals good drag race.
AHRA had an all nitro 16 FC field for the Ignitor in '81. My sister graduated from Boise State that day but my cousin and I went to the race instead, lol. I was 15 so the folks dropped us off and picked us up. First and only time my mom ever heard nitro as they were waiting down by the finish line for us to walk out. A lot of good cars: Snake, Collins, Hoover, Densham, Epperly, plus the usual Northwest hitters. Bonin over Henry Harrison in the final.
Gone Dead Train
Nitro Member
That is some heavy hitters, the late John Collins, one of my all time favorites.
Was Epperly in Don Tate's car or Ray and Shirley Strasser's "Insanity" flopper.
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Tate's car that he won the Springnationals in.
Adams & Enriquez had a twin turbo car once, a front motor car. I think it was on nitro??? They couldn't get the turbos to spool up quick enough, so gave up on it. I never saw it run in person, but saw photos in Drag News. I wonder what could have been if that team was still together today. See below for photos. Was this maybe a Top Gas car???
www.bing.com
adams & enriquez turbo dragster - Bing
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