Hydrazine and Nitro

[Bullet]

Here is a link to a pretty cool short story on a very dangerous substance and it use...... HYDRAZINE!

Flashback Friday: The Story of the Lethal Fuel Called Hydrazine - Dragzine.com

 

[flapjack]

Here is a link to a pretty cool short story on a very dangerous substance and it use...... HYDRAZINE!

Flashback Friday: The Story of the Lethal Fuel Called Hydrazine - Dragzine.com

Hypergolics are so cool.

 

[Toejam]

I heard of stories of Heads getting blown 100' in the air with that stuff!

 

[twostep]

The methazodic salt crystals they refer to in the article would form in oil pans, the result of the nitro/hydrazine mixture blowing past the piston rings and diluting the oil. If the oil wasn't drained immediately and discarded, the crank disturbing the oil upon restart would cause a near IED-like explosion, and did on several occasions until they finally figured out the root cause.

It's widely rumored that Prudhomme's incredible 5.63 at the 1982 Indy nationals was either nitrous or hydrazine-aided. Only the Snake knows for sure.

 

[.]

We can remember one nighttime qualifying session back when the 300 mph barrier was about to fall in Funny Car, when one of the cars in contention for the honor made a lap with those freakish header flames dancing up over its roof. It was so obvious that a sudden buzz amongst educated onlookers erupted. Even the announcer that night took note of the unusual site. Officially, it was played off as burning copper from a failed head gasket…but then, the very next pair of cars, there it was again. Eight bright green candles lighting up the nighttime sky, and yet another barrier crushed. Was it really hydrazine at work? Only the guys mixing the fuel that night know for sure.

??? and Epler?

 

[Nick Name]

The green flames is copper. Don't know what color H looked like.

 

[twostep]

??? and Epler?

Chuck Etchells. (299.50)

 

[.]

Thanks, Carl.

 

[Toejam]

??? and Epler?

I can't believe for a second, any racer in the 300 MPH era of NHRA would even chance running that stuff!!!

 

[john]

Hydrazine was combined with hydrogen peroxide to power the German's ME163 Komet during WWII. It had the distinction of shooting down about a dozen Allied planes while at the same time killing many dozens of pilots and support crews just refueling the damn thing. Its a touchy fuel.

 

[vegasnitro]

I thought the old school saying was "If the flame turns green, Benzene is on the scene"? First I have heard of Hydrazine turning flames green (doesn't mean it's not possible).

EDIT: One of my favorite Indy 500 stories is about the only factory Ferrari effort to run the 500, in 1952 (that year the 500 counted towards the F1 World Championship, and the purse of the 500 was bigger than all other GPs combined at the time). Ferrari entered a Tipo 375 for Alberto Ascari, and soon found out there were no restrictions on fuel at Indy as there were in Europe. Ferrari finally settled on a mixture of 1/3 Benzene, 1/3 Methanol, and 1/3 racing gas they brought from Europe. Because of the fumes, no mechanics would stand near it when it was running, and no cars would follow the car too closely (remember, this was the roadster era). Alas, the car didn't last very long in the race, and Ferrari has never given the 500 another crack. Whenver I think about Benzene, I automatically think of that story.

 

[Johnny Mopar]

??? and Epler?

At Topeka...correct?

 

[The Counterfeiter]

Saw racers run "H" at the old Lakeland Raceway in Memphis. Heard lots of rumors of massive explosions, but never witnessed one. Did see the infamous flakes on the ground in the pits. I certainly remember huge white flames - not green.
And . . . fumes smelled just like a Gin & Tonic! -

 

[merc49]

1972, I worked on the starting line at old Tri-City Dragway near Freeland MI, and Tri City Airport.

Terry Hedrick was there with Seaton"s Shaker, and 3 others, to make a 4-car show on Saturday night.

After the 1st round I went back to the pits, asked Hedrick if he was runnin "H". Told him the flames were higher than I'd ever seen. Above the roof. He just smiled.

I came away from that night with a ringing in my left ear that is with me now day and night.

I also asked him one time why he never used a transmission "blanket".

Again that smile, then he said "the blanket holds in the heat, and high heat causes transmission explosions."

Needless to say, I was very wary of Seaton's Shaker that night.

 

[Super Mod]

THE GREEK (DRO interview)

DRO: People say that you ran the 200-mph car on hydrazine, just what was your connection with that fuel?

Maynard and I had heard about this stuff and thought that it had real potential. I guess we started running hydrazine-and we didn't do it all the time-but we ran it from 1958 through 1960. The bottle we had that carried the stuff was about 6-inches high and we would use about a quarter inch. We ran it at Great Bend, Kansas City, Tucson, and mixed it with 100-percent nitro. The stuff was neat, it had a really distinctive sound, almost like popcorn popping. If you were a fuel racer, you'd pick it up right away.

 

[Muddy]

If you once heard and knew what it was it you could never fail to identify it again. The difference in sound almost as dramatic as the difference between a blown alcohol and blown fuel. It's a very different sound.

 

[none]

Back in the mid 60s at a match race Connie Swingle was driving for Big Daddy and that is when I heard him say " when the flames turn green the zene is on the scene" He knew what he was talking about!
In the book "THE RAMCHARGERS" they mention many times about running Zene, And they were not the only team running it, it was quite common to use it in injected nitro burning motors. They said it would turn the tops of the pistons green!
Good Stuff!!!!!!!!!!

 

[Toejam]

Back in the mid 60s at a match race Connie Swingle was driving for Big Daddy and that is when I heard him say " when the flames turn green the zene is on the scene" He knew what he was talking about!
In the book "THE RAMCHARGERS" they mention many times about running Zene, And they were not the only team running it, it was quite common to use it in injected nitro burning motors. They said it would turn the tops of the pistons green!
Good Stuff!!!!!!!!!!

Makes you wonder if any of today's A-Fuel Dragsters have tried sneeking it in the tank?

 

[Nitrohelper]

...have tried sneaking it in the tank...

Nitro racing fuel since the late 60s has a yellow dye added to it that turns blue if the fuel is sensitized...
Unless you still have the large activated filter that "some guys" used in the 70s to remove the dye,
or maybe they had purchased Nitro from a "bootleg" source...

 

[Les]

In response to Hydrazine or Nitrous being apart of Prudhomme's 5.63, I asked the Snake about it at the Reunion this year. He told me it was a vane-style(?) fuel pump at that it really leaned out the mixture in the middle of the track but cooked the motor by the finish line. His nitrous bottle was there for diversion purposes. If you can watch the 82 Cajun Nationals TV coverage and it shows at least Kenny Bernstein and Billy Meyer using nitrous with not nearly the E.T. results. Here's an old article on it:

Drag Racing Online

As for green flames in the 1990's, I have a home video of a U.S. Nationals qualifying session where Dave McClelland observes some coming from a Nitro car (I forget if it where TF or FC). Don Garlits was co-commentating and played it off as a Winston Vision phenomenon