Out of the darkness. Exclusive Top Fuel Dragster power test (1 Viewer)

[.]

The numbers they get are amazing. Make sure you watch the video until the end.

"Race Engine Technology magazine teamed up with testing specialists AVL Racing and Don Schumacher Racing to attempt to measure the un-measurable. Using the latest torque sensing technology, we were able - for the first time in history - to record the true power output of a blown nitro Top Fuel engine. The peak power output is astounding."

 

[flapjack]

Can't wait to get this issue.

 

[Nick Name]

They did this on Ian King's top fuel motorcycle a couple of years ago.

 

[DrRocket]

Holy moly Rocky!!! 11 grand!! Wowzers!!

 

[justafan]

Great stuff! Thanks for posting.

 

[mike]

They did this on Ian King's top fuel motorcycle a couple of years ago.

Marius showed me the sensor they have on the bike and the data from it on the computer last year at Santa Pod. Very cool indeed!

 

[ScojoDak]

Jaw Dropping info.

 

[The Counterfeiter]

Actually, a collaboration with Kalitta Racing (with Grubnic driving) Weld Wheels and S.W.I.F.T. (spinning wheel integrated force transducer) did this many years ago at Firebird. At the time fuel engine HP was being quoted as 7000 - the test came up with a figure close to 10,000. And yes, I was there for the test and had subsequent conversations with the engineer from SWIFT who confirmed the results. Here is a link to MTS - SWIFT: https://mts.com/en/products/producttype/test-components/wheel-force-transducers/index.htm I'll be interested to see what this test yields, it's got to be significantly more than 10,000!

 

[Toejam]

What happened with that Top Fuel Dyno Dale Armstrong was building around 2000? Did he scrap it?

 

[mike]

What happened with that Top Fuel Dyno Dale Armstrong was building around 2000? Did he scrap it?

It would not hold todays horsepower!

 

[none]

Those numbers are VERY close to what Pat Hale of Quarter jr. fame came up with doing the math of mass/acceleration/time that was in Dragster a while back. Not a surprise at all, just further confirmation.
AR

 

[.]

I remember something in National Dragster way back in 1999 about Kalitta's and Bill Miller mounting tranducers like are used on cranes to measure load and coming up with numbers that were around 8,500 HP. It doesn't surprise me at all to see 10,000 with the number of advancements over the past 15 years. Can you imagine what the figures would be if they weren't neutered to 90% nitro!?

 

[JON]

It's very cool but is it a first? I thought Per and Karsten Andersson did this on their TF car in 2014 and got similar numbers. I read they used the same NCTE kit that Ian King used on his bike, which uses the same method as AVL. Ian's results were also published in RET.
I have no affiliation to RET but I think they publish some really good stuff.

 

[.]

I remember something in National Dragster way back in 1999 about Kalitta's and Bill Miller mounting tranducers like are used on cranes to measure load and coming up with numbers that were around 8,500 HP. It doesn't surprise me at all to see 10,000 with the number of advancements over the past 15 years. Can you imagine what the figures would be if they weren't neutered to 90% nitro!?

I remember back in the early 2000's, an issue of the National Dragster had 8000HP in big number across the front cover. The article inside explained how they installed a strain gauge on the drive shaft of Doug Kalitta's dragster. It made 7933hp at 2.6 seconds after the hit, on a 4.4something 1/4 mile pass.... which at the time was a very quick ET for 1/4 mile racing. This is all from my memory... if one of those ND collectors out there could pull this issue out of their archives it would be cool to read the article again. I'm pretty sure it was early 2000's but it could have been late 90's, like Brent mentioned above. It had a mostly black cover with 8000HP across the cover in big numbers.

The one thing that always got me was how they test for HP. Measuring torque, then mathematically calculating HP is great but you're only measuring the amount of HP being applied to the ground on that track, in that lane, on that day. If the tires spin, the torque numbers fall off to near zero, which means low HP numbers, right? What if the opposite happened? What if the track surface and the rear tires were made out of VELCRO, and you had FAR MORE traction than just two rubber tires on concrete/asphalt? You could apply MUCH more HP before the tires would spin.... what would the torque/HP numbers be then? I'm wondering what the total POSSIBLE horsepower would be with current fuel pump/blower/cylinder head/cubic inch combination. Lets say the track and tires (total traction) could hold 20,000 HP without spinning the tires, would these engines make 20,000HP, or would they cap off somewhere in between? I'm no engineer, just your average guy thinking out loud...

 

[beltguy]

I wrote to Mike Dunn several years ago when he often quoted figures like 8000 HP. I reminded him that the blower takes around 1000 HP (at least it did back then) and that power never shows up in either calculations or measurements.

Mike never did mention that "extra HP" in a broadcast that I am aware of.

Jim

 

[stitcherbob]

wouldn't the blower load just be part of the total load placed on the engine?...we know these things run better with more load on them

 

[beltguy]

My point was that the engine sees the blower load, but it would not show up in loads measured in the drive train, or in calculations based on acceleration.

So, whatever the calculated/measured load, the engine components see perhaps and extra 1000 HP

Jim

 

[Nunz]

I'm thinking even if the blower eats 1000hp, the 10-11K hp number is a NET figure, so that is factored in.

 

[.]

My point was that the engine sees the blower load, but it would not show up in loads measured in the drive train, or in calculations based on acceleration.

So, whatever the calculated/measured load, the engine components see perhaps and extra 1000 HP

Jim

Many years ago I asked Mike Green this exact question. This was back when he was the crew chief on TJ's blue Skoal funny car. I asked... "If these engines make 8000hp at the crank shaft, but the blower takes 1000hp to operate, can we say they actually make a total of 9000hp, with 8000 left over to power the rear wheels?" Without hesitation he said "no" while shaking his head. He then went on with a brief description of why but I couldn't hear him very well.

Then, a few years later while sitting in the stands at Pomona during the Winternationals, I asked a family member of mine who is a mechanical engineer the very same question. Again, without hesitation the engineer shook his head while saying "no". I asked why.... He said basically.... the blower makes power. without the blower the engine would not make nearly as much power. The net result is 8000hp BECAUSE of the blower. Without it, you would have far less power. I'm sure there is a much more technical explanation but this is the layman's version.


.

 

[Nunz]

Soooo I was correct?