Why do people say that top fuel dragsters have 8000 hp.?

Question

If a prostock weighs 2,350 pounds and has 1350 hp and runs 6.6 in the 1/4 mile why do they say that a top fuel has 8000hp and weighs 2,225 and they also say that for every 100 hp the car goes 1 second faster so the top fuel goes like 2 seconds faster than the prostock why do they say that the top fuel has like 6,500 hp more than a prostock it doesnt make sence.

Answer 1

It takes torque to win a drag race not horsepower, and there is a big differance Between a pro stock car and a top fuel car. There are a lot of factors that must be considered such as the differances in which the two cars make the amount of horsepower and torque for each kind of car. A prostock car in the NHRA has a 500 cubic inch engine running on racing gasoline using two 4 barrel carburators, which is naturally asperated. Top fuel cars have a 500 cubic inch engine running on 85% nitromethane using a supercharger which can be turned faster or slower depending on atomosphereic conditions and also utilizes fuel injection to make its power and torque. Pro stock car make there best horse power down at sea level where there is more oxygen in the air and less at higher elevations. Where as top fuel cars have air and fuel forced into the engine and Nitromethane carries 37% more oxygen into the air fuel mixture prodoucing much greater horsepower and torque. There is also track temperature, the hotter the track the slippery it gets which makes it harder fot a top fuel car two get traction because it makes more torque. If we had the technology that would give the top fuel car the alility to put all its torque to the ground that the engine makes there would be a much greater differance in the ET's between the two classes. I could go on, but you got the idea. Here's a good way to bring it into persective 4 top fuel cars make more horsepower than the whole starting grid at the Indy 500.

Answer 2

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RE:
Why do people say that top fuel dragsters have 8000 hp.?
If a prostock weighs 2,350 pounds and has 1350 hp and runs 6.6 in the 1/4 mile why do they say that a top fuel has 8000hp and weighs 2,225 and they also say that for every 100 hp the car goes 1 second faster so the top fuel goes like 2 seconds faster than the prostock why do they say that the top...

Answer 3

Top Fuel Dragster Specs

Answer 4

Back in the days of Diamond P Sports broadcasting NHRA Nationals and Steve Evans commentating they proclaimed that a TFD Engine produced 5000hp This was at the season ending Pamona track. So when NHRA starts a new season at Pamona (Winter Nationals) They State that a TFD Engine is now producing 6000HP. WoW! In a span of just over 3 Months They have been able to extract another 1000 HP. Yeah Right! This 8,000 10.000hp is all hype to impress an uneducated Television Audience. Come on now These Engines are 500 cu inch and your telling me they produce 10,000hp. That means that each Cylinder is Producing 1250 HP. In other words your telling me that One Cylinder from a TFD Engine is amost putting out the same HP Numbers a Pro-Stock Engine is which is also a 500 CI engine. It's easy to say there isn't a Dyno that can say for sure but I've been around the Block in Racing and Engine Building
and to try and tell me theses Engines put out 10,000HP is strictly BS.....

Answer 5

The short answer: The Top Fuel dragsters do in fact make that much horsepower. Way more than can be put to the rear tires all at once. If all the power was put to the rear tires at the green light...it would just spin the tires and go nowhere. These cars have a clutch with weights that can be adjusted as to how it engages. These cars have the said horsepower but cant use all of it.

Answer 6

Because of what dragsters do there is no dyno capable of finding out how much horsepower a dragster has, 8000 is its predicted horsepower they predict this because a pro stock car runs on gasoline and methanol (if you live in England) a pro stock car depending on its model runs a 500 cubic inch supercharged motor which gives it 1350hp but a dragster has a 500 cubic inch supercharged hemi engine with nitro methane to make it better a dragster has magnetos and over 55 pounds of torque. pro stock cars don't have magnetos they don't need them that's because a pro stock car engine doesn't need to be ripped apart after every run there pistons don't burn out and nor does there clutch. watch video like how a top fuel dragster works and you'll find out. i know what i said doesn't really answer the question but its hard to explain when im British and there are two pro stock cars American ones are different to our British ones.

Answer 7

Because the "every 100 hp = 1 second faster" rule is merely an approximation, and not a very accurate one at that. It's more like an inverse power rule, with the amount of power to get each second further increasing as the car goes faster - a zero second car would need an infinite amount of horsepower.

Answer 8

Think about "for every 100 hp the car goes 1 second faster ". If that WERE absolutely true, if you boosted the prostock car by 700 horsepower it would do the quarter mile in a negative amount of time.

Clearly that wouldn't happen.

This quick read about drag, is a good start -
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Drag_(physics)

Answer 9

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I don't know about those, but try driving a 1987 Ford Econoline van with a flat left front tire some time.

Answer 10

as speeds increase, that equation will change,same as when weight increases. at present there is no way of measuring that much power. it's a mathmatical equationon what it takes to propel that much mass over a quarter mile in that time. a physics expert could probably tell you.no engine or chassis dyno will measure 8000hp.