What is the difference between Top Fuel and Top Alcohol?

What is the difference between Top Fuel and Top Alcohol?

Top Alcohol Dragsters may look like Top Fuelers, but they have significant differences. Whereas Top Fuelers use supercharged, nitro-burning engines, Top Alcohol Dragsters may use a supercharged methanol-burning engine or an injected nitromethane combination.

What is top alcohol fuel?

Top Alcohol was devised in the 1970s as a replacement for the Top Gas class, which was similar but burned gasoline. Initially, alcohol dragsters competed against Funny Cars in a category known as Pro Comp, before a separate class, Top Alcohol Funny Car, was created in the 1980s.

What is Top Fuel?

Currently, Top Fuel and Funny Cars run on a blend that’s 90 percent nitromethane and 10 percent methanol, according to NHRA rules [source: Davis]. The methanol helps suppress detonation, which makes the fuel more stable.

Why do Top Fuel dragsters use nitromethane?

The fuel comes with its own oxygen atoms to help it burn. The big advantage of nitromethane is that you can get a lot more power from each explosion inside the engine. Pound for pound, nitromethane is less energetic than gasoline, but you can burn a lot more nitromethane in a cylinder.

What happens if you put nitromethane in a car?

Nitromethane by itself does not burn, its only supplies more oxygen to the burn. Adding it to gasoline would be the same thing as running very high octane fuel, which involves motor knowlege and reworking to run safely.

How much horsepower does a Top Fuel Funny Car make?

around 8,000-horsepower
But Funny Cars are mechanically similar to Top Fuel cars, so to some extent, it’s worth taking a look at both types. Top Fuel cars get their power from custom engines that are 500 cubic inches and boast superchargers, making them capable of around 8,000-horsepower.

Does adding alcohol to gas increase horsepower?

High-octane fuels, like ethanol, help deliver more horsepower and speed.

What is the difference between nitromethane and methanol?

Nitro weighs more than methanol. As more nitromethane is added to a mixture, the fuel weight per gallon increases. For the same volume, a heavier amount of fuel mixture is needed – that is represented by a smaller numerical air/fuel ratio. This means you will need more fuel per run than you did with straight methanol.

Can you mix gasoline and nitromethane?

Can I use nitromethane in my car?

How much power does nitromethane add?

It has been learned that nitromethane can increase power output by as much as 13 percent on an indicated or gross basis when added to methyl alcohol and by 7 percent when added to a benzene-isooctane mixture in concentrations of 20% by volume.

Can you make nitromethane?

Preparation. Nitromethane is produced industrially by combining propane and nitric acid in the gas phase at 350–450 °C (662–842 °F). This exothermic reaction produces the four industrially significant nitroalkanes: nitromethane, nitroethane, 1-nitropropane, and 2-nitropropane.