At the bottom of all this is a vid clip link
Fuel Facts
A LESSON IN ACCELERATION:
> ----------------------------------------------
>
> First, some useful info:
> * One NHRA Top Fuel dragster 500 cubic inch Hemi
> engine makes more
> horsepower than all the cars in the first 4 rows at
> the Daytona 500.
> * Under full throttle, a Top Fuel dragster engine
> consumes 1½ gallons of
> nitro methane per second; a fully loaded 747
> consumes jet fuel at the
> same rate with 25% less energy being produced.
>
> * A stock Dodge 426 Hemi V8 engine cannot produce
> enough power to drive
> the dragster's supercharger.
> * With 3000 CFM of air being rammed in by the
> supercharger on overdrive,
> the fuel mixture is compressed into a near-solid
> form before ignition.
> Cylinders run on the verge of hydraulic lock at full
> throttle.
> * At the stoichiometric 1.7:1 air/fuel mixture for
> nitro methane the
> flame front temperature measures 7050 degrees F.
>
> * Nitro methane burns yellow. The spectacular white
> flame seen above the
> stacks at night is raw burning hydrogen, dissociated
> from atmospheric
> water vapor by the searing exhaust gases.
>
> * Dual magnetos supply 44 amps to each spark plug.
> This is the output of
> an arc welder in each cylinder.
>
> * Spark plug electrodes are totally consumed during
> a pass. After
> 1/2 way, the engine is dieseling from compression
> plus the glow of exhaust
> valves at 1400 degrees F. The engine can only be
> shut down by cutting the
> fuel flow.
>
> * If spark momentarily fails early in the run,
> unburned nitro builds up
> in the affected cylinders and then explodes with
> sufficient force to blow
> cylinder heads off the block in pieces or split the
> block in half.
>
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a_hdImWGoNk&NR
