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There's actually absolutely nothing entertaining about changing or restoring an engine, however when you're in the National Hot Rod Association's funny-looking Super Stock drag-racing company, it's all part of the gig. An engine in today's Funny Cars must be entirely reconstructed (or changed) after– are you all set for this?– simply 4 seconds of open-throttle usage.
The origin of the name “amusing vehicle” isn't specifically understood, however practically everybody concurs it pertained to fulfillment someplace throughout the middle of the 1960s. There are even a couple of completing origin stories about how the name became. One mentions it was created by a commentator who believed the drag-racing stock cars and trucks looked “amusing.” Another (backed by racing historian Leo Levine) provides credit to the head of Mercury's racing program at the time, Fran Hernandez, who stated, “We require to beat those ‘amusing' cars and trucks,” once again describing their funny-looking look.
They weren't at first called “amusing cars and trucks” at all. A few of the very first ones were Hemi Dodges from the '60s, while others were stock late-model two-door muscle automobiles or perhaps factory speculative vehicles (consisting of Pontiac's exceptional “Swiss Cheese” Catalina). They were disrobed, had their wheelbases made much shorter, and geared up with light-weight parts and enormous engines.
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While the very first ones began racing around 1964, they weren't formally incorporated into the NHRA till 1969. Their “amusing” design would later on develop into the long, wedge-shaped flame-throwing monsters with the flip-open body we understand today.
You do not mess around with nitromethane
Just like the bodies, their engines likewise altered. The very first utilized were straight 426 Hemi V8s working on gas (among the renowned engines that altered racing permanently), however that rapidly altered over to supercharged engines that worked on nitromethane (aka rocket fuel), a liquid that in fact established to tidy printing presses.
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The eight-cylinder supercharged engines that being in today's amusing cars and trucks (and leading fuel dragsters) drain over 10,000 horse power and burn through 14 gallons of nitromethane in less than 4 seconds as they shout down the quarter-mile drag strip. By the time the 2,600-pound speed satanic force crosses the goal, it's going around 330 miles per hour.
Nitromethane has a particular energy worth 6 times higher than routine gas, and a drag engine can burn through over 8 times more nitromethane than fuel per each power stroke. Eventually, this printing press cleaner/rocket fuel creates more than double the power of gas (if integrated with the exact same quantity of oxygen).
It's an exceptionally difficult compound to deal with. You can actually light a match while standing beside an open pail of the things without risk, however if you position simply a couple of drops on something and strike it with a hammer, it'll trigger a little surge.
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Changing an engine takes less than an hour
When the amusing cars and truck blows up (nearly actually) off the beginning line, the power is so relentless, it buckles the tires and shakes the ground.
