Discussion
I think the nitro is better quality these days too. I am not a chemist and I forget the exact details but something about it changed - some company or other found a way to make it more pure - in the late 1990s/early 2000s. The appearance of opaque yellow fug from Fuel pits during warmups started around that time.
When they warm up one of these nitro guzzlers under an awning, then the opaque yellow fug referred to earlier then becomes a thick brown soup which can make breathing somewhat entertaining! Fug courtesy of (the sadly missing this year) Tommy Möller and his Pennzoil Top fuel dragster.
Edited by topnitro on Wednesday 15th August 07:41
ingmant said:
Possably the biggest factor now is, 'in the old days' nobody used large trucks/trailers with side awnings
Absolutely. When we got a full awning last year, it made an amazing difference to the warmups. I did a warmup just after we first got the awning, and because we were just firing up on methanol, I didn't bother with a gas mask. Big mistake. With an open awning, it used to be fine, but because of the enclosed awning, the fumes were much more intense, and my eyes were streaming. On nitro, it's far, far worse!If you take a look at Urs' awning at the European Finals, you'll notice that he has a flap near where the awning joins the truck that can be opened to release the fumes during the warmup. Very sensible...
Barry B said:
Richard, that picture is bonkers !!! Never mind gas masks, those lads must've been absorbing the nitric acid fumes, or whatever the hell fullers call exhaust, through their skin !
They could be putting worse things through their skin... heroin for example...I'd much rather 'Score some nitro' if you know what I mean.
Just going back to the Nitro Clouds again, you can get an idea of the ever increasing brown fumes, on this video of Lex that I took at Mantorp in '04, when Lex was driving for Knut Söderquist. The car was also one of the first to be fitted with a slider valve as well, by the way, which I have always thought was a big factor in the 'fugginess' of a warm-up - well, that's my theory, anyway. The video is a real big file, but it's worth the wait.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WG7Qralrfzk
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WG7Qralrfzk
Edited for change of video location
Edited by topnitro on Thursday 23 July 13:06
NuthinFancy said:
Barry B said:
Richard, that picture is bonkers !!! Never mind gas masks, those lads must've been absorbing the nitric acid fumes, or whatever the hell fullers call exhaust, through their skin !
They could be putting worse things through their skin... heroin for example...I'd much rather 'Score some nitro' if you know what I mean.
Brink said:
I wonder what proportion of that cloud is likely to be unburned or partially combusted fuel. Full combustion should yield only water, CO2 and nitrogen gas. Does anyone know exactly what it's made of?
I'm no chemist (my tutors agreed - 'E' in Chemistry A Level. Oops) but when a nitro warmup gets going and you're close enough, it doesn't take many seconds (or much chemistry skill) to work out that the fumes that are inexorably 'strangling' you are not at all dissimilar to tear gas or gaseous nitric acid - that is, if you've ever had the joyous experience of being in the presence of either of those deliciously noxious condiments.....I suppose this should be a new thread however has anyone any ider who first put Nitro in a race car ?? I can see the picture now,... loads of guys bench racing when someone says ' I got some of that Nitro stuff doing nothing . Wounder what would happen if we stuck it in the 392 ??. I can guess the first results though 
Tim
Tim
ingmant said:
I suppose this should be a new thread however has anyone any ider who first put Nitro in a race car
Nitro in cars has been going on since at least the 1940s. The first recorded drag race (not race event so no pompous replies thank you) was what we would now call a grudge race between two street racers on a deserted public road in Goleta, California in 1947; one of those cars was running nitro and it was an old idea then.Edited by Eurodragster.com on Thursday 16th August 16:31
Gassing Station | Drag Racing | Top of Page | What's New | My Stuff