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Old 08-07-2018, 11:30 AM   #11
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The concussion of each fuel car cylinder ignition goes off like an individual cannon, fuel still burning, air expanding, after it leaves the pipe. But it's a whole series of them! When a top fuel car leaves the starting line, it vibrates your body so deeply, so violently, it touches your soul.
I loved that pit access was unrestricted, as well as the staging lanes. High up in the stands, the concussion was intense, I can only imagine what it was like at the starting line. Even though I hate crowds, it was quite manageable since the pits and track area were well spread out. The biggest issue was departing the parking area, but I just hung out in the van for a couple hours, had a beer and waited until it thinned out. I need to do this again.........

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Old 08-07-2018, 11:58 AM   #12
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The starting line at Sonoma is right about 14.5 miles from my front yard, across San Pablo Bay. I can hear every pass the Top Fuel cars make, clearly.
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Old 08-07-2018, 02:13 PM   #13
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I had two first timers with me last Friday including a buddies 7yo grandson, they're still talking about it. Solid bucket list item for anyone who appreciates violent levels of HP/TQ.

I got reserved seats in the south grandstand 13 rows up at the ~70' mark.

Sportsman class cars are fantastic as well so we took our seats well ahead of the 4pm NITRO session.

To complete the experience I moved everyone to the west side grandstand at the 1000 foot mark below the big screen for the 6pm session. You NEED to see them launch as well as see/hear/feel what it's like when a pair comes by at 325mph+

NITRO crews getting track temps ahead of Q1
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Old 08-07-2018, 06:49 PM   #14
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You NEED to see them launch as well as see/hear/feel what it's like when a pair comes by at 325mph+NITRO crews getting track temps ahead of Q1
I couldn't agree more. What I didn't understand was the crews getting track temps. They placed the black box on the track, then worked the four sharp corners down into the rubber and watched the box for an extended amount of time. I would imagine they could get a temp reading within a few seconds, so what else were they doing? Anyway, massive fun. For some reason after every pass I would bust out laughing at how ridiculous it all was. I wonder who would win a race between a carrier jet launch and a top fuel car? I'd guess the car.
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Old 08-07-2018, 07:35 PM   #15
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What I didn't understand was the crews getting track temps. They placed the black box on the track, then worked the four sharp corners down into the rubber and watched the box for an extended amount of time. I would imagine they could get a temp reading within a few seconds, so what else were they doing?
They are measuring friction, or stickiness of the track. More data for the crew chief to examine, that helps them better tune the car right up to the ragged edge of traction, without going into tire spin. Most don’t realize these cars have 8000-10,000 HP and no transmission. It’s one big puzzle to figure out how to make those cars incrementally faster and faster. These days the crew chief is more engineer than hot rodder. Engieers looooove their data, replace seat of the pants guesses with real values.
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