That is a supercharger, or "blower".

What has happened there, is too much pressure. It's referred to colloquially as "the blower sneezed". It's a righteous explosion sometimes, and can smithereen the body right off of a funny car.

Here's a driver's seat point of view of a blower sneezing:



They can be much more violent. FYI, the 'white stuff' coming out the exhaust pipes is raw, unburned fuel.

See those little metal tubes around the top? They are injecting Nitrous Oxide to make ridiculous horsepower. An internal combustion engine can only accept as much fuel as it has oxygen to burn it. You can put on a turbocharger or supercharger to increase air pressure(more oxygen) into the engine so it can handle more fuel and make more power. And/or add NOS which when added to the incoming air cools it, making it more dense, plus adding extra oxygen. However when it ignites before it reaches the cylinders the results are catastrophic. The NOS is injected as a liquid, but if some between the pressure tank and the engine has become vapor in the feed lines, an explosion is likely. I've seen a simple NOS system backfire and melt out the entire center of a large 4 barrel carburetor in a heartbeat.

Thanks. I was wondering what those were.

Pretty crazy when you think about how these clever apes are harnessing the power of explosions to go fast, but the explosions have to be in just the right location.

Yes, a 450 cubic inch motor making 3,000 horsepower takes some engineering.

When a Chevy SSR rearends a Rolls Royce...

A Top Fuel engine makes around 8500-10,000 horsepower, and around 7400 lbft of torque.

That's an interesting Wiki link. Has a section on superchargers, but the whole article is interesting.

Ever see that demo where they take the fuel injection system from a top fuel rail and set it over a fish tank?

No, but, I looked for it for a minute.

I've seen it on TV a couple times, it's staggering to see them fill a 20 gallon tank in seconds.

Tucker motor, brand new old stock, unused, original...

Hey, anybody looking for a brand new old Corvette?

Dude ordered a 1978 Silver Anniversary Chevrolet Corvette L-82 with about every option you could get, and when it was delivered, he rolled into his garage, and that's where it's been for 38 years. The 'Vette has 4.2 actual miles on the odometer.

Attachment 56625

Short article

It's up for auction on eBay. Current (as of this post) bid is $86,100.

Paging Susan Crane! Please pick up the white courtesy phone!

Wouldn't touch that Corvette with a 10 foot pole. Cars deteriorate not being used.

The bid is now $105,387.00.

Back Seat Driver...