I've been to Santa Pod in the UK a few times and the Top Fuel cars are in a league of their own, you really do know when they are running. Others have mentione

I've been to Santa Pod in the UK a few times and the Top Fuel cars are in a league of their own, you really do know when they are running. Others have mentioned about the noise which is something very hard to describe in words. You can walk around the pits and watch the crews doing a partial strip down of the engine for each run, although it's fundamentally basic V8 pushrod technology, it's far more than that. There is a video [1] with a few slow motion clips of the preparation and running of a Top Fuel car. One poster mentioned a cameraman who stood between two cars, you can clearly see why that wasn't a good idea!! Looking at how the tyres deform, not just at launch 2:00 but also at 2:50 it looks like they are a real limitation in acceleration. To help them off the line the launch area is really sticky, shoes melt into the 'tarmac'. The 0-60 time, as with many really fast cars, doesn't tell the whole story of using their 10,000BHP to get to about 330MPH in about 4.5 seconds. It's something I think you really need to go and see. [1] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Lt6iltuxD48 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Lt6iltuxD48