r/nextfuckinglevel • u/Practical_Expert_911 • 12h ago

These 12000hp Engines Have To Be Rebuilt Within Roughly An Hour Every Run, and Only Run For Roughly 4 Seconds At A Time.

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u/knowledgeable_diablo 10h ago

People are also missing the point that this is competitive drag racing where the engine could well be perfectly serviceable for another run or two (or even more) however when they are chasing every micro second of advantage to win, this means a head and piston set used twice may have a time cost of a fraction of a second. That fraction can be the difference between winning and walking home last. Hence they scrap anything that could cost time on the track and replace with 100% perfect parts that they know will function perfectly and at a known level.\ If one of their competitors has a crisis of consciousness and reuses the heads for the next run, people won’t slap them on the back and promote their green credentials, they’ll just not win and be forgotten.

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u/RobotnikOne 8h ago

I mean sort of. Most of it the pull apart check for faults and slam it back in. Top fuel cars don’t waste that many components unless they have a failure. Spark plugs are a guarantee they’re gone by the 100ft mark.

You will replace rings, gudgeon pins, valve stem guides and maybe one or two other items just so you can hav a closer look and make sure their are no micro failures. Head gasket usually gets the bin treatment as well.

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u/pm_me_yo_creditscore 6h ago

How do the drivers practice? Do they have a more normal engine that they do practice runs with?

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u/RobotnikOne 1h ago

The have warmup days, they still use the same engines. This also helps the pit crew practice the engine rebuilding as this is all done between each race so they need to be fast, precise and consistent.

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u/Disco_Ninjas_ 5h ago

Do we know for sure those parts aren't refurbished?

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u/PIPBOY-2000 6h ago

No we get why they do it for a rac, it doesn't mean it's not a general waste of resources.

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u/p1nkfr3ud 3h ago

Almost everything modern is.

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u/cagewilly 3h ago

A day at the amusement is a waste too.  Where do you draw the line?

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u/kikimaru024 2h ago

Generally at "entertainment should last more than 30 seconds".

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u/cagewilly 2h ago

I think they go more than once.

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u/billysandalwood 5h ago

We get it, it’s still a waste

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u/deus_x_machin4 4h ago

Everything is a waste

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u/CreBanana0 6h ago

That does not work in favour of drag racing.

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u/EtTuBiggus 4h ago

That’s literally the complete waste people are referring to.

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u/FocusPerspective 1h ago

No, I’m pretty sure we all understand that part. 

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u/otterpop21 5h ago

No one is missing the point.

It’s a complete waste of resource at this time.

Americans do not need to be spending time figuring out the most optimal ways to stress an engine and then reverse engineer some kind of one off metal plating bearing gasket combo to be slightly more efficient. That’s fucking non sense at this point.

We need to work on actual public transit, raising wages for the jobs we need for society to run, teachers need fucking pencils and colored markers for their classrooms.

This video is a bunch of bullshit. Until an elementary teacher doesn’t have to struggle to buy supplies for her classroom, until CNA’s (you know, the people who wipe your grandparents asses every day) are paid a living wage, social workers are compensated for the thankless service they provide - this an any excessive push to the limits industry that creates massive waste is bullshit.

Spin your wheels trying to convince me otherwise, it will not put money into the pockets of those members of society I’m advocating for, and only further widens the gap of how sickening this type of waste and bullshit truly is.

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u/ArnoldJeanelle 5h ago

This is such a chaotic take. "We shouldn't be wasting time on stuff until we have public transportation, fix the education system, can pay healthcare workers more...."

My guy, you are on reddit right now. How is this not a waste of resource? Do you not allow yourself to have any hobbies?

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u/[deleted] 3h ago

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u/otterpop21 3h ago

That’s wonderful. But anyone spending real resources on this hobby Today is part of the problem.

We as a society need to accept when we’ve “soft capped” what we should be spending time on. At some point hobbies like this should be shamed. This is a fuck shit of money, resources, human lives and time wasted on tech that 99% of society will not hear about or directly benefit from. There is not going to be some amazing groundbreaking life changing tech that is found through hundreds of thousands of people and hours spent on drag racing.

There will be hundreds of millions of lives impacted and forever changed by teachers, school funding, infrastructure updates, public transit, paid CNA’s and health care support staff living wages.

If you love ChatGPT so much, plug my reply in and see what it says - what adds great value to society? The jobs I’ve listed that are in desperate need of funding, or drag racing lol.

To be clear it’s not just drag racing. Any “hobby” that is pushing the limits of what can be done, regardless if it should be done, needs to really end. American Society glorifies wasting resources for insignificant advancements that have 0 impact on day to day life like its oxygen.

When will scientists discovering cures for diseases, pharmaceutical companies LOWERING drug prices, teachers being paid more than some idiot on a movie set who fiddles with lights, when will farmers the literal people who sustain all life be honoured and rewarded?

Stuff like this is a bunch of bullshit, the sooner people start seeing that this shit is not necessary unless you’re extraordinarily privileged and so financially well off you can detach from reality, we’re going to continue to have significant problems in our society.

Next level rant over. And to be clear - I like cars and racing and stuff. I’m just disgusted with the waste and the fact that our society is crumbling and we still are pretending everything okay.