Do you know what the fastest-accelerating ground vehicle is?
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No other ground vehicle can out-accelerate a Top-Fuel dragster. These cars can rocket to 500 km/h in less than 4 seconds.
One run down the strip consumes fuel, bearings, valve springs and other parts to the tune of R40 000.
These machines are so fast – topping 530 km/h – that the quarter-mile track (402 metres) was shortened to 1 000 feet (about 305m) after Scott Kalitta was killed in 2008 when his car exploded at the finish and crashed into the catch fence.
Watch Scott Kalitta’s fatal crash...
Read about how a Top-Fuel dragster works in the March 2011 issue of Popular Mechanics - on sale on 21 February.
