13/03/2025
Tough start to the year in Gainesville. After qualifying 7th with a 5.272 at 264.4MPH, we were unable to make the run during the first round of eliminations due to having fuel that was tested under the minimum required temperature for our class. The NHRA 100% made the right call and we would expect them to do the same for others in violation.
To be clear, the temperature was significantly under the minimum. This wasn’t an attempt to run right at 50 degrees for max performance, but rather a bad estimation on our part.
To clear up speculation, it’s pretty straightforward what happened. We are still running the original Top Fuel fuel tank in the car in the short term as we wait to take inventory of a smaller, purpose built A/fuel fuel tank that includes an access hole for a temperature probe that regulates our fuel chiller’s output. With the current tank, we run approximately 5 gallons less fuel than what it is capable of holding and there is not an access hole to get our chiller’s temperature probe into where the fuel sits. This probe regulates the overall operation of the chiller and stops the chilling process when the fuel gets to a predetermined temperature. Our current option to chill the fuel with this tank requires the chiller to run unregulated and we then estimate if it’s close to 50 degrees by pulling fuel from the main fuel line supply to test it. We knew it wasn’t going to be 1:1 with the temperature of what was circulating in the tank, but we definitely did not expect that much of a difference. As mentioned above, we missed, that’s on us, and we own it.
We’re working on alternative ways to monitor this until the new fuel tank arrives and we are ready to get this thing back on track in a couple days in Belle Rose, Louisiana 💪🏻
