TOP FUEL dragsters accelerate quicker than any other vehicle on the planet and produce anywhere from 7000 to 10,000hp, and as the Sainty Top Fuel team found out on the weekend, sometimes they do it in spectacular fashion.

The bright yellow dragster exploded in flames during testing at Sydney Dragway last weekend as the engine lifted the blower and detonated. It was a massive fireball as you can see from this Fast Performance Videos clip. If their pants weren’t brown beforehand, we’re sure they were afterwards.

Team Sainty have been racing Top Fuel dragsters since the 1990s and their car is powered by a custom three-valve engine of their own design. Rather than use the Hemi headed Chrysler based engine that most top fuel teams use, the Saintys actually make their own engines at their Wentworthville-based engineering shop in Sydney’s west. The 500ci engine itself is a totally unique design machined from a solid block of 6061 aircraft aluminium and features a single overhead cam three-valve head.

We haven’t seen Terry Sainty and his team at Sydney Dragway for a couple years so we were pleasantly surprised to see them testing the dragster last weekend. Hopefully the damage isn’t too severe and they’ll be back on track soon.