Fuel cocktail mixture-any good for the road?

[T9 man]

Ok, so I was at a track day at Cadwell Park Circuit on Saturday last and having a hell of a time putting my foot down in the beast. After walking around my fellow track day enthusiasts and drooling over their cars as you do, I saw a number of people pouring fuel from large jerry cans into their cars. Nothing wrong with that I hear you cry! but the track has it's own petrol station onsite with both regular and super unleaded petrol.

My curiosity aroused I asked one of the chaps about it, apparently it is a mixture of super unleaded petrol and various paint thinners :amazed: Gives your car a massive kick and is perfectly safe by all accounts. Also they put in just enough fuel to do a few laps thereby keeping the weight of the car down to the absolute minimum.

I have never heard of this before and I was wondering if this cocktail would be safe for road cars, and what proportion of thinners would you use per X amount of litres of petrol? Don't think I am brave enough to use it myself, I was just curious and hoped that someone could enlighten me.

 

[Prince]

Never actually heard of adding paint thinners, but I do think it's illegal for road use to use 'home made' fuel. Traffic police are supposed to carry out random checks.

I don't think I'll be the guinea pig on this one...

 

[HDi fun]

Never actually heard of adding paint thinners, but I do think it's illegal for road use to use 'home made' fuel. Traffic police are supposed to carry out random checks.

I don't think I'll be the guinea pig on this one...

They won't though, will they? For the small amounts of acetone involved they're not going to waste public money.

Traffic officers are remarkably gentle in my experience. Unless many things are really wrong they're not gonna bother with you.

 

[obi_waynne]

IIRC Adding Acetone to fuel has been discussed on here in the distant past?

To fuel does increase the octane rating but knowing what acetone does to plastic I certainly wouldn't want to risk putting this in my car as there are so many plastic components around.

You can buy barrels of mega high octane race fuel though, and this is safe to use. BP also sell an ultra high octane race fuel in very select stations which is something like 120 RON.

 

[HDi fun]

BP sells it in Newport Pagnell. Fittingly opposite the Aston Martin plant.

 

[obi_waynne]

Is it 120 octane? I quite fancy trying some out and seeing what a difference it makes!

 

[old-git]

IIRC Adding Acetone to fuel has been discussed on here in the distant past?

To fuel does increase the octane rating but knowing what acetone does to plastic I certainly wouldn't want to risk putting this in my car as there are so many plastic components around.

You can buy barrels of mega high octane race fuel though, and this is safe to use. BP also sell an ultra high octane race fuel in very select stations which is something like 120 RON.

120? Are you sure. VP Q16, which is the racing fuel I will be using, is only 116.

 

[old-git]

BP sells it in Newport Pagnell. Fittingly opposite the Aston Martin plant.

Do you know what they call it and how much it is?

 

[old-git]

Is it 120 octane? I quite fancy trying some out and seeing what a difference it makes!

The main advantage is its anti-knocking properties, due to the high octane figure. This allows the use of higher boosts. You won't see much difference without a re-tune to take advantage of the higher rating.

 

[Puntopimp]

Why do i image people in the kitchen mixing chemicals an blowing themselves up like on the cartoons???

 

[T9 man]

Why do i image people in the kitchen mixing chemicals an blowing themselves up like on the cartoons???

You've hit the nail on the head there! Did not think to ask what thinners were involved in the concoction, tbh I was still reeling from the shock of the cans contents. I do hope they are taking every precaution though, no amount of speed gain is worth the risk of a loss of life or home in the resulting explosion.

 

[Puntopimp]

Lol would love to see them try and mix Hydrogen

White spirit would work wouldn't it? If so i got about 30 gallons

 

[T9 man]

Lol would love to see them try and mix Hydrogen

White spirit would work wouldn't it? If so i got about 30 gallons

No idea and not daft enough to experiment to find out; you know my mama never raised no fool!

 

[Puntopimp]

she must of done you bought a Saab I couldn't resist

 

[T9 man]

You cheeky devil I'll have you know this is the baddest Saab in the country!
Officially recognised by the Saab Owners Club of Great Britain for the last two years running! :toung:

 

[Puntopimp]

I like the carbon fibre look on the car

 

[old-git]

I like the carbon fibre look on the car

It isn't a carbon fibre look, it's REAL!!

Or were you joking?

 

[Puntopimp]

lol course i was Lol

 

[Prince]

she must of done you bought a Saab I couldn't resist

But you bought a Fiat! I couldn't resist either .

 

[Puntopimp]

My Fiat is my First car so i think mine was a good buy

 

[SLEEPER]

Its far more likely it was normal race fuel.

As og says this is a much higher octane and definately produces more power and of course is much more expensive

BUT

You need a completely different switchable map to get the best results.

So like every "simple " power gain it never is.

 

[T9 man]

@ Sleeper, I wish I had asked the man further questions, but I felt I was getting in the way of the chap I asked the main question off. He had bigger problems with his car and was busy trying to find a solution.
Never new about different maps for the race type fuel, I suppose when you think about it that makes sense! I always used to think when you put in the higher octane fuel that the ECU would just work it out and perform accordingly.
Learn something new on here everyday. :amuse:

 

[pgarner]

most ecus cant advance timing iirc they can only retard it

 

[SLEEPER]

This is where what I would call a proper ecu comes into its own.

Engine management gets more critical the more the engine is tuned as tolerances get smaller with bigger power.

Anything that changes the perfomance will benefit from different settings cos the ecu cant think for itself .

For example my ECUs has launch control with a variable a rev limit which only works when stationary . It also retards the ignition which builds up the boost.

It doesnt however do this of its own accord. The rev limit is set by me using a plug in gizmo made for the ecu -you just turn the dial which changes the rev limit and the amount of ignition retard is pre programmed.

And if you want to run race fuel you simply program another map accordingly and switch to it as needed but agian the ecu wont do it - it cant diagnose the fuel !

 

[T9 man]

I think I got all that Sleeper thank you! I did have the original ECU on my car but obviously it does come with some limitations I guess, being as it was for an original family saloon car performance.
The ECU was swapped for a MapTun version from Sweden which apparently is better suited for the horsepower the car now produces and the software system that they use. I shall enquire about the suitability of it for race fuel for future track days. I have still yet to get it back to the garage to get the steering wheel switch fitted for the dual map setup, so I may as well get this additional map thing sorted out as well rather than do the same job twice.