gas

[geraldchainsaw]

i watch this program about street racing,  i think its fast & loud,  where the cars all run in low #s's,  and swhen racing all u c are sparks,  what kinda gas are they using,  and where do u get it?,    jerry

[rmk57]

I'm not positive but I'm thinking they use e-85 judging by the bluish flames out the pipes.

Maybe the shows Street Outlaws?

[John Palmer]

You can buy racing gas/fuel from VP fuels in many different types for various motorsport applications.  It's widely available at speed shops, and motorcycle shops.

We run VP C-16 gas (cost is about $20/gal) in our 1960 VW Bug race car.  The car's engine is a VW based 2387cc, 145 inches, and has 280HP dyno'ed at the crank, and we run another 80HP shot of nitrous oxide.  The car was originally 1192cc and 36HP.  The car is all steel, street legal (not street driven), licensed and insured.  We have won an NHRA Wally trophy with the car, and the best 1/4 mile et is 11.01, at 123 MPH.

Many of our racing friends have switched over to Alcohol.  But you burn twice as much for the same BTU's (so cost saving is marginal), so you need a larger fuel system (pump/lines/fittings) to supply the additional required volume.  It's also a pain to clean it out after each event, because it corrodes everything.  The advantage is that it runs cool, which is important when they start hot lapping you at the end of the days eliminations.  We run 14 to 1 compression and it get hot on gas.

The sparks and popping you see are usually from the rev limiters, which basically kill alternating cylinders to control the over revving.

I love all kinds of racing, but I hate the phony hype the producers feel they need to add to their shows.  My son and I, have both worked on some of the more popular reality TV racing shows.   

[Lou]

You might try 115 or 125 octane aviation gas.

[59meteor]

Considering most of the clips of Street Outlaws that take place in their shops, show plenty of blue 55 gallon VP Fuels drum, I`m guessing that most are running higher end race gas, like C16 or C25.  I use VP C12 in my low 10, high 9 second Fairmont (427 FE , Jerico 4 speed), but since these guys seem to have lots of money for big inch race engines with turbos and nitrous, I`m sure they are running the "good stuff". As for their exhaust flames, I wouldn`t be suprised if some of that is from melting spark plugs or pistons, they seem to be "on the edge".
John, as for VWs, I race in a local stick shift association up here in BC Canada, we have 3 10 second beetles in our group, and 1 with a turbo than runs 9s when it works well. Most of those are tube chassis, mostly fiberglass with big 2300 cc+ engines with very little actual VW content. My 427 FE stuff is cheap compared to what they spend!

[57AGIN]

59meteor:

I can't resist going slightly off subject, but your last post brings me back to 1966 at Lions Drag Strip.  I'm doing afternoon time trials on a Saturday afternoon before eliminations were to begin.  I'm proceeding up to the starting line in my 1965 Mustang and pulling up next to me is the EMPI Inch Pincher VW.  He consistently ran in the 10:20's.  We do our runs and as I'm just getting past the finish line after a low 14 second run I see him returning to the tower to get his time slip as I'm still slowing down.  Kind of embarrassing, but he was a very known entity. It took a while to have my friends stop razzing me. But, I got over it and took a trophy home that night in G/SO formula 6 (AHRA, single fquad, hydraulic lifters, 280 - 300 cubic inches).

Bob
57 AGIN

[John Palmer]

Jerry, I'm sorry we got your thread so far "off track", but hey you did ask about racing, LOL.

I grew up during the 60's in Phoenix, AZ. and raced at Beeline Dragstrip.  Like Lions, it was also a AHRA sanctioned track.  Bob's comment reminded me of all the classes AHRA ran, and combinations of classes.  We raced a 1963 Falcon Sprint out of Don Sanderson Ford in Glendale.  It had a "six bolt" 289, a "aluminum cased" T-10, 5.67 gears, and most of the time we had a 780 cfm Holley on it.  We bought a set of four 48 mm IDA Weber carbs from Shelby, but only raced with them a few times.  They required us to move up a class from Formula 2 (single four barrel), to Formula 1 (multiple carbs) but we never got our car to run any quicker with the Weber set up, than the single 780 on a high riser manifold.  The funny part is, now we use "bored out" 48 IDA's to 52.5mm on our VW motor.

We raced the Falcon at 9# per cubic inch (2601#) in C/HR and C/MP.  Then we slid in 300# of lead weight in the rear pipe bumper and ran at 10# per inch (2890#) in D/HR and D/MP.  We had the world record at one point in D/HR at 11.87.  We also raced AHRA in Odessa, TX and at Green Valley, TX.

Back in the day, I was close to completing a Ford powered 300 inch Thames panel truck to race in I/G.  But that same bright orange VW that Bob discussed, blew away the I/G class record (competition index), and I sold it all off.

In time, you forget how much money and time you spent on these bad habits, but man all the fun memories forty years later were worth all the struggles.