Fuel check question

[LNorton]

I've seen Sunoco, Rocket, Torco, and C12 all mixed in one jug pass as Sunoco Purple. Never personally had a problem myself either and I 50/50 mix pump gas and 110 when bracket racing. VP, Sunoco and Torco have all passed in my car when pours on top of whatever was in the cell.

[Mike Croley]

A couple of other items to keep in mind concerning race gas . One , the color does not and can not determine whether a race gas is legal . A perfectly legal fuel can be off slightly in color due to small variations in batch production . And the color blue or purple can describe many brands and octanes . I know of a blue race gasoline that's 100 unleaded . The color is merely a guide , if the fuel you're claiming to have is supposed to be red but the sample you're submitting is blue , there's a problem . Renegade 110 is purple , Renegade 112 is blue , Renegade 114 is turquoise , Renegade 116 is red , Renegade 120 is rose .
Race gasoline kept under ideal conditions has a shelf life of approx. 1 1/2 to 2 years . Once it's been opened , about half that long . Fuel that's stored incorrectly can go off in far less time . Race gas stored in metal drums or cans lasts the longest , race gas in tanks less so , and race gas in tanks that are open to the atmosphere much less so . Plastic jugs are actually the worst way to store race gas .
And lastly , there is race gas tech and then there is race gas tech . A local track may miss a fuel sample that should be thrown out . Fuel tech at a national event rarely if ever misses one .

[Jody Lang]

Originally Posted by LNorton

I've seen Sunoco, Rocket, Torco, and C12 all mixed in one jug pass as Sunoco Purple. Never personally had a problem myself either and I 50/50 mix pump gas and 110 when bracket racing. VP, Sunoco and Torco have all passed in my car when pours on top of whatever was in the cell.

Pump gas as in unleaded gas pumped from a gas station? Seems unbelievable that anything would pass with unleaded present.

[Dennis P Chapman]

Originally Posted by Jody Lang

Pump gas as in unleaded gas pumped from a gas station? Seems unbelievable that anything would pass with unleaded present.

Not pump gas but C10 unleaded passed

[philip miles]

My friend got me Sunoco GT100 fuel by mistake, it's unleaded. When I gave it to the NHRA tech, he asked me why I had unleaded fuel in my car. NHRA can tell that there is unleaded present, it shows a positive on the fuel meter. Needless to say, I had to drain the tank, put in fresh Sunoco purple to get past the fuel check. Boy, was I pissed at my friend. But because Sunoco came out of a pump marked Cam2 gas with no other markings, they ended up giving me $2500. for my troubles. It was like being runner up at the race.

Casey Miles
248H "F" NHRA Stock

[Jim Parsons]

One part of the process that you may be taking for granted is the test instrumentation and its calibration certification. When we speak of calibration its not the "zeroing" of the meter that is done periodically but actual verification using a certified standard, typically cyclohexane at a precise temperature using a certified thermocouple in a controlled environment.

Having sat on a FIA fuel and lubrication committee that developed test procedures for international Kart racing gas testing this process is critical for field test meters that get transported about. The dielectric field test meters used by NHRA are typically reliable but do need to be calibrated periodically both for accuracy and part of their test criteria. I'm not saying their meters were wrong just mentioning this as a possible discrepancy especially from one division to another.
The most accurate test method is a gas chromatographer which are very expensive and not so mobile and are seldom seen at race tracks.

FYI: From my personal experience with dielectric testing temperature accuracy is critical in the equation.

Jim

[FED 387]

Jim --I think that what you are describing is beyond the scope of most if not all of the NHRA people that are probably technically challenged to do anything other than the rudimenntery type of fuel test-- by this I mean ask the brand of fuel ,insert the testing probe into the container and press the button/s and read the results, then compare the reading to the acceptable range allowed by NHRA for that brand ---it ends up being a GO -NO GO scenario pass/fail whatever--now that I think about it I never really have seen the tester cleanse the tester probe from one sample(racer) to the next-- have you??? This action alone might possibly comppromise the next fuel batch results because of trace samples left from the previous fuel especially if that next sample is o so close to being borderline to begin with