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Race Fuel.....MotoGP and WSBK


jamesthehondaman

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Posted

Is there a 'common' fuel that they use to level that side of performance????

When Shell say that their VPower 98 octane is developed with the Ducati MotoGP team is this spin or do the team actually use it????

Does the Sterilgarda R1 run 98 octane like my R1???????????

For example........the IOM have a common fuel (dont they) in their upside down milk containers that all the tems use..........

I rode 1390.2 km to the WSBK at Phillip Island 2 weeks ago, only to get there and the local petrol station had run out of everything except standard grade fuel.....no 95 or 98........

it just got me thinking that maybe the 'teams' had all zipped down during the night with their jerry cans and nicked it all....... ;)

ciao

:eusa_wall:

Posted

Not sure about now, but most (if not all) race series moved to 'road grade' unleaded a fair while back.

But I remember 'Ronnie' Smith being DQ'd from a race he did for PB 'cos he used 'pump' unleaded rather than the control unleaded that would've cost him about 5x more to buy, just because all competitors *had* to use a control fuel.

There was no performance gain from the pump fuel, he just didn't want to pay that much for 'regular' unleaded from a 'special' can

I also recall that the NSR500V v-twin stroker was a competitive machine(ish) up against privateer GP V4s until they went to 'regular' fuel and then, after that, the performance gap of the 4s was increased...

Posted
Is there a 'common' fuel that they use to level that side of performance????

When Shell say that their VPower 98 octane is developed with the Ducati MotoGP team is this spin or do the team actually use it????

Does the Sterilgarda R1 run 98 octane like my R1???????????

For example........the IOM have a common fuel (dont they) in their upside down milk containers that all the tems use..........

I rode 1390.2 km to the WSBK at Phillip Island 2 weeks ago, only to get there and the local petrol station had run out of everything except standard grade fuel.....no 95 or 98........

it just got me thinking that maybe the 'teams' had all zipped down during the night with their jerry cans and nicked it all....... ;)

ciao

:eusa_wall:

Generally, the IOM guys use the Elf supplied race fuel, but only because most of the bikes used are BSB, or at least BSB engines, and therefore set up on that fuel. Anything else is marketing crap.

Having said that, I once saw a TT race bike being leaned against the pumps and being filled with Shell's finest. I'm sure that was against the rules, but certainly no the spirit.

Posted

A lot of series run control fuel, where the regs are more open you can run anything up to the max RON i.e. 98, so rocket fuels are out. Out in Doha last year, Phase One went to collect fuel for the race and were presented with cans left over from when the GP boys were there. VPower 98 marked up in various flavours to suit the Dukes and Yamaha's (different mixes on the labels from Shell, saying Ducati Moto GP 09, Yamaha etc). We were just expecting to buy the 98 pump gas available at the circuit, cheaper than water at the Supermarket :eusa_whistle:

Some circuits are arseholes though. WEC regs say that you can use anything. When you get to Le Mans you can't. They've got fuelling rigs built into the pit boxes and their use is 'obligatoir' for qualifying and the race. This fuel is about £4-25 a litre and the cost addss up over the 24hrs there. Even worse is that any over fill can't be returned to the under circuit tanks and filling with the hoses that are used at Le Mans, always mean an overfill of a couple of litres. The nice men at the circuit go around and collect this waste, which they then sell on as 'falling down water' to the hordes out in the camp sites. Well I'm guessing they do given the state of some of them, there punters. Le Mans went all green a couple of years ago with an Ethanol mix (30% from memory) and sprung this on the teams about 2 weeks before the event. Queue much hilarity for anybody who hadn't been testing there (mainly the French) as fuel seals failed and Explo safe melted in peoples fuel tanks, bastards. Got to say though P1's bike ran beautifully on it and post race inspection showed the cleanest cylinder head and pistons we'd ever seen.

Due to the extreme cost of the race fuel at Le Mans, in direct contradition to the FIM regulations, Phase One will not be competeing at this years 24Hrs du Mans.

Rant over. :)

Posted
Due to the extreme cost of the race fuel at Le Mans, in direct contradition to the FIM regulations, Phase One will not be competeing at this years 24Hrs du Mans.

Who have thought the French, of all people, might circumvent rules and regulations that are happily applied everytwhere else with nary a dissenting voice....? :)

As they say round here "En principe, oui. En pratique, non!"

Posted

some info here about mon/ron and common misconceptions

http://www.aaoil.co.uk/racing-Q---A

we tried some of their 114 leaded on the mono once - it ran really smoothly and never ever 'pinked' but at 100 notes a can, and the fact it is technically illegal, we went back to super ul

edit add, didnt appear to make more power either, and i think it (lead) screws up the lambda sensor

Posted

VPower smells nice :icon_blackeye:

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