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E85 Vs Race gas - what do you use?


Balroks

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There's been a struggle with street cars turn race cars and which gas to run. We all know both e85 and 110 work. SO what do you run and what have you found? In my experience e85 can get me through ~25minutes in the oem tank, which can cut my race short in most cases.

 

In my mind It'll all depend on your budget.

 

Figure:

 

Properly installed 20gal fuel cell ~3500

12 gallon well cell bridging the OEM tank ~ 1800

Custom surge tank ~ 800

 

Or Race gas

 

E85 x 40 gallons at 3.50 a gallon = $140 in fuel for the weekend

112+ x 40 gallons at 9.00 a gallon = $360 for the weekend

 

Lets say you do 8 events a year.

 

140x8 weekends = $1120 yr

360x8 weekends = $ 2880 yr

 

There's pros and cons to both. Gas consistency is always a player because you can get e70 or e90 from one day/station to the next. 112 octane is always going to be 112 octane. But E85 runs cooler, cleaner, easier on your o2's, more readily available to the public etc. Let's discuss.

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There's been a struggle with street cars turn race cars and which gas to run. We all know both e85 and 110 work. SO what do you run and what have you found? In my experience e85 can get me through ~25minutes in the oem tank, which can cut my race short in most cases.

 

In my mind It'll all depend on your budget.

 

Figure:

 

Properly installed 20gal fuel cell ~3500

12 gallon well cell bridging the OEM tank ~ 1800

Custom surge tank ~ 800

 

Or Race gas

 

E85 x 40 gallons at 3.50 a gallon = $140 in fuel for the weekend

112+ x 40 gallons at 9.00 a gallon = $360 for the weekend

 

Lets say you do 8 events a year.

 

140x8 weekends = $1120 yr

360x8 weekends = $ 2880 yr

 

There's pros and cons to both. Gas consistency is always a player because you can get e70 or e90 from one day/station to the next. 112 octane is always going to be 112 octane. But E85 runs cooler, cleaner, easier on your o2's, more readily available to the public etc. Let's discuss.

 

 

Why are you limiting the conversation to just 112 and e85?

 

Where I live (NC) much of the regular(87) and mid grade(89) are diluted with ethanol, but the premium (91-93) isn't.

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The question is geared more towards people who do use race gas for various reasons, not 91/93. But ya in FL even premium is diluted to answer that question.

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In my customers' time attack cars we run E85 with a big fuel system because the car runs so much cooler and gives more headroom. That's the highest stress setups I've personally dealt with, not sure what you have (says ST2 Evo in your sig so thats my assumption). We were running Q16 on most of those cars originally. When we switched to E85 we were able to run more timing and less boost (more responsive in our experience, yours may be different; it gave us a 900rpm larger powerband) to make the same power. We were also able to run entire sessions without having to take cool-down laps throughout the sessions.

 

If your worried about consistency, either keep your calibration conservative or test the fuel before putting it in and adjust your calibration accordingly.

 

Again, this is just what I've seen, you might end up with a different result

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  • 1 month later...

i run 98 or 100 octane. i would love to use 93 oct pump gas, but the realities are that its too risky. fuel cells and fuel systems and ethonal didnt play well together. ive seen enough fuel cells destroyed by pump gas. it also eats a way at the fuel system in my tractor and lawmower.

 

additionally, race gas is produced and goes straight into the vessel that it will be transported in. the pump gas gets additivies and moves to a holding tank and then a pipeline and then another holding tank and so on.

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