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For a long time the focus has primarily been on optimizing the amount of air being delivered into the cylinders of an engine. In the last 2 decades, forced induction technology has evolved and matured rapidly. Whilst air is important for combustion, high quality fuel now plays a key role in engine performance and output. Almost all modern stock cars can instantly gain kilowatts on a dyno by merely switching to a higher quality fuel. Higher quality fuel also improves the drivability of your performance vehicle by eliminating hesitations and flat spots throughout your RPM range. It’s therefore not surprising that high quality fuel has become the pixie dust to make your performance car “fly”. The key to getting the best racing fuel is not necessarily buying the fuel with the highest octane, but getting one that is best suited for your engine. The four most important properties of racing fuel:
Octane is a measure of a fuel’s resistance to pre-ignition, pinging, and detonation. There are three octane ratings for motor fuels; Research Octane Number (RON), Motor Octane Number (MON), and the average of the two (R+M/2). Whilst octane is important, other fuel characteristics also influence the ability of the fuel to resist pre-ignition.
The burn speed refers to the speed at which a fuel burns and releases its heat energy. At higher RPM’s there is less time for fuel to burn, so racing fuels tend to work better if they have a rapid burning rate. If a fuel can be almost completely burned by the time the crankshaft is 20 degrees after TDC (Top Dead Center) on the engine power stroke, peak horsepower and engine efficiency are realized.
This is the ability of a fuel to cool the intake charge and the combustion chamber. A fuel with a high latent heat value will do a better job of removing heat. This makes the intake charge more dense and packs more energy per volume into the engine. The cooling effect also helps control detonation and reduces the operating temperature of the engine.
The energy value is an indication of the total heat energy contained in a given amount of fuel. The total amount of heat energy that is available to make power depends on the net energy value of the fuel. This is determined by taking the raw energy value of the fuel and then multiplying that by the amount of fuel that can be burned. The ideal air/fuel ratio for fuel is called its stoichiometric ratio. The lower the stoichiometric ratio, the more fuel is burned and the more power can be produced.
Source: IQLearning Systems and VP Technical bulletin