Race gas is a highly-refined petroleum distillate used in a racing fuel for internal combustion engines. It has higher volatility and lower viscosity than pump petrol (petrol), which makes it cost more.

So, you may be wondering, why does race gas smell good?

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Why Does Race Gas Smell Good?

The smell is the result of the compounds (aromatic hydrocarbons) that give it its octane rating. The higher the octane, the more aromatic hydrocarbons you have. These are also found in gasoline but in much lower concentrations.

The smell is actually harmful to breathe. When you inhale race gas it damages your brain and nervous system. This damage is cumulative and irreversible so if you are a race car driver breathing this stuff in every day, over time it will make you sick and potentially kill you.

That being said, it doesn’t smell bad or toxic to people because we’ve evolved to associate certain smells with good/bad foods and toxins. So, as far as our senses are concerned, it’s not dangerous and therefore doesn’t trigger any kind of alarm.

How Can I Make My Gas Smell Like Race Fuel?

You can just add more aromatic hydrocarbons to the fuel – but it might not improve its performance.

Race fuel is a class of fuels that are formulated for use in high-performance and racing engines. They differ from standard automotive fuels in that they are designed to provide better performance, either through a higher octane rating or by the inclusion of other components.

The higher octane ratings are achieved by adding more aromatic hydrocarbons to the fuel. These materials increase the fuel’s resistance to detonation (knocking) but do not actually contribute significantly to the energy content of the fuel. For this reason, race fuels have high octane ratings but low energy contents; they are not intended as a replacement for standard road fuels, but rather as an additive to improve performance. The price and availability of race fuel can vary widely based on local supply and demand.

The prices I’ve seen range from $3/gallon to $10/gallon.

How Much Horsepower Does Race Fuel Add?

Here’s a question we get asked all the time, and it’s not as simple as one might think to answer. There are so many variables involved in making and tuning an engine that it’s hard to say with any certainty how much power race gas will make on any particular engine. That said, we can offer some insight based on years of experience with our customers’ engines.

When comparing pump gas formulas of 92 octane or less, most engines will see an increase of about 5 to 6 RWHP from filling up with VP100. Race fuels like VP113 and VP116 typically provide more power than that, but each engine is different; in some cases, the gains are quite a bit more than 6 HP while other engines see less. We even have some customers who have seen no difference at all between pump gas and our fuels. It all depends on how the engine is tuned.

If you’re wondering whether or not your vehicle will benefit from running a high octane race fuel, call us at 866-827-3400 for help in choosing the right VP product for your application (or for any other questions about our fuel, oil or additives).

Does Race Gas Make A Difference?

While it’s possible to get away with not using race gas in every racing scenario, there are definitely gains to be had using it. The problem is, most racers don’t really know how much of a difference it makes. Most just assume, “I have to win my class, so I need race gas.” But they don’t really understand the reason why.

The benefits of race gas are dependent on how the engine is tuned. If the engine has been tuned for pump gas and you give it race gas, you won’t see much of a difference at all. Pump gas and race gas are similar but vary in their chemical composition from batch to batch. The more expensive fuels will maintain a more consistent composition from batch to batch.

But even if you use a high-octane fuel that has consistent chemical composition from batch to batch (such as Sunoco 260 GT) on an engine tuned for pump gas, you still might not see a big difference in power on the dyno or on track because the engine isn’t set up to take advantage of the extra octane.

What Is The Difference Between Racing Fuel And Regular Fuel?

The main difference between racing fuel and regular fuel is that racing fuel contains more octane. Octane is a hydrocarbon like alcohol and gasoline. Octane enhances combustion quality, which means that the engine can be tuned to run with higher compression ratios and make more power.

The reason most cars don’t use race fuel is because of the cost and because it’s not necessary. Regular pump gas has plenty of octane for the vast majority of streetcars. You would also have to replace all of the engine parts in your car to take advantage of race fuel, which would be very expensive.

More details:

A racing fuel’s octane rating is not like an engine’s compression ratio. A fuel’s octane number does not describe the energy content of that fuel. They are simply a measurement of a fuel’s resistance to detonation.

Octane ratings are assigned by a motor to motor testing procedure that is done in a standard single-cylinder engine under controlled conditions. The fuels are run against each other in the same engine. The ignition timing is advanced until the lower octane fuel detonates and then set back until it no longer detonates. Then the test is repeated with the higher octane fuel. The difference between the two timings is considered to be the difference in octane numbers for those fuels and this difference becomes the actual octane number of the higher octane fuel.

The only thing that changing octane does is move the threshold at which your engine will detonate. It will do nothing to increase horsepower or torque or any other performance-related parameters unless your engine was already detonating on pump gas and now it’s not.

Does Race Fuel Clean Your Engine?

The short answer is no.

First of all, high octane fuel doesn’t burn hotter, doesn’t create more power by itself, doesn’t clean up your engine and won’t increase fuel economy. For a simple explanation of why this is, let’s look at some common misconceptions.

High octane fuel burns hotter.

While high octane fuel does have a higher autoignition temperature (the temperature where the fuel will spontaneously combust without a spark), it also has a lower flame speed. So what does that mean? For fuel to burn, it has to reach its autoignition temperature and then sustain that heat long enough to complete the combustion process. If a slower flame speed means the combustion process takes longer (in other words, the time between when the spark plug fires and all the fuel is burned), how can we expect more power from this slower burning process?

High octane fuel creates more power.

This can be confusing because high octane fuels are generally sold at premium prices and associated with race cars and other high-performance vehicles but high octane gas does not equal more horsepower or more energy in every situation. A car’s ECU (engine control unit) is programmed with an ignition timing map that determines when the spark plugs will fire.

Do You Need A Tune For Race Gas?

We’ll start by answering this question with a question. Do you need a tune for race gas? We know that’s not what you wanted to hear, but it’s the best answer we can give. It all depends on your application and the type of race gas you use.

The purpose of race gas is to increase the octane rating so it can withstand higher boost pressures, advanced ignition timing, and/or increased cylinder pressures without suffering from detonation. The higher octane rating of race gas allows you to make more power because it can be used to run more timing advance, which delivers more power at the expense of efficiency and longevity.

But there are different types of race gas, each with its own chemical composition, octane rating, and specific energy density. Some fuel suppliers may advertise their fuels as “high-octane” or “race fuel,” but there’s more to it than just octane rating. Octane ratings are simply a measurement of how resistant a fuel is to detonation. This gives you an idea of how much compression and/or timing advance your engine can tolerate before it starts pinging (detonating), but it doesn’t tell you anything about its specific energy content, which is what ultimately determines how much power it can support.

Does 100 Octane Increase Horsepower?

According to USAToday, More energy equals the ability to do more work, and that means a properly engineered vehicle will go farther or faster on the same amount of gasoline. For example, the new Dodge Challenger SRT Demon produces 840 horsepower using super-premium 100 octane fuel, but “just” 808 horsepower with 91 octane.