Will VP racing fuel Motorsport 109 pass SCCA tech?

[Jorma]

I must admit the GCR section on permitted fuel might as well be Greek as I don't understand a word, has anybody had VP Motorsport 109 tested in tech?
Mike M.

[Dave Gomberg]

VP has never provided Dielectric Constant (DC) information for their products (unlike Sunoco). I cannot tell with certainty if the Motorsport 109 will pass the DC test, but it is likely to be at least very much on the edge because it contains 9.32% oxygenates. Street fuels often have up to 10% ethanol (in some places up to 15% which will fail) and those can get close to a DC failure, depending on what else is in the fuel. Even though the oxygenates in the Motorsport 109 are probably not ethanol, that percentage is likely to put it on the edge or over the failure point. The only way to be sure, is to have some tested - before you put it in the car.

And, again, because VP doesn't disclose what is in their fuels (except very broadly), there is no way to know if it would pass the laboratory test if someone were to protest the use of this fuel. Only actual testing would tell that.

Dave

P.S. Information found at https://vpracingfuels.com/master-fuel-table/

[TDI PILOT]

It wont pass tech at the Runoffs, that's for certain. In the last years you can only use fuel sold by the distributor at that event (Sunoco fuels that are dyed for that race). I wanted to try some VP products too, but if you do any kind AFR tuning its not worth the hassle if the fuel cant be used at the Runoffs IMO.

[Bob L.]

Wasn't VP "official "track gas" at Road Atlanta ... ? other places...? hummm...

Bob L.

[John Nesbitt]

Wasn't VP "official "track gas" at Road Atlanta ... ? other places...? hummm...

Bob L.

Not sure how current that is. In any case, it does not necessarily indicate compliance.

The Runoffs are the only event where there is for-sure, 100% fuel testing (DC). It is very much a sometime thing at other events, except perhaps around Lake Erie (because Dave Badger).

The full lab test is a very unusual occurrence because of the cost. I suspect that you could count the total number of lab tests on your fingers, maybe even the fingers of one hand. In my stewarding career, I have been around two, and I think that makes me an outlier.

That said, since the advent of the lab test (Dave Gomberg was a major player in that), I have not felt ill while walking the grid or sitting behind another car for a couple laps under FCY.

[Wren]

I haven’t messed with MS-109 in a while, but back in 2010 it would not pass the dielectric constant testing. You could get an acceptable DC by mixing with other fuels. I also thought that after 2010 they closed the loophole that allowed MS-109.
I think they had banned acyclic ethers in 2010 and MS-109 used MTBE which was cyclic and they fixed that starting in 2011.


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[Rick Kirchner]

MTBE is nasty stuff. ARCO developed it out here in Cali as an oxygenate so that Cali wouldn't have to import ethanol from those damn midwest farmers. California has a number of slick ways they try to keep products from other states out and from competing with big interests here - including just about everything dairy. ARCO is also one of the few corporations headquartered and incorporated here, so when CARB made it mandatory you could just see the cash flowing about all the consultants and board members.

Unfortunately, it's both poisonous and extremely water soluble. Due to leaking tanks it hits the groundwater and is readily absorbed, while the gasoline remains somewhat separate. two-stroke boat motors dumped tons it, a few grams at a time, into virtually every waterway. The gas and oil evaporate off, the MTBE is absorbed. It has destroyed the ground water in many communities out here.

Once that was realized they banned it, but unfortunately there's no real way to mitigate the damage in a state short of water.