VP fuel

[cromer611]

I advice that everyone who ran VP this weekend should check their Fuel Pump/ Fuel Filter right away.
fuel pump casualties
-Maranian
-Dragos
-Burr

found contaminants in Rick Grosses filter too.

just a heads up

[cromer611]

possible change in barrel manufactures?
maybe the company that makes the barrels put a coating on this inside of the barrels, and gas is dissolving it?

did some research and VP refines the gas in company. dunno if they use their own barrels or though a different company.
just a thought

[rybo]

The race fuel is very hard on the parts in the fuel pump. After every day of using it you should drain your tank, fill with a small quantity of pump gas and run the engine for a few minutes.

u4, when allowed to sit forms a jelly that hardens. We found some of this in my throttle bodies at the last checkup.

If you're using U4E be sure to drain your tank each day.

Scott

[dragos13]

The race fuel is very hard on the parts in the fuel pump. After every day of using it you should drain your tank, fill with a small quantity of pump gas and run the engine for a few minutes.

u4, when allowed to sit forms a jelly that hardens. We found some of this in my throttle bodies at the last checkup.

If you're using U4E be sure to drain your tank each day.

Scott

Scott, this is great advice however we had an actual bad batch of fuel (or possibly jugs). There were large white chunks floating in the VP gas containers. Your advice is good however this is a major issue as it doesn't seem to be isolated to just one rider. Not to mention, my second fuel pump failed this weekend and it had never seen VP fuel prior to Sunday morning. Died by AmO

Faster Motosports, have we contacted VP to find a resolution to this?

[Jon]

My advice is for you guys to strain the fuel. I used a funnel with a fine screen and it would actually clog the screen warranting me to clean it after every pour. Apparently VP had a bit of a quality control problem. Bart and Brian are aware of it and are hoping it was just a bad batch. But like I said, I would certainly strain it before using. My screened funnel became quite the hit between those who are aware those who aren't will probably becoming more so in the coming weeks.

[Throttleroller277]

I know that Brian is looking into the situation.

I too had the bad cans. Brian is pretty sure that it was only the 5 gallon cans, and not in the large drums.

[Throttleroller277]

Thanks for the funnel use Jon!!!!!! It is/was greatly appreciated!! I will be buy a screened funnel before the next Miller round Fo Sho!! 8)

[Wahooman]

Yep...I know Alan also had his fuel pump go out this weekend too. :shock:

[DingleBerns]

I as well used a screen but mine is integrated into the hose connected to my vp jug, no funnel needed.

Didn't have an issue...

Dingle

[vroomnut]

Well, I do not want to jump to any conclusions as I have not had the chance to investigate further, but that would explain the problem that I was having with my bike as well. I did not have any problems during practice as I ran pump fuel. I was able to make it through HWT SS running VP, but by Open SS the bike lost power and was surging in the higher RPM's where I could not ride it. Wasn't sure if it was a fuel pump problem or an ignition/quick shifter problem at that point. Figured I would give it one more try for HWT Endurance. I even cut the VP 50/50 with pump fuel. I made it through the warm up lap okay, even had a pretty good start as I settled in behind Applehans in 2nd on the first lap. Yet by turn 7 or 8 it started losing power and I had to eventually pull off after another lap. %$(&^&)^$!!!!!! :evil:

Please keep us posted as to whether or not there is any recourse with VP over the bad cans of fuel.

Alan
MRA #313

[vroomnut]

Yep! Just looked at my VP from this weekend further. White chunks/strands are present.

[Ray-Ray]

Yep! Just looked at my VP from this weekend further. White chunks/strands are present.

Yep! Mine is the same! What a mess!!

[Wahooman]

Hmmmm....this is pretty intersting. I myself do not run race fuel (dont make the big bucks like everyone else...lol)
I am curious what happens with this. I know for my team mate as well as others I am sure---this causes broken parts, labor charges possibly....etc...
Not to mention the fact of loss races for some, lost contigency $, and loss of points...the list could go on.
Again I dont' have a say in this since I don't even run the stuff unless I steal some from Alan :twisted:
Speaking from the automotive industry I can tell you exactly what has happened numerous times and what the distributor and/or manufact. does when something like this happens-----that being said I will await to see what comes of this.
For those affected---that just plain sucks to put it bluntly. I see where Dingle and Jon strain their fuel, yes good idea...but IMO you shouldn't have to do that when you are paying the price for the fuel. I don't strain my pump gas into my vehicle if I choose to put premium in????

Will be interesting to see what Faster/VP does as I am sure they are not the only distributor affected and how many more cans are like this that were sold or ready to be sold.................

[Clarkie]

That's why I run R-Tech :wink:

Do a search on the WERA board about VP fuel problems and you see what others found

[thedude44]

+1 for R-tech.

[cromer611]

so I count 7 people already that found crap in their fuel. I wonder what VP will do about this.
I would want a new fuel filter/ fuel pump for free from VP personally.

even if the fuel filter is clogged, the pump would burn out. so replacing just a filter may not insure that your pump wont fail later. reminder for those who had bad fuel.

[vroomnut]

I checked out the WERA forum as Clarkie suggested and we are definitely not the only organization that is having trouble with VP fuels. Hopefully, the gents at Faster can step in to responsibily mitigate the situation. At the very least, I think VP needs to step up and offer some sort of solution to this problem before the Pikes Peak round. I am not holding my breath though....

[cromer611]

well, if yall are gonna shy away from vp fuel for PPIR, I know that Vickery Motorsports (Iliff&Parker) sells 108 and 114 octane race fuel. not sure on price though but I have been running it all year with no prob.
will update with pricing soon.

[Clarkie]

errrr........ a high octane fuel (non-oxygenated) isnt going to help, and will actually make less power than pump gas due to the burn speed of the fuel

[cromer611]

shit, this whole time I thought Rick Grosse was just tellin me that to slow me down : P

[benfoxmra95]

I run SWPG 91

It's cheap. 4.05 a gallon.

No contaminent issues.

Don't have to drain your tank every day.

makes awesome power!


Safeway Pump Gas 91 that is. And i get a .10 cent discount with my safeway card... :shock:

Plus whatever is leftover from the weekend I dump in my truck. :P

[chris nami]

+1 on the swpf 91! 8) it's what the cool kids use. -JYD

[froth]

Ben, I thought you had a diesel!

[Jon]

Well unless he's noticed we'd better not tell him :lol:

[benfoxmra95]

while were on the topic of fuels and how ridiculously expensive they are and how it's ludicrous to spend $100+ a weekend on just race fuel and how much a pain in th a$$ it is to drain and keep maintenance on.


How would everyone like the club go to a spec fuel, like 91 octane pump gas?

We could leave ROR GTO/open superbike and 2 stroke motorcycles open to race fuel, but the rest of the races would be limited.

Think about it, there's other clubs that do this.

I personally have saved a sh*t ton of money this year by running just pump fuel.

There's absolutely no argument that you have to have it for a milled head on a motorcycle engine either. I have dyno tuned literally over 100+ plus cars with superchargers or turbo chargers on them running on pump fuel. And a car engine has a way less efficient combustion chamber than a bike, read: they build a lot of heat in the combustion process which causes proneness to detonation..

If your milling your heads you can tune the bike for pump fuel just as easy as your tuning it for $12+ a gallon race fuel.


Anyway, it would be easy to police, trust me, all I would have to do is take sniff of the fuel in your tank and it's unmistakable if it's pump or race. and if someone wanted to get nasty, all we'd do is get out the specific gravity kit and test it right there.


The more I think about this the more I think I'm going to go make a rule change submittal for next year so we can kick it around.


Look kids racing isn't getting any cheaper, and If i can save $75 at the track, I'm going to. that's a tank of fuel in my truck.

We all should be thinking about this.

Oh yeah not to mention the fact that the availability of race fuels and getting them into this state is no easy proposistion, and I would venture a guess that we may not even have access to it in the future judging by the economy and the way things are going.