Well I've been brewing some numbers that make interesting viewing in relation to the recent threads about DIY octane boosters - in light of the fact that I cannot get Optimax fuel on this island.
I'll post the calculations here later, but the summary is that you can get F1 rocket fuel ratings for RON and (R+M)/2 by adding 22% Toluene to regular '95RON' UK unleaded fuel. How ironic and easy to remember for our 2.2L engines that we need 2.2 gallons of Toluene in 10 gallons total fuel for the witches brew
One website I found claims that the rocket fuel of turbocharged F1 cars of old was 84% Toluene and 16% n-heptane. The n-heptane has zero octane content and works as an effective filler to keep maximum RON below the legal limit of 102.
The 'murricans have a much better system for calculating the efficiency of fuel. We Brits only use RON (Research Octane Number) whilst stateside the use of MON (Motor Octane Number) is used to derive a more useful rating from (RON+MON)/2.
It took a while to find MON values for UK fuel, but Millers website turned up the goods. It turns out that UK '95RON' fuel is pretty much identical to US '91' fuel because the real efficiency is dragged down by similar MON ratings.
Adding 12% Toluene to UK '95RON' fuel gives it a RON just over 98 and provides a superior (R+M)/2 value than Shell Optimax.
My car is running like **** at full throttle on pump fuel over here, so I am definitely going to try this... All I need is a small supply of Toluene to get me started.
Paul
I'll post the calculations here later, but the summary is that you can get F1 rocket fuel ratings for RON and (R+M)/2 by adding 22% Toluene to regular '95RON' UK unleaded fuel. How ironic and easy to remember for our 2.2L engines that we need 2.2 gallons of Toluene in 10 gallons total fuel for the witches brew
One website I found claims that the rocket fuel of turbocharged F1 cars of old was 84% Toluene and 16% n-heptane. The n-heptane has zero octane content and works as an effective filler to keep maximum RON below the legal limit of 102.
The 'murricans have a much better system for calculating the efficiency of fuel. We Brits only use RON (Research Octane Number) whilst stateside the use of MON (Motor Octane Number) is used to derive a more useful rating from (RON+MON)/2.
It took a while to find MON values for UK fuel, but Millers website turned up the goods. It turns out that UK '95RON' fuel is pretty much identical to US '91' fuel because the real efficiency is dragged down by similar MON ratings.
Adding 12% Toluene to UK '95RON' fuel gives it a RON just over 98 and provides a superior (R+M)/2 value than Shell Optimax.
My car is running like **** at full throttle on pump fuel over here, so I am definitely going to try this... All I need is a small supply of Toluene to get me started.
Paul
i don't mean jetfuel 
......try AVGAS 100LL,the old plane use it too. in norway we have to pay roadTAX 
to use gas for plane in the cars 
Comment