Evolution of F1 fuels

[DeepFriar]

Here is a little tidbit of an article on how F1 fuels have changed over the years. The biggest takeaway is that the composition rules have been relaxed somewhat in the past few years. Not that the "rocket fuel" of the 80's is making a comeback but a gradual loosening from the "much like highway fuel" of the recent past. Race gas ain't mogas and I seriously doubt that lubricants are straight out of the commercial can either.

https://www.highpowermedia.com/F1-Monitor/3745/brewers-fare-the-formula-one-way

 

[Brybo86]

Instead of major cities requiring that fuel contain 10% ethanol they should change it to 10% of biomass derived components.

Let the games begin.

 

[Shannow]

I've got an old Turbo Australia magazine that I bought during the turbo era, and it had some of the tricks that they were getting up to with their fuels.

 

[DeepFriar]

The little article mentions just enough to be enticing to the layman. The old use of larger quantities of toluene for example. And the "building up" of hydrocarbons or massaging the density of the fuels, etc. etc. Makes you want to be the fly on the wall at the engineering meetings.

 

[Garak]

Out of interest's sake, here is Fernando Alonso back in his Ferrari days using V-Power in the car. I believe this has been posted here before, so credit to the original poster.

 

[DeepFriar]

Thanks Garak but I can't make the link work (it shows the YouTube start link image but goes to a new tab, dead link on pushing it) but will do a search for the video.

 

[Garak]

That's strange. It's still working for me, right in the post. Anyway, to give you a hand without posting the direct link, which is a no-no here, it's on the Shell channel, and it's dated 2011-07-29. Honestly, if I had to guess who posted it before, you would have been one of my first three guesses.

The title is "Track to Road: Shell V-Power race fuel vs. Shell V-Power road fuel" for your search.

 

[DeepFriar]

I am having more difficulties with various things when on the pad rather than on the PC so the problem is very likely on my end. I'll find that vid and thanks again.

 

[Garak]

It's worth a watch. It's a bit of fluff, but it makes its point. I use SF fuel and McLaren lube in the G37. What does that get me?

 

[dailydriver]

Originally Posted By: Garak
It's worth a watch. It's a bit of fluff, but it makes its point. I use SF fuel and McLaren lube in the G37. What does that get me?

A Scuderia Dennis Nissan??

 

[punisher]

During the real turbo heyday of 1200+hp BMW 4 cylinder engines, the fuel was sometimes referred to as witches brew (about $60/gallon). Very dangerous stuff from a health point of view. Toluene, benzene, trimethylbutane, and TEL were poisonous, and some components were carcinogenic. Bound to be tradeoffs in order to run 50psi+ boost a whole race without leaving engine parts on the track. Still my favorite era of F1.....technological insanity.

 

[Garak]

Originally Posted By: dailydriver
A Scuderia Dennis Nissan??

I should get some Total to even things out.

Well, at least Mobil is the service fill in Canada, so it's not completely out to lunch. The RP gear lube is an oddball, though.

punisher et al: You may wish to check out the Autosport site, provided you didn't waste to many free page views. They have a bit of a history on Ferrari's technical veto.

 

[billt460]

Originally Posted By: Garak
I should get some Total to even things out.


That reminds me. What ever happened to "Elf"? It was plastered on every race car known to man up until about 10 years ago. Same with "Rothmanns". I thought for a while it was against the law to put a motorcycle on a track without their decals all over it. These companies spend millions on advertising.... Then, out of the blue, nothing.

 

[Garak]

Elf is part of Total now. I believe it's still a brand therein, such as Quaker State and Pennzoil are still sold, even though part of Shell. Rothman's is a cigarette variety. I think it was big in Europe, and still is sold here. I suspect it may not have gotten much traction in the States. And, you know what happened to tobacco advertising in racing. NASCAR is the exception. F1 is more representative of the rule, internationally.

Up here, there was darn near a war back around the early 2000s as the tobacco advertising laws here tightened up ridiculously, jeopardizing the Montreal GP, and there were murmurs and threats for years before even. SF's current relationship with Philip Morris International wouldn't hold up if PMI were a Canadian tobacco company, despite the fact they don't even actually get any advertising. They can't even sponsor things anonymously any longer.

 

[billt460]

I remember during the Schumacher era, Marlboro couldn't put their name on his car. So instead they put the bar code. More rule insanity.

 

[Whitewolf]

Originally Posted By: punisher
During the real turbo heyday of 1200+hp BMW 4 cylinder engines, the fuel was sometimes referred to as witches brew (about $60/gallon). Very dangerous stuff from a health point of view. Toluene, benzene, trimethylbutane, and TEL were poisonous, and some components were carcinogenic. Bound to be tradeoffs in order to run 50psi+ boost a whole race without leaving engine parts on the track. Still my favorite era of F1.....technological insanity.


I was once carrying out some post race checks on Nigel Mansell's Williams and we had the fuel tank open. When I went to do something inside the tank Nigel, slightly alarmed, said to me, referring to the fuel, "don't put your hands in it".

 

[Garak]

Yep, that was going on for a while, along with initials being used here and there, then nothing. It's not so much rule insanity as laws in various jurisdictions. Various EU companies and Canada wiped out tobacco advertising and sponsorship. And, considering F1 is primarily a European thing, the liveries changed. Few jurisdictions still would allow tobacco advertising like that. I think the U.S. and China are two of the few. Heck, look what happens with liquor liveries when F1 visits various Middle Eastern countries.

Heck, they had a stink here with vintage Lotus liveries. Video games haven't bothered with the tobacco based liveries on vintage cars simply to avoid the pitfalls in various jurisdictions.

 

[DeepFriar]

Trimethylbutane... What a great word. Wouldn't sound out of place as the answer to the question, "what fuel are we using for the Mars run?"

 

[Garak]

There is a claim that Shell's fuel tweaks for Ferrari have resulted in a 0.5 second per lap gain.

Originally Posted By: Whitewolf
When I went to do something inside the tank Nigel, slightly alarmed, said to me, referring to the fuel, "don't put your hands in it".

I don't know how I missed that post! That would have been intriguing.