VP Racing service stations

[Richard S.]

Local paper says we will be getting a VP Racing station in a few months. Article indicates VP Racing offers traditional retail gasoline but also offers products catering to antique and sports car owners looking for a different grade of fuel. My question is for members who already have one of these stations in their area, can you pull up to the pump and get 110 octane leaded fuel or do they just sell cans of octane booster?

[Michael W.]

Re: VP Racing service stations

I'd be surprised if you could legally pump any leaded gas directly into the tank of a car. Looking at their web site, they list one 'street legal' product, a 100AKI unleaded fuel contaniing 10-30% ethanol according to the MSDS sheet.

They also list two fuels intended for 'vintage' cars. One is leaded and has a rating of 98AKI, the other unleaded at 96AKI. Each is available in cans or barrels. Neither is street legal.

No street driven Corvette needs 'lead' in the fuel, just adequate octane to quell detonation.

[Duke W.]

Re: VP Racing service stations

It's illegal under federal law to pump leaded fuel into any road car, so likely what they will pump into the tank at the station is unleaded. If they do offer leaded fuel they would only sell it to you if pumped into a gas can for "off-road use".

A recent visitor to SoCal from Victoria BC was having issues with his freshly restored L-71 including detonation and percolation. He bought some racgas that cost about eight bucks a gallon, and when that was consumed he bought a couple of five gallon cans of 100LL avgas, which has a PON/AKI rating of 104-105. That definitely quelled the detonation and percolation, but with a bit more tuning it should run on pump gas. Up in Victoria the PON/AKI rating is 94, and it probably has ethanol, but he was not sure.

PON/AKI = (RON + MON)/2. The "Aviation Method" used for avgas yields numbers essentially the same as MON.

Duke

[Michael W.]

Re: VP Racing service stations

Up in Victoria the PON/AKI rating is 94, and it probably has ethanol, but he was not sure.

The only gas stations I know of in Canada that commonly sell 94AKI are the Petro Canada brand. Their fuels contain up to 10% ethanol

http://retail.petro-canada.ca/en/independent/2056.aspx#Does%20Ultra%2094%20contain%20ethanol?%20Does%20Petro-Canada%20still%20offer%20an%20ethanol-free%20gasoline?