Can I run 100 octane race fuel in my daily driver?

Question

Sometimes I'm at a race track for "driving schools". I'm tempted to try the higher octane in my car that ordinarily takes 91 octane.

Answer 1

Sure you can, but you will just be wasting your money. Both the performance and the gas mileage will be the same.

Answer 2

Although higher octane fuels usually do provide a benefit, whether it would for you would depend on a few things: First what kind of car/engine are you talking about? What kind of driving are you doing, you mentioned driver training is that correct?

What results are you looking to realize from using a higher octane? You say your vehicle uses 91, is that recommended from the factory? Usually the higher octane fuels are recommended for the higher performance type motors. In the days of the big blocks (1960's) you had to use "high test" because you would blow up your motor using regular. Today's engines are made more fuel efficient so the higher octane fuels are no longer needed, even for some of the so called higher performace engines.

Locally you can't get much higher than 91-93 octane from the pump any way, but if you truly mean high octane racing fuel, then the sky is the limit, but these are not ready available.

To answer your question yes, you can use a higher octane racing fuel in your daily driver, but the cost would be out of this world, given the driving a student driver does, which you did not mention the kind of driving you do there. So I am assuming that it is the typical slow careful driving that new drivers do.

Stick with the 91 octane if it is recommended from the factory, but if not I would not use it for a driving training vehicle due to the cost and the type of driving they do. I am most curious as to what kind of car it is. Good luck hope this helps some.

Answer 3

You can, but there are no real benefits, other than the gasoline manufacturers making more money off of you. When you use a fuel with a higher octane rating than your vehicle requires, you can send this unburned fuel into the emissions system. It can also collect in the catalytic converter. When you over stress any system, it can malfunction or not do what it was designed to do properly. There is no advantage whatsoever in using premium gasoline in a car that doesn’t specifically require it.

The higher octane fuel is more calorific (has a higher energy content) and if it is all burned then it could increase operating temperatures and place extra load on the engine in that way. So, your engine would most likely run hotter and you may cause damage to the emission systems

Answer 4

100 Octane Fuel

Answer 5

You can but why? The higher the octane simply means the fuel burns slower and costs more. If the motor exhibits a "pinging" sound while using regular then move to a mid-grade fuel and or have the motor checked by a competent mechanic. If you have the owners manual it will state the minimum octane fuel needed. Fuel pumps are required by law to display the octane rating of the fuel to be delivered.

Answer 6

Look at all the answers. Some are good points, others are just so-so. The real reason not to run 100 octane racing fuel is because it has lead in it and will plug up your catalytic converter. NASCAR is currently testing unleaded fuel and will be changed over in the next year or two. So, unless you plan to modify your car for racing only, don't use race gas.

Answer 7

HAHA ive broken all the rules of what the people up above have stated....

I ran leaded racing gas rated at 127 i think with about a 1:5 ratio of 93 octane... 5 parts 93 to 1 part 127 and you can tell a Huge difference in performance... i would recommend unleaded of course because of lead deposits... but doing this once was awesome for me lol... i use 100+ jet fuel or pump racing now....

btw i have a built 93 civic dx running a 1.6 turbo :) and you said it was a honda and laughed HAH! i will be running high boost soon around 25 to 30 but ive got to do some mods first... i love it though... LOVE it.

obviously you dont put racing gas in the hopes of better fuel economy like someone said hahahaha but as far as performance he is totally wrong, it makes a large difference for the price you pay... plus highly modified engines run mostly on gas higher than crappy 87 or 89..... it will knock without it... and no driver likes detonation...

Answer 8

It wont hurt the motor,bump the timing up a bit to compensate for the higher octane gas,that will give you a few more horsepower,I had a 81 Toyota p/u that i ran the blue gas in and it and it flew,I worked at a performance shop and always got race fuel,even ran some 111nos and it didn't hurt the motor

Answer 9

You won't burn holes in your pistons, nor is there no advantage at all.

You could run it, but chances are good that your car will not like it. It will knock and ping and make all sorts of noises and probably burn some valves. Ask the people at the racing school for a better explanation, but higher octane gasoline is meant for engines with high compression ratios...typically high performance engines. The explanation of "why?" can get pretty scientific. If you want the full rundown, Google it, but in short, don't bother with the higher octane.

EDIT: Gasoline with a 100 Octane rating (or any for that matter) no longer contains lead. Less than 1% of gasoline sold in the US contains it, and being caught with it in a street car is a $10,000 fine.

Another EDIT: In the absolute worst case, if the fuel is too low octane, it may spontaneously ignite before the spark plug fires due to thermal rises from the heat of compression or from hot spots in the cylinder itself. This kind of ignition is called pre-ignition (as opposed to knocking) and is a pathological case which will just turn an engine to scrap. Diesel fuel is low enough octane that mixing it with gasoline can cause pre-ignition!

What usually happens, and what we usually call knocking or pinging is that the fuel/air mixture does not ignite before the spark plug fires but does ignite spontaneously after that. The sparkplug fires and this causes an immediate, rapid, rise in combustion chamber pressure. This causes fuel on the other side of the flame-front to ignite before the flame-front reaches it. In turn, this causes combustion chamber pressure to rise even more rapidly. The result is an explosion inside the combustion chamber as opposed to the desired rapid burning.

A high octane rating ensures that it takes a REALLY hot ignition source to ignite the fuel (such as a spark plug or the flame-front itself) and not just the rise in pressure & temperature that's a result of normal combustion. Note that the thermal rises in the cylinder are in direct proportion to the compression ratio of the engine (more below). The higher the compression ratio, the higher the octane of the fuel that's needed.

Again, if the mixture in a gasoline engine ignites before the spark plug fires, we call that "pre-ignition." Pre-ignition can damage an engine before you finish reading this sentence. To reiterate, what we're really concerned with is called "knock" and that's the spontaneous ignition of the fuel-air mixure ahead of the flame-front as a result of the rise in cylinder pressure caused by the onset of ignition (caused by the firing of the spark plug).

Answer 10

properly no remember if it extremely is actual racing gas and not in basic terms the one hundred Octane accessible on the pump then particular you're able to have a concern. That gas is designed to burn warmer than ordinary and could doubtlessly dissipate his pistons/valves/and soften spark plugs. yet while it extremely is in basic terms one hundred octane pump gas extra suitable than probably it is going to easily run like a "bat out of hell" for a whilst!

Answer 11

Careful, if its too high in octane you can burn holes in the pistons or have valve problems.