Motorsports are a great source of entertainment to many. They also serve as an important test bed. Competing carmakers find ways to optimize power, durability, and efficiency under the extremes of competition and then transfer the findings to their street cars. Much the same applies to the makers of various chassis components, safety equipment, coats and finishes, body panels, fasteners, etc. Every part simultaneously must be as resilient as possible, as light as possible, and as easily repaired or changed out as possible.
The fuels used also need to combine with the engines to provide a perfect balance of power and efficiency. For the combined sake of safety and fairness, each major racing series sets strict specifications on the fuel competitors can use, many also using one supplier.
VP Racing Fuels, having won a contract in October with Pirelli World Challenge (PWC) that extends to 2019, supplied its opening round Mar. 5-8 at Circuit of the Americas in Austin, Tex. VP has fueled competitive series since 1975 and in addition to PWC currently supplies dozens of other series including AMA Supercross, World of Outlaws Sprint Cars, and NHRA Championship Drag Racing.
Each of these series-encompassing everything from motocross bikes to funny cars-has its own fuel requirements and demands. With the fuels standardized, in-competition power and efficiency comes down to engine design-build and the driver, just as any series would want. But this doesn't diminish competition's value to the fuel maker. The promotional boost from supplying a series is vast. It goes beyond trackside signage and promotions through television and the internet.
To the street...
PWC teams races production-based cars from makes as diverse as McLaren and Chevrolet, Lamborghini and Kia, running them all on the same 101-octane, 10%-ethanol gasoline supplied by VP from Elmendorf, Tex. Fans of these cars watch them in person or remotely and eventually note what's powering them.
"With production-based cars running VP's street performance fuels, the Pirelli World Challenge Championship Series provides a great platform for promoting our retail VP-branded gas stations and convenience stores, as well as our Madditives line of performance chemicals," said Bruce Hendel, director-consumer product sales. The company is now branding gas stations and convenience stores across the US.
Residents of Texas might have already noticed their local Stripes convenience store rebranded at the pump and roadside as Sunoco, with The Official Fuel of NASCAR tagline displayed prominently. Energy Transfer Partners LP, owner of Sunoco Inc., last year bought Susser Holdings Corp., Stripes' owner, for $1.8-billion, expanding the Sunoco brand into 630 convenience stores in Texas and surrounding states. NASCAR is the most popular form of motorsport in the US, a fact actively being leveraged in the retail expansion of its fuel supplier.
...and the future
While NASCAR runs 98-octane, 15% ethanol gasoline, Sunoco is also the official fuel supplier to IndyCar, a series that uses 100% fuel-grade ethanol to power the Honda and Chevy-built engines its competitors race. Formula 1 uses gasoline to drive its machines, but has also introduced a variety of mandatory hybrid technology. At the 24 Hours of Le Mans, meanwhile, the fuel varieties are stretched even further by cars like the Audi R-18 e-tron quattro, running enough diesel through a turbocharged V6 engine to generate 532 hp, but getting most of its incremental speed from two 74 kw (100 hp) electric motors supplying the front wheels with power harvested by a 500 kilojoule flywheel system.
Audi didn't build this car as a theoretical experiment, however, or to meet a series mandate. It built the R-18 to win the most prestigious endurance race held, a feat requiring the aforementioned combination of power, durability, and efficiency, and a normally aspirated gasoline powertrain wasn't going to get the job done.
Carmakers advance the technology. Fuel makers supply the fuel. And we win.