Posts
7327
Joined
7/17/2007
Location
TX
US
Edited Date/Time
1/27/2012 12:42pm
I was at my favorite track today and talked to the track owner (who I've known for 35 years), and he's good friends with one of the big team managers, and the team manager told him that Suzuki ran some gas that is perfectly legal and available, and every team has tested it, but it's known to be unstable at high temperatures. I know the track owner and this team manager are good friends because the team manager comes out to his track every year on the day after the Houston SX, so I don't doubt he'd talk about this. This team manager said he thought it was a crazy risk to run the stuff on a 100 degree day, and his team sure as hell wasn't going to do it, despite the fact that it adds about 1/2 HP. Apparently, Suzuki was real worried about it but they had enough gas left after moto 1 for two more laps and rolled the dice with this special gas for moto 2.
Among all the jabber about this situation, I haven't heard anyone mention that Suzuki may have been running gas that was known to be risky at high temps, but that was apparently a part of the mystery.
For what it's worth...
Among all the jabber about this situation, I haven't heard anyone mention that Suzuki may have been running gas that was known to be risky at high temps, but that was apparently a part of the mystery.
For what it's worth...
I know the fuel and who does it, it's designed specifically for that application and temperatures
The Shop
Just sayin'
I just thought it was an interesting conversation. As I said originally, "For what it's worth..."
Come on over manana a few of us getting there early.
Pit Row
I head the R&D team at Renegade Fuels and deal with all of the Pro teams directly, trust me the fuel did NOT boil as people think... IF the fuel did boil they would have called me chewing my ass over the fuel boiling! Did'nt happen when I spoke with team management and they explained to me the issue and how they are making changes going fwd for the rest of the year. They still plan on running the same fuel but now with larger tanks... If the fuel boiled in TX why would they use the same fuel and then go to a larger tank for the rest of the season???
As for the mgr who knows everything...
This team manager said he thought it was a crazy risk to run the stuff on a 100 degree day, and his team sure as hell wasn't going to do it, despite the fact that it adds about 1/2 HP. All the other Renegade fueled teams ran our SX4+ and I have yet to get a SINGLE call saying anything about boiling from them! Do you not find this strange???
But whatever. If Suzuki rolled the dice knowing there was a risk there, they probably wish they hadn't.
They all used the same fuel, no one boiled
But what do I know.
True rumor.
Here is one for you to think about!
Would you be suprised if someone on a major team forgot to check the header bolts on a bike and the head pipe came loose in a moto making this insane sound for everyone to hear at a national... Then the team put out a PR saying the head pipe broke to save there own ass??? Must be a really bad pipe company huh
So as the Suzuki fuel supplier R&D head, you're saying that Suzuki is lying when they said the fuel evaporated due to high temps? Interesting....and a predictable response considering that stability in high temps is one of the selling points for that fuel.
First, it's possible that Suzuki wasn't running SX4+. Second, if a significant quantity of fuel had evaporated and escaped in the vent line, Suzuki would have had evidence of that in residual fuel in the vent hose and probably in the triple clamp stem - possible strong gas odor, condensed gasoline, and lots of dirt in the area that would have been attracted to the liquid and vapors. Third, Suzuki saying their fuel boiled isn't helping them save face - they still should have known from testing that it would be a possibility. Fourth, it's not all that unusual for people to just run out of gas on sand tracks because the rider uses so much more throttle due to the power robbing property of deep sand, but although there was sand on the Freestone track in some areas, most of the track was more clay than sand, so the simple explanation that the tank was too small is questionable. They didn't run out at Hangtown or in the first (cooler) moto at Freestone, only when temps hit 100+.
Of course, it's entirely possible that Suzuki richened the fuel mixture to prevent detonation in the hot temps; and it's entirely possible that they were running a tank that was marginal (like most teams do, foolishly IMO - I can't imagine why they don't just build tanks that hold another quart and stop worrying about it).
Either way, no other teams had a problem, but Suzuki had a problem on both bikes (Metcalf's also ran out of gas on before it got back to the truck), and Suzuki's explanation was that the fuel boiled.
As far as your slur about rumors, I can see where you're coming from. If the track owner wasn't known to me for such a long time, and wasn't a guy whose primary occupation is engineering consulting on very high-tech matters to auto and airplane manufacturers, and if I wasn't already aware of his close relationship with the team manager that discussed the matter with him, I'd have blown it off immediately.
The point of the whole thing was that, if the information I related was right, then Suzuki took a known risk and suffered the consequences. It wasn't just a case of "Gee, we had no idea that could happen."
Call me next time you head out there, I wanna chase your CR500AF around !
Post a reply to: Dungey's gas rumor #472