It's the gas

H

HardScrabble

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Next season all the teams will have to adjust to a new supplier of fuel for their powerplants. Seems they may have to adjust this season as well.........

Sources at Talladega Superspeedway told teamfordracing.com that the fuel Unocal has provided since the announcement that they were leaving the sport might have some consistency problems. This, according to a leading engine builder in the sport, is leading to some interesting finds during post-race engine tear down. “We’ve even questioned here lately with Unocal moving out how the fuel … We’ve seen some funny things on our parts after the race and for some of us fuel quality is changing on us,” said the engine builder. “So yeah, it’s a big issue and we’ve been talking about it quite a bit.” Fuel is a vital part of the Winston Cup engine builder equation as the additive packages are what help hold a motor together during a race. Fuel chemistry changes can lead to premature part failure. NASCAR hasn’t let the teams know what will be pumping in 2003, which is making the engine builders nervous. Variances with the chemistry and consistency of blend will be needed soon as it can take six to nine months to match the engine package to the fuel package. One big question that’s not been answered is whether the fuel will be of a leaded blend, or no-lead. There is concern that if the sanctioning body goes the no-lead route that engine failure could rise dramatically due to leads lubricity qualities, or the capacity for reducing friction. Unocal, along with NASCAR and the teams, tried a no-lead blend several years ago in the Busch Grand National Series. Those experiments ended after the exhaust valves beat the seats out of the head. Unocal, to help solve the problem, suggested that the teams move to titanium vales. That suggestion angered the involved engine builders as they’d been using titanium for several years, and were surprised that Unocal engineers seemingly didn’t know what was in a motor for which they were blending fuel
 
Interesting, Hardscrabble. It might backfire on Unical if this were found to be accurate. Especially if Unical were found to be making an inconsistent grade of racing fuel available since they said they no longer wish to be part of the NASCAR team and sole provider of the racing fuel.

Race fans get a whiff of this rumor and it might be more harmful to the bottom line of Unical than if they had never being involved in racing. The fans are fickle people, there are many of us who count in the mix, and should this rumor be well-founded, the race will be away from Unical by major trucking fleets and fans who have supported them because of thier association with NASCAR racing. A unspoken trust would be broken. Not good business from the seat here.
 
Can I put it this way? If someone starts F'ing with my fuel, I'll take a piar of dykes to their nuts.

If this is true, someone needs to pay. BIG TIME!..in COURT!
 
Ain' t that the truth Windsor.

If all this info is accurate (who knows) there is a lot of problems for the engine rooms. Even if this year's fuel is not a problem if there is to be a change for next season the dyno boys need to know what is coming.

And if this season's fuel is "off" and the story reaches the racing public it might affect some of Unocal's marketability for sure.

I remember once being down in Mexico back in the early 80's pre-running the Baja course in my Ford pre runner. We ran ourselves out of the fuel we brought along and had to put in half a tank of pump gas with half a tank of our fuel. I was near tears listening to my beloved Cleveland being hammered to death by pre-ignition.........
 
I don't mind being low on fuel quality or octane, BUT it's got to be consistent. Otherwise, like I said, I've got a pair of dykes that I WILL USE. That's BS and if true, someone needs to pay.
 
There was another interesting deal in the race today. I have no idea who makes the decision or runs the fuel island show.

But today mention was made of teams having trouble getting the dump cans refilled in a timely fashion after a pit stop. The Fox folks mentioned it. but never offered an explanation as to what the nature of the problem was, just that htere a long line at the pumps.

Dug around a bit and it seems that only three pumps were available for filling the cans. Last time I poked around there was usually at least four or five pumps running during a race. Ya figure there's around 43 guys with tow 11 gallon cans to fill showing up after every round of pit stops.

The deal with the pumps was the reason Kenny Wallace had to pit under green when no one else did, cost a very strong car about three laps to the leaders.

If Unocal is in charge of that deal, the teams will get PO'd real quick.
 
Sorry...I thought this was going to be a thread about Taco Bell :p
 
I'd like to know a little more about the fuel Island fiasco also. That certainly needs addressing before the next race. Would be pretty bad to be running at the front and end up at the rear because your gasman was still in line.
 
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