Is Avgas a cheap alternative to racing fuel? | Articles

A lot of Formula Ford engines (including mine) are run on 100LL.  it’s a good fit because they’re old pushrod motors with no cats or O2 sensors and, at least at my local airport I can pull the truck and trailer right up to the pumps and fill the cans.

My friend with 30ish mostly carb’d motorcycles runs them on 100LL because it can sit forever.  We have no access to non-ethanol gas beyond buying VP T4 for $120/5 gal pail.

is AV gas color tinted like  “farm” diesel  is tinted red ?

mfennell said:

My friend with 30ish mostly carb’d motorcycles runs them on 100LL because it can sit forever.  We have no access to non-ethanol gas beyond buying VP T4 for $120/5 gal pail.

Home Depot has high octane no ETOH fuel in the weed wacker section for about 15$ a gallon. That is what I use. Works well in the two strokes as they also sell ETOH free premix in 1:50 and 1:40

I find it bizarre that I’m the guy to say this, but wouldn’t it be a really good idea to not add to the number of engines that are sending lead particles out their tailpipes?

californiamilleghia said:

is AV gas color tinted like  “farm” diesel  is tinted red ?

It’s blue.  I use the translucent white fuel jugs and it looks like I’ve got 20 gallons of washer fluid in my trailer.

Not really race car related, but back in the early 80s, a DC-3 freighter would pass through our FBO fairly regularly to pick up freight. He’d pay for a certain amount of gas in order to get the bulk discount, even though the plane wouldn’t take it all, and let all of us flight instructors fill up our cars with the excess. My MGB ran great on 100LL!

wae said:

I find it bizarre that I’m the guy to say this, but wouldn’t it be a really good idea to not add to the number of engines that are sending lead particles out their tailpipes?

Sort of related, according to the U.S. Energy Information Information Administration, the amount of avgas (a leaded product) sold has been steadily decreasing. As of 2020, U.S. sales/deliveries have fallen to 412,000 gallons per day–so, if my math is right, about 150,380,000 gallons per year. 

Here’s the chart for the above link:

But, yes, that seems like a bit of lead emissions in this day and age. I don’t have the numbers for leaded race fuel sales, but I’m guessing it’s not 150m gallons per year. 

wearymicrobe said:

Home Depot has high octane no ETOH fuel in the weed wacker section for about 15$ a gallon. That is what I use. Works well in the two strokes as they also sell ETOH free premix in 1:50 and 1:40

Cheapest I can find at HD is $22/gal in the 2.1 gallon size.  VP T4 is cheaper.  My RS250 seems to get 20mpg – I’d be buying (and disposing of) a whole lot of cans!  I do use the pre-mix in my infrequently used 2 stroke yard equipment.

At the end of the season, I might fill a 5 gallon can with Sunoco 100 Octane unleaded at the track to use to winter prep the bikes.  It’s cheaper than T4 (IIRC) and I won’t have to dispose of the cans.

David S. Wallens said:

wae said:

I find it bizarre that I’m the guy to say this, but wouldn’t it be a really good idea to not add to the number of engines that are sending lead particles out their tailpipes?

Sort of related, according to the U.S. Energy Information Information Administration, the amount of avgas (a leaded product) sold has been steadily decreasing. As of 2020, U.S. sales/deliveries have fallen to 412,000 gallons per day–so, if my math is right, about 150,380,000 gallons per year. 

Here’s the chart for the above link:

But, yes, that seems like a bit of lead emissions in this day and age. I don’t have the numbers for leaded race fuel sales, but I’m guessing it’s not 150m gallons per year. 

Whole bunch of airplanes out there nowadays running auto gas to save money.