Fuel limitations within the UK street legal
Drag Racing class (Street Eliminator) only allowed the use of commercially
available unleaded pump fuel, but do allow the use of fuel additives.
Unleaded fuels present a problem with the cylinder
pressures, high RPM's, boost and nitrous volumes associated with
today's racing engines. This results in having to limit compression
ratio's and ignition timing and thus limits performance. Jon Webster
experienced problems along these lines whilst using commercially
available addiitives in his nitrous injected big block Ford Mustang.
Jon was already planning a change to a turbo combination and could
only see the problem worsening with the new combination.
To try and solve these problems Jon commissioned a highly respected
chemist in the Petro-Chemical industry to design an additive that
was free of both lead and
propylene oxide
that would enable commercially
available unleaded pump fuel to be run at the high cylinder pressures
associated with forced induction road and race engines.
Initial tests were carried out in 2002 using
Jon's nitrous injected 525ci Mustang, the results were as follows;
Fuel |
Additive |
C/R |
Timing |
MPH |
Nitrous |
Comments |
Optimax |
Other
2% |
10.5
: 1 |
22
deg |
141 |
150hp |
More
timing = Detonation |
Optimax |
Power
Pour 2% |
10.5
: 1 |
30
deg |
144 |
150hp |
No
Detonation |
Optimax |
Power
Pour 2% |
10.5
: 1 |
33
deg |
146 |
150hp |
No
Detonation |
Optimax |
Power
Pour 2% |
10.5
: 1 |
28
deg |
148 |
200hp |
No
Detonation |
Following on from the tests with Jon's Mustang,
Power Pour was next tested in the Street Elminator 698ci '56 Chevy
of John Hales at the 2002 National Finals at Santa Pod. The car
had previously run with a commercially available fuel additive and
had run a best of 9.28 / 155mph (with no nitrous used). It was intended
to run the nitrous for the first time at this meeting but to start
with it was decided to do a normally aspirated shake down pass.
The car ran 9.28 / 158mph on that pass, the only thing that had
been changed was Power Pour was used instead of the commercially
available fuel additive. With 4 degrees of timing taken out (to
give 24 degres) the nitrous was turned on for the first time. The
car ran flawlessly and recorded an 8.79 / 166mph pass. After the
run the engine was compression tested and proved to be in first
class condition.
The biggest surprise of all came on the following
run when a driver error saw all the nitrous but no additional fuel
going into the engine causing a very lean condition which should
have resulted in severe engine damage. Initial compression tests
read within normal limits and a more thorough inspection revealed
nothing more serious than slightly coloured spark plugs! Part of
the brief given to the chemist was to produce something that would
help to protect engines in these sort of situations and while the
test wasn't carried out on purpose it certainly proved the quality
of Power Pour. Upon hearing this story a Stock Car racer asked to
try Power Pour. The rules there allow limited modifications and
he had been experiencing detonation problems when trying to run
high compression ratios. He was delighted to report no detonation,
clean and smooth power delivery and up to 500rpm more on the straights,
resulting in two heat wins and a runner up finish in the final!
Since its initial development Power Pour has
contributed to speed and ET records and Event and National Championship
wins within the UK Drag Racing circuit and is now being used in
many other disciplines of Motorsport, including 2 stroke motorcycles
were it was used to set the 250 cc Historic Isle of Man TT lap record.
In 2008 Powerpour has gone from strength to strength, more racers are realising the economic benefits as well as performance advantages. We have established more retail outlets, Tuners, Dyno Centres and Performance related companies are now becoming official dealers, making Powerpour more readily available to both bikes and cars (see list of dealers).
The main growth areas have been on high performance
road going vehicles which have mapable fuel and ignition systems,
seeing increases in excess of 6% in overall performance along with
added protection for their engines. The other area of growth has
been racers previously using expensive race fuel in some cases
have swapped to unleaded pump fuel with Powerpour and have saved
over 40% in fuel costs, with no loss of performance. If cars
like Street Eliminator front runner Andy
Frost's 2000bhp, 7.67 / 188mph Vauxhall Victor street car can
run on unleaded pump fuel then there is no doubt that many vehicles
currently running on race fuel could benefit from switching to
Power Pour.
We are still actively looking for suitable dealers, which we see as any performance related companies, especially those who have dyno's and can see and demonstrate the benefits first hand, which always underlines the quality of Powerpour. We will be promoting Powerpour further through sponsership programmes over the coming years, watch this site for more details.
If all
that wasn't enough here are some testimonials from people that
have used or tested Power Pour;
Peter Knight
Knight Racing Services
I was asked to test Power Pour by Jon Webster
we did not had the opportunity to conduct a definitive test, however,
on this particular day a customer had asked us to test a f5000 5litre
Chevrolet engine from one of his race cars. He did not know the
compression ratio of the engine, but wanted to run on super unleaded
pump fuel. When I loaded the engine against the dyno the engine
would detonate (which can be heard through a knock sensor connected
to head phones). The ignition timing was backed down to below 30
degrees, and the engine would still detonate . From my experience
with these engines, I knew that the engine would not produce its
best without considerably more ignition timing, but the fuel octane
seemed to be the limiting factor. I decided to try Power Pour, so
after checking with Jon over the advised percentages I mixed up
some fuel to the recommended blend. The engine was tested at 30
degrees advance and no longer detonated, concurrent tests up to
38 degrees still could not induce detonation. The additive allowed
us to run the engine at increased timing. This in turn allowed the
engine to produce its full power potential . The engine without
the additive was limited to 30 degrees advance and as such produced
434.6 bhp @6100rpm. With the additive we could run 38 degrees without
detonation, allowing the engine to produce 445.4 bhp @6100 rpm a
net gain of 11 bhp and 8 degrees of timing.
Richard Albans
TTS Performance
Power Pour is the saviour of the race engine.
Whilst testing my supercharged Hayabusa Super Street Bike I have
run an 18:1 air / fuel ratio under full load with no detriment to
the engine, a condition that would normally have destroyed the engine
through detonation, even with race fuel. I always run this additive
as a safety precaution, its far cheaper than an engine rebuild.
Its the best thing since sliced bread, I recommend it to all my
customers!
Jon Edwards
Jems Race Engineering
Having been invited to try out Power Pour by
Webster race Engineering, we took a normally aspirated Ford Cosworth
to the dyno at Knight Racing Services. The engine was run on super
plus unleaded fuel and mapped to gain maximum power. We then added
Power Pour and found that we could immediately start adding ignition,
which in turn made more power. We ran 3 types of race fuel and no
other power gains were made. To conclude, Power Pour is a cheap
and reliable way of making more power on high compression engines.
Mick Franklin & Splinter (Steve Nash)
B&H street eliminator ET record holders & 2007 champions
We at Wild cat Racing would like to thank power pour for its support in 2008.
Any one who runs on regular pump gas and aiming to achieve the maximum performance from there engines knows that limitations in power are always a problem, detonation being the worst off them all. We were offered the chance to try power pour for the 2008 season. Having proved we already had a very good combination we said yes. Our aim was to try and run the car safer and try to reduce in-between round maintenance. Yes all these things look good when you read the label but was it as good as we were told?.
Well our 2008 season started great and we broke the et record twice. We also broke the axle and many other parts as our power increased but not the engine even though we added more timing and other than checking compression and valve lash the engine stayed in the car all season. I feel that with the great ice engine and power pour we have found a great combination to go further with in the future.
All I can say is that it did what it said on the can and it worked for us.
To purchase Power Pour contact us on 01933
315236 or contact one of our Official
Distributors;
UK Dealers
- Harper Rally Preparation - Hillsborough, Northern Ireland, Tel 048 9268 8054
- Jems Race Engineering - Unit 3 York
Way, High March, Daventry, NN11 4YB, Tel 01327 702270
- Motorsport Developments -
Unit 3F Moor Park Ind Est,
Kincraig Road,
Blackpool,
FY2-0JY,
Tel 01253-508400
- Nimbus Motorsport -
30 Main Street,
Wetwang,
Driffield,
East Yorkshire,
YO25-9XJ,
Tel 01377-236170
- Penn Autos - Springhill Lane, Penn,
Wolverhampton, WV4 4SH, Tel 01902 344004
- Rapid GB
Unit - 147 Leyland Ind Est, Irthlingborough Rd, Wellingborough, Northants, NN8-1RT, Tel 01933 272087
- Roger Clark Motorsport
- Alder Hall, Peckleton Lane, Desford, Leicestershire, LU9-9JD, Tel 01455 828610
- Tim Blakemore Racing - Woodland Way, Kingswood, Bristol, BS15 1PA, Tel 0117 904 2216
- Topspeed -
17-19 The Broadway, New Haw, Surrey, KT15-3EU, Tel 01932 341700
- Towcester Tuning Shop - Unit 3 West
End Farm, Silverstone, Northants, NN12 8UY, Tel 01327 858212
- Triple 7 - 12 Black Rock Road, Cooks
Town, Northern Ireland, BT80 9NS, Tel 02886 751000
Overseas Dealers
Greece
- Power House Engineering
- 6 Isminis Street, Dafni 11633, Athens Greece, Tel 02109 762713
Israel
- Sparco
Shfayim - 185, Kibutz Shfayim, Israel 60990, Tel 00972 52 5210210
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