Fuel
There are many fuels out there that can be used to run your Radio Control Car, but not all engines work on every fuel that can be used. Some engines work better on some, and others not, some on low percentages, some on high, it depends on the engine you have and your skill in tuning an engine.
I am hoping this guide will grow and be a great value for people to decide what fuel to aim for either for racing/bashing/ or to get the best out of your engine, and what fuel is good to tune your engine and what fuel may effect your tuning of the engine. The guide will explore and advise on several things and new bits will be added every so often to keep things up to date
This section is currently being researched so do check back for updates
Fuel Brands
There are a variety of fuels that are available to the Novice or Pro Radio Car owner, here are some of the main brands used by Novices and Pros
• Byrons - Gen1 & Gen2 (Gen2 latest version)
• Model Technics - this is your basic starting fuel for any Novice to the RC Car Hobby
• Tornado
• Modelsport UK Performanc
• O'Donnells
• Sidewinder
Fuel Percentages (%)
Fuels come in percentages of 15% (16%?), 20%, 25% and sometimes 30%. The higher the percentage, the leaner a car engine can be run meaning less fuel is used up but it results in the engine becoming hotter than usual (temperature gun is advised). The % stands for the amount of Nitro Methane that is in the fuel, allowing the car to run longer and better.
Ideally when breakin' in an engine, you want to stick to one percentage type of fuel but in my opinion you dont have to, you can if you have experience with Nitro Fuels just break in a new engine with a 25% fuel such as Byrons 25% fuel.
Using a 15% fuel means you dont have to make the engine too lean, this is so that no extreme stress is put on the engine when breaking in i.e working harder than it should first time. It is a bit like cooking a soflay, get the mixture wrong etc, say goodbye to the soflay, its the same for the engine, make the engine too lean when its brand new increase the change of it breaking or blowing a glow plug.
Higher percentage fuels allow the engine to run more efficiently fuel wise- leaner(depends on the size of the engine .21 engines up to .28 will be better fuel efficient on say Byrons Gen2 25% if broken into right and tuned right where as the big block engines .28 - .32+ would still use alot of fuel up but be slightly more fuel efficient if broken into right and tuned right) and also more power may be obtained from the engine (speed and torque).
There is debate on weather it is a good thing to break in or to change to a higher percetange fuel when using a low percentage fuel i.e 15% on engine break in and then moving onto say 25% fuel once engine is tuned and broken into, but I believe that its ok to do that, its just when going from high to low is where most people believe that could effect the engine in a negative way in terms of damaging the engine.
Most people use between 20% - 30% fuel and 30% is used mainly for people that race - to be comfirmed.
In all to get the best out of your engine, and your exhaust if you have a tuned exhaust that gives more power you want to use at least a 25% fuel which your engine likes to "drink" and does not struggle with. This results in more power from the engine and the exhaust resulting in a better speed overall.
• Edward - Webmaster