Hey Everyone:

There has been a lot of opinions posted about the USAC Silver Crown series switching to Ignite Racing Fuel (Ethanol) in 2012, and I just wanted to post about what we've found.

On Monday, we tested one of the Team 6R Racing Silver Crown cars in Pensacola, Florida using the Ignite ethanol mandated for the series in 2012. For this test, we used a data acquisition system that measured throttle position, engine rpm, mph, water temperature, exhaust gas and etc.

We ran 117 green flag laps, including a 35 lap non-stop run to conclude our day- and this is what we found:

We used 23 gallons of fuel during the whole test (in 117 laps around the half-mile Five Flags Speedway). The 35-lap run at the end of the day accounted for 6 of the gallons used.

We did adjust our fuel system after our first few runs in the test, and we were able to get the motor to run around the track and on restarts, without any stumbling or hesitations.

Addressing the water temperature issue: it was a high of 60 degrees that day in Pensacola. During our test, we ran the smallest opening on the bottom nose that we had, measuring 16" wide by 2" tall. In an effort to build temperature, we taped off part of that opening, leaving only 10" by 2" opening for air to get to the radiator. During most of our 8-10 lap runs, it was difficult to get the motor to 180 degrees. So, we left the nose taped off like this for our 35 lap green flag run. The temperature climbed very steadily over the first half of the run, then started to flatten off after probably 20 laps. We started the run at 175 degrees and finished the run just above 200, with very little climb in temperature in the last 10 laps. Remember, this is with the smallest nose opening we had, and with part of that taped off to build more heat.

There has been concern about the use of Ethanol in older bladders. We left the remaining ethanol in our bladder (which is approximately 8-10 years old) all the way home from Florida. No leaks occurred.

All of the other data we measured during the test was normal, and I hope that this provides some insight into the use of Ignite Ethanol in 2012.

If you have any other questions, please feel free to call.

Kody Swanson & Darryl Guiducci (317-442-4499)


Here is a clip from the test, that shows the nose taped off at 0:06
You Tube Video

Don't know much about "Ignite Ethanol" conversation, but sure love the sound of that USAC Silver Crown motor!

Nice to read a first-hand account of using it instead of everybody flying off the handle without even hitting the track yet.

Thank you for sharing the results of your research. That was very gracious and much appreciated.

Thanx for the info, was wondering about the added Ethanol fuel. About the only thing I know about it is i don't want tp go from 10% to 15% in passenger cars.

Kody, thanks for taking the time and effort to post this information. It is always good to see someone post the facts, rather than unsupported opinion, and especially good to see a driver do it. Thanks again.

The fuel is garbage. Now cars r going to start the hoosier 100 with half the fuel half the weight. Ruins strategy.

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Kody, Very cool to come on here and share that with us!

Thank you to those of you who have shown your appreciation of this thread. I truly hope that what we have found can clear up some of the mis-conceptions about the future of ethanol in the USAC Silver Crown series, and help competitors to feel confident in moving forward with the change.

Calistoga-

I understand that you are upset about USAC Silver Crown choosing to use Ethanol in 2012. I have just read the entire thread that you started a month ago titled, "ethanol sucks," and the claims that you made about how ethanol will ruin the series.

However, this thread was not started to generate unsupported opinions about what is or isn't "garbage."

I started this thread to address some of the concerns that individuals and competitors have previously expressed about the use of the ethanol, including: whether or not bladders will be compatible, if engines will run so hot that new radiators and cooling systems will be required, whether the racing will suffer due to a noticable lack of power, and etc.

What I have reported here are results that we experienced from an actual test while running the Ignite racing ethanol, and are nothing more than that.

If anyone has questions about our experience and what we've found while running the Ignite ethanol, please feel free to ask, I am happy to do what I can to help.

Thanks,

Kody Swanson

kody
thank's for the information . the video was scary to watch, right at the end when you were going down the straight away i was afraid the pant's on the guy in the red shirt were gonna fall down,thank goodness he bought a belt