It is safe to say that most of our hot rods run on gasoline. The sheer dominance gasoline has had over the United States over the last century has made it the fuel of choice for tons of applications. Racing fuel is peak of the gasoline grade scale but why is it the best?

VP Racing Fuels can easily answer this. VP has made their entire world revolve around racing fuels and considers racing fuel to be a performance part, just like that new lumpy cam or trick high flow headers you are eye balling. Over on the VP Racing Fuels website, the company has laid out “The Four Key Properties of Fuel.”

A Brief Break Down:

Number One – Octane. “Octane is simply a rating of a fuel’s ability to resist detonation and/or preignition.” The section goes on to explain that octane “is not so much an indication of a fuel’s ability to make power, but rather a fuel’s ability to make power safely, i.e., without blowing your engine.”

Number Two – Burning Speed. VP specifically formulates their fuels for proper vaporization to optimize peak cylinder pressures at the right moment.

Number Three – Energy Value. Simply put, the Energy Value is an amount given that describes the potential energy in the fuel. The energy is measured like a heater, in BTUs and not in gallons considering the formula could be changed and still represent one gallon.

Number Four – Cooling Effect. “The cooling effect of fuel is related to the heat of vaporization.”  Though it seems as it may be backwards, the higher the heat of vaporization, the better it can cool the intake mixture, resulting in horsepower gains and extended engine life.

This is just a quick glimpse into what the fuel experts have to say. For more information on these four key properties, Go Here. For more info on VP Racing Fuels, head over to VPRacingFuels.com.