Racing Fuel and Stock SVs

Can anyone tell me the pros and cons of running race fuel in a relatively stock SV? I have a Factory Jet kit and exhaust system and seem to be getting left in the straights by "stock" SVs. I'm at full throttle and can't seem to catch these bikes.

I spoke with one of the guys, whom I could catch, and he told me that his bike was completely stock other than the fact that he is using 100 octane fuel. Seems to be working.

Anyway, just wondering if anyone can fill me in.

Thanks,

Wu

 

Carry more speed through the turn before the straight. You could try shimming the needles up a notch. Your SV is like most others. Some shim the front tank mounts so more air (theoretically) can get forced into the airbox- not legal for D-super. You can try a K&N or BMC filter for better flow- again, not legal for D-super without the raised "snorkel". Race fuel supposedly will add about 2 hp. I run Amoco premium and I was pulling a known 70+ hp FZR400.

p.s. - It also helps to have enough gas in the tank to actually FINISH THE RACE! DOH!!!

 

this won't give you any additional hp - now if he was running oxygenated Nutec or VP big $$ race gas.

 

I went through the same thing last year! I finally had it dyno'ed to resolve my suspisions and sure enough I was putting out 64 hp. It turned out to be my valves were out of adjustment. IMHO pump gas and corner speed should be sufficient to run quick times on a well tuned SV.

 

How much do you weigh?
How much do they weigh?
How much does your bike weigh? Theirs?
What did your bike show on the dyno?
What RPM do you shift at? When do they shift?
What was your gearing? Theirs?
How much do you break for the corner? How much did they?
When did you roll on the throttle? When were you full throttle? Them?
What track? What times were you turning?

Hopefully you can see that there are many, many factor. Spending $15 / gallon is usually NOT the answer.

 

Save your money. You won't make any more HP with the race fuel.

 

All race gas will do it suck up money that could be put to better use elsewhere. Your problem isn't horsepower, it's corner speed and exit drive.

 

dont listen to these guys, i got 18hp from VP-c99 race fuel in my stock sv.......
just kidding. these guys are right.

dont ever ever believe what ANYBODY says about how much hp a bike makes, or how stock it is, blah blah blah
unless you were present at the dyno testing and your mom was the operator.
if everyone stopped worrying about how much bobbies bike makes and what lap times johnny is turning
and started concentrating on honing their own skills and setups, everyone would save a hell of a lot of money and enjoy
racing a whole lot more.

take it from me, the guy with the $80,000 hawks

 

Fast FZR!

A FZR with 70+ HP! That would be a wonderful thing.....

A FZR pulling on a SV in the straight...........my dreams have come true!

Life would be good.........I need more NOS!

 

Re: Fast FZR!

You've never seen Brian Roach's FZR400RR.

There is no D-Superbike legal SV in this country that could pull that bike.....

 

Re: Re: Fast FZR!

I'd take that bet. What about a lowly Hawk?

 

I've been waiting for mbmotorsports to chime in.....

 

No kidding! Matt's Hawk can pull most built SV's. It's also the dang loudest, proudest, & trickest Hawk you've ever seen. Major bucks and R&D into his Hawks $$$.

 

And this, ladies and gentlemen, is about the best advice there is.

 

Matt's Hawk

Loudest, proudest, and trickest, maybe but fastest still belongs to PBI racing's Bill Brietling. Check the NC LWT and D-Super standings. And yes, Temme's FRZ400RR is no slouch either!

Nothing like a couple of well tuned vintage bikes kicking everybody's butt!

 

Re: Matt's Hawk

With all due respect to everyone who posted here (all of whom know TONS more about this than I ever will), I was there when my SV was dyno'd with pump gas and then five minutes later with expensive race fuel. The expensive stuff gave me about 6 or 7 more peak hp per the dyno.

Is it worth it? I dunno. If you were on the last lap of a sprint at Road A and your best buddy and you are going elbow to elbow down the straight (battling for about 20th place) and someone ran up to you and said "Hey, I'll sell you five horses for 15 bucks" how fast do you think you'd hand them the cash?

Of course, you could just wait a teensie bit later than him to hit the brakes into 10A and get the same result.

Eh.

My $15.00

Slick

 

The expensive stuff isn't the 100 octane stuff that he is asking about.

7 hp is a lot to get from the oxygenated fuel on a 650cc bike. I got 3-4 from my R6 and Roadracing World did a test on a TR-L that got about what you did.

But the $4/ gal track gas or even the $6 a gal VP-C12 won't give you anything extra.

 

Just to give yourself "piece of mind" you might want to check something's out motor wise, like:
Leak down
Cam Timing
Throttle cable (believe it or not I've seen guys gain 10hp on the dyno after adjusting the throttle cable they replaced in a hurry after a crash because it wasn't opening to full throttle)
Make sure the air filter is new or clean
Valve Clearances
Ignition timing
Finally, get it dyno'ed. Just because a jet kit and pipe have been installed doesn't mean a hp gain, you could actually lose hp if the bike has not been tuned.
To answer your question about race fuel. Yes you can recognize hp gains with race fuel (any race fuel, I prefer nutec) but the bike must be tuned to that fuel and tuning means: Cam Timing, Ignition timing, jetting (and not just the main jet) and so on. Hope this helps.

 

I don't care what the fuel costs, I like the smell.

Oh and I have a 70 HP 400 too!!!!!!!!!

 

Thanks for all of the information. I was just wondering if "race fuel" made a difference. Its just really frustrating to be able to make up positions in corners only to lose them on the straights to bikes which seem to be completely "stock".

I'm definately not the fastest guy out there, but when you carry more corner speed than someone and get on the gas before they do, you just hope to be able to hold that position. Its really frustrating when you can't.

Anyway, I'll just keep trying to catch these guys, as well as get my bike checked out.

Thanks,

Wu