Found this, worthy of 5 minutes and then a trip to Tescos!!
http://www.thorneymotorsport.co.uk/tuni ... date.shtml
Interesting read...Fuel tests...
Just a shame that this report is not consistent with reports from EVO and the like. I quite like Thorney (as a bloke, not a business- of that I have no opinion) but I find that these reviews are never fully objective.
Worth five minutes though Rob- what were you looking for to find this?
(PS- Are you coming to mine before the DD on Sunday? I'll need V-Power or whatever on the day so can take you to fill up if that helps)
Worth five minutes though Rob- what were you looking for to find this?
(PS- Are you coming to mine before the DD on Sunday? I'll need V-Power or whatever on the day so can take you to fill up if that helps)
Field motorsport carried out a test of the fuels quite a while ago, and they did not find Tesco to be the best. They are also not sponsored by Tesco. 
I have tried all the fuels, and personally never use anything other than V-power.
I don't have the link to the Field motorsport test, but I do have a copy and paste of the report. They used an engine on a proper engine dyno, and tried advancing the ignition to get the most power.
Obviously this test is back in the days of Optimax, so V-power should perform better than this. (Although obviously Tesco 99 could also have been improved since the test too)
Here's the copy and paste:
Optimax still comes out top as the best fuel available, as per a dyno test carried out by Field motorsport using a Cosworth YB engine running a set of eight green injectors and a T4 roller-bearing turbo. They compared four different brands of fuel and tried to advance the timing to 13 degrees on each different brand and measure what bhp was produced.
1/ 95 ron supermarket fuel. This being cheapest of the bunch and although not the sort of of petrol you'd normally expect to run your performance engine on, it gave a good benchmark to work from. So when running the engine up on the dyno, a 13 degree advance couldn't be acheived. So ignition had to be backed off to 10.75 degrees before a power run could be safely recorded.
The results at 10.75 degree advance a peak power figure of 516 bhp and 417 lb ft was recorded.
2/ Tesco 99 ron managed 0.75 degree advance over the 13 degree initial setting before detonation occured, so at 13.75 degree advance 523 bhp and 423 lb ft was produced.
3/ BP ultimate showed an improvement over Tesco 99 ron as once again a 13 degree was dialled in and a further increase of 2 degrees was possible before detonation occured. So at 15 degrees of advance timing 537bhp and 434 lb ft was produced.
4/ Shell opitmax 98 ron, as you well know this fuel was produced with boffins at Ferrari. So unlike Tesco 99 ron fuel which is produced by blending low grade fuel with additives. Shell optimax is produced by a specific mix that realises its higher octane rating through hydrocarbonate components blended into the fuel. This increasing its combustability and in return helps fuel economy and lowers emissions and especially carbon monoxide. On the dyno after once again dialling in a advance of 13 degrees a further 3 degrees was produced before detonation occured. So at 16 degree advance a power figure of 547 bhp and 442 lb ft was produced and expect this figure to increase when using the new improved fuel with a increased hydrocarbonate formula.
So don't all jump ship over to Tescos 99 Ron, because as the results show Shell optimax is still the best fuel available on the market.
I have tried all the fuels, and personally never use anything other than V-power.
I don't have the link to the Field motorsport test, but I do have a copy and paste of the report. They used an engine on a proper engine dyno, and tried advancing the ignition to get the most power.
Obviously this test is back in the days of Optimax, so V-power should perform better than this. (Although obviously Tesco 99 could also have been improved since the test too)
Here's the copy and paste:
Optimax still comes out top as the best fuel available, as per a dyno test carried out by Field motorsport using a Cosworth YB engine running a set of eight green injectors and a T4 roller-bearing turbo. They compared four different brands of fuel and tried to advance the timing to 13 degrees on each different brand and measure what bhp was produced.
1/ 95 ron supermarket fuel. This being cheapest of the bunch and although not the sort of of petrol you'd normally expect to run your performance engine on, it gave a good benchmark to work from. So when running the engine up on the dyno, a 13 degree advance couldn't be acheived. So ignition had to be backed off to 10.75 degrees before a power run could be safely recorded.
The results at 10.75 degree advance a peak power figure of 516 bhp and 417 lb ft was recorded.
2/ Tesco 99 ron managed 0.75 degree advance over the 13 degree initial setting before detonation occured, so at 13.75 degree advance 523 bhp and 423 lb ft was produced.
3/ BP ultimate showed an improvement over Tesco 99 ron as once again a 13 degree was dialled in and a further increase of 2 degrees was possible before detonation occured. So at 15 degrees of advance timing 537bhp and 434 lb ft was produced.
4/ Shell opitmax 98 ron, as you well know this fuel was produced with boffins at Ferrari. So unlike Tesco 99 ron fuel which is produced by blending low grade fuel with additives. Shell optimax is produced by a specific mix that realises its higher octane rating through hydrocarbonate components blended into the fuel. This increasing its combustability and in return helps fuel economy and lowers emissions and especially carbon monoxide. On the dyno after once again dialling in a advance of 13 degrees a further 3 degrees was produced before detonation occured. So at 16 degree advance a power figure of 547 bhp and 442 lb ft was produced and expect this figure to increase when using the new improved fuel with a increased hydrocarbonate formula.
So don't all jump ship over to Tescos 99 Ron, because as the results show Shell optimax is still the best fuel available on the market.
Obviously that's an extremely highly tuned engine running big boost, so would be much more sensitive to fuel quality / octane.
A modern ECU (with knock sensor) should notice the difference and change relatively quickly.
Cars like an e46 M3 which are designed to run on 98 run will soon retard the ignition if you put crap fuel in them.
Not sure how quickly they return to peak performance with the correct fuel though.
A modern ECU (with knock sensor) should notice the difference and change relatively quickly.
Cars like an e46 M3 which are designed to run on 98 run will soon retard the ignition if you put crap fuel in them.
Not sure how quickly they return to peak performance with the correct fuel though.
That`s a good read Rob, since BP sold it`s local garage to jet I have had to make do with crap fuel and loads of Octane Boost, the car has been so bad I made a 30 mile round trip to Guyhirn to get some V-power and Hello got the old car back.
Not sure about Tesco fuels have heard that the can be variable due to low usage and degradation in the garage tankage
Anyone have any comment on this
Not sure about Tesco fuels have heard that the can be variable due to low usage and degradation in the garage tankage
Anyone have any comment on this
Found these, bit more expansive if you've got time for another cuppa...
http://www.tesco.com/Momentum99/files/T ... Report.pdf
http://www.tesco.com/Momentum99/productBenefits.asp
http://www.tesco.com/Momentum99/files/T ... Report.pdf
http://www.tesco.com/Momentum99/productBenefits.asp