Where do you get your fuel (petrol)?

[LotusSevenMan]

Unless tuned to the position where the engine can use a higher octane rating (high compression head, ignition advance, race cams etc etc) then it is wasted money. In standard tune it won't make any difference although you might think it does. Placebo effect blah blah.
Have played a lot with this on my modified Caterham 7 to find rolling road results etc. with programmable ECU, wilder cams, oversize valves and fully ported, skimmed head, throttle bodies, modified injectors etc etc Difference was 4 bhp up at 8,000 rpm (200+ bhp) with Optimax. In the grounds of RR error.

I use whatever petrol station is within five minutes of 'the light' coming on Chris !!! Paranoid? Me? Yep. The VTR seems like a right old lump to push anywhere.

I used to use 100LL in a car. Yep. One hundred octane low lead
It was used in a Triumph 1500 with 65bhp. Why you ask? Well as an aircraft engineer we had to often drain down tanks and were unable to use the fuel again so it had to go somewhere!!! All for private airport and restricted land use of course; ahem!!!
I even used to dilute it with what was then two star. Often had the pump person use the speaker to tell me I should be using 4*.

[eric 49]

my mum used to be a manager at a BP petrol station a few years ago .she had to sort out the fuel deliveries and got to know the tanker drivers over the years she worked there.
They told her that the fuel was all the same when it went in to the tankers but the better quality brands (BP, shell, etc,)then added additives , the cheaper supermarket brands didnt ad any, or if they did it was much lesser quality additives.
but i have never noticed any differance in any bike or car ive had so i just fill up anywhere.

[Squiffythewombat]

chris u reminded me of my friend who put aeroplane fuel in his scooter, it went stupidly quick for about 10meters and then blew up with a bang! His boot was melted to the glowing red engine lol!

[LotusSevenMan]

Kaz.
The Scoob has been set up for that sort of higher octane fuel so can benefit.
I have a mate with a Vauxhall engined 2ltr Caterham 7 and a Mitsubishi Evo 8. The eight likes the V Power (Optimax replacement) etc whereas the Se7en is happy on std unleaded as it is carbed and basically std.
Both mine and his Se7en are faster than the 'Bishi but that Evo (and I'm sure your Scoob) is a lot easier to drive with all the electronic trickery and to live with as an everyday type vehicle.

Squiff.
Ignition a bit over advanced then?

[Squiffythewombat]

lol chris, yeah just a tad! I think hes got a video of it somewhere, ill see if i can drag it out!

[Jaglifter]

My SP1 runs slightly better on the higher octane, although it will run on the standard 95 stuff.

Tesco sell the highest octane petrol (99) that I know of around here, but I ususally go for the Esso stuff 'cus its closer to me and usually not much more than Supemarket prices.

Anyway at around 10 or so ltrs a week price isn't a big deal.

When I'm out on a longer run I'm usually so grateful to find a station before I run out that price is secondary!

[sirch345]

Keep em coming guy's

There's certainly some interesting replies so far

[sirch345]

Many thanks to all of you who made the effort to reply

According to the results 45% almost half are Not bothered and 25% Go for the cheapest which you can't blame them, considering how much we have to pay for it. It's interesting that the Australian's (according to VTRgirl) are much more picky about the fuel they use, perhaps that's got something to do with it costing a lot less than ours here in the UK
16% went for Mainly supermarket fuel and 12% Try to avoid supermarket fuel

So it appears the Guy I had been discussing this with in the first place is in the minority

Cheers,

Chris.

[chuxsta]

i used to only put posh petrol in my previous bikes and the difference is very noticeable.
sadly where i live now its not an option, as i dont recall any local petrol stations with posh petrol.....

and due to the tank size on the vtr its not really an option......
but for those that have a close local petrol station with posh fuel that havent tried it DO IT....... might take a few miles to notice the difference if you change over but it is worth the few extra pence......

if i had a child and had an option of feeding it water from a puddle or water fresh from a mountain spring i know what i would do...

[Beamish]

It was used in a Triumph 1500 with 65bhp. Why you ask? Well as an aircraft engineer we had to often drain down tanks and were unable to use the fuel again so it had to go somewhere!!! All for private airport and restricted land use of course; ahem!!!
I even used to dilute it with what was then two star. Often had the pump person use the speaker to tell me I should be using 4*.

Never have I heard of such shananigans You would not catch any of the MOD employees using the hundreds of litres of drained down avtur in their diesels I personally wouldnt trust it in a TDCI or later spec engine.

[Beamish]

Oh yes should really answer the question I couldnt give a rats ass what petrol I use and will continue with that attitude until I notice a significant performance difference in a vehicle. Saying that I used to treat the 5 Series to good petrol when I was commuting to Blackpool. Could see an extra 40 miles to a tank on cruise control at motorway speeds up to 400 miles (ish) but over the 120 miles ish on a bike with no ECU related sensors to pick up on the octane rating and hanging on for grim death with the already ridiculous power I think its all a barrel of monkey nuts to be honest and you are flushing good cash away using the premium stuff......only my opinion counts for ***k all

[fishface]

i cant see how using "posh petrol"makes a slightest bit of difference on these old petrol sucking carb monsters
save your pennies for xmas pressies

[rst steve]

i cant see how using "posh petrol"makes a slightest bit of difference on these old petrol sucking carb monsters
save your pennies for xmas pressies

I feel the same in the Scooby i always use Tesco 99ron it seems to like this and if i do have to put normal unleaded i can really tell the differance. As for the VTR i have tryed super in it and can't tell the differance so just use the cheapest or nearest when the light comes on and lets be honest the VTR isnt the most economical bike around.

[JAVAHOUSE]

I use Shell - but only because I get 3% off with a Shell Mastercard. Can't tell any difference on the VTR with Optimax, but on my Guzzis it makes a HUGE difference. They have a tendancy to pinking, but Optimax fixes 100%.

Rob