Boostane/"Race Gas"/Torco Accelerator ???

My last engine ran fine on straight 93 E10 at 10.7 CR, but the CR's been upped to 11.5 now and I want to have a safety margin w/ my fuel choice. I don't have the benefit of 100 UL at the pump where I am, and expect to be blending some amount of actual race fuel w/ 93 E10 pump for street & strip use.

However, if I'm unable to get race fuel when needed, I figured I should keep a bottle of some type of "octane enhancer" in the car as a backup plan. Three brands that appear to be effective (to some extent) are Boostane, "Race Gas", and Torco Accelerator. I'm looking for anyone's experience and feedback on these products. I expect I'll need a ballpark octane level of 97-98 to work w/ my new engine combination, if that makes a difference.

Thanks - Brad

This was a while back, but when I ran my 12:1 440 on the street, I used the NOS brand octane booster on occasion. They had a couple different versions...the one I used was the "race" version. It seemed to be way more effective than any of the other off the shelf brands at the parts store.
I normally ran either 100LL AvGas or a 50/50 mix of 93 and 110. When in a bind, I'd run 93 w/ that NOS race booster.
Not even sure if they sell it anymore as I haven't had a need for it in 15 years, lol.

I know this really doesn't help you. Just thought if they still made that additive, it might be worth you trying it.

Check out the VP Madditive stuff, no experience but it looks interesting

FWIW, a couple individuals I know have been using Royal Purple Max-Boost.

Torco and Bootane are essentially the same, and are the only additives I know of that are formulated the way they are. They are more than octane boosters. They are a fuel conditioner as well.

I've looked into Race Gas a couple of years ago, but it wasn't made the same way as the other two so I just blew it off.

Somewhere in the web, there is a test of Boostane against pump gas, race gas, methanol/water injection IIRC. The additive did better than hold its own.

Torco was the company that started blending their additive the way that they do it. Of course, Evan Knoll was just a figure head. The real engineering was done by other people.

http://www.bing.com/search?q=toluene&...M=QBRE&sp=1

BTW...there are at least two private label brands that are the same as Torco/Boostane. I just can't think of them now.

One last thought...I called Boostane awhile back and they didn't offer their product with lead. Ou can get Torco with lead and the private label stuff with lead.

My testing showed the lead made the same or more power with lead using less of the product.

"Octane booster", "race fuel concentrate", whatever you want to call it, I know there are a lot of choices out there, some that work and some that are worthless. I've used them in the past, but have tried to not rely on them. I don't like the MMT deposits (the orange "rust" on the plugs & chambers), but MMT is one of the additives that does improve the AKI (Anti-Knock Index).

I've Google'd the topic quite a bit over the years and it's tough to get consistent information, even about the same product as tested by different people. It's also (kind of?) interesting how some of the products might improve the AKI, but it doesn't translate into an improvement in power. Certain ones (e.g, Boostane, Torco) have shown small improvements in power as "pour in" tests, and additional improvements by raising the AKI and enabling a more aggressive tune.

IIRC, Torco Accelerator used to be available in a leaded and unleaded formula, but I can't find anything about the leaded version any longer. I think that's now called blending 110 leaded race fuel.

Like I'd first mentioned, I'd prefer to be able to mix a "real" race fuel w/ pump gas as the normal fuel fill. But I do need an alternative for when that doesn't work out.

If you want leaded, you have to call Torco and ask for it. They don't show it on the web site but they have it. Also, at least one of the private label brands had a leaded version. They were back east IIRC. It may be less shipping if you live back east to use a private label brand.

How much toluene is needed to make pump 92 equal to 112 octane.What is the cost difference to justify over just buying 112?
Does this apply to boosted applications?
I have also read that W/M can make 92 pump cover up to 116 octane.
Don't like hoping it works,I have burnt pistons missing he tune.

Ive used Torco before. Blended it to 98 octane supposedly. '03 Cobra running 22lbs of boost. Never had any issues with detonation. Pulled 615rwhp.

What was your effective CR with 22 lbs??

I'm ASSuming that was the unleaded Accelerator. Am I correct.

My brothers buddy has a product called Liquid Horsepower Octane Booster. His buddy who created it worked for Chevron Oil as chemist. He started his own company 25 years ago called Manhattan Oil. Very good product. Go to manhattanoil.com.
Then you can check out rbracing-rsr.com. Go to products click water injection. Then scroll way down the page. There will be a Toluene formula. You may want to read more stuff on RB Racing. There water injection pump is killer. Definitely read the water injection part while you are there.They do turbo kits for street Harleys Top Fuel Harleys fuel injection water injection. lots of good reads on there. Don't let it fool you because it's a Harley performance site. It's all applicable to the internal combustion engine. These guys are extremely hi-tech and know their stuff. Big time Bonneville guys. Like my buddy told me who has dealt with them. These guys know how to hold stuff wide open for a long time and make it live.

I have no idea on the ratio, but I know it was a trick the grand national crowd used.

Torco today is NOT the same as the Evan Knoll Torco.

What's the difference? AFAIK all the formula is the same. Evan Knoll was not the guy who developed the products.

Unleaded yes.

That I don't know. I had the car tuned on a dyno. As they say I just drive em I don't know how they work. Lol.

Question for anyone who can provide input: What's harder on O2 sensors, MMT deposits build-up or lead from a 50/50 blend of pump 93 E10 fuel and 110 leaded race fuel?

IIRC, Torco existed long before Evan Knoll came into (and left?) the picture.

Is this stuff any good? They sell different formulations

http://www.klotzlube.com/power_additives.html

If you’re worried about the o2 sensors, you can just mix in unleaded race gas with your e10 instead of leaded.

The more I think through this, the less I wanna rely on any of the OTC pour-in products. I may have one bottle on hand for an EMERGENCY (whatever the He11 that would be), but believe what we'd talked about before where I don't thrash it too hard on the street w/ straight pump 93 E10, but dump in a 5-gallon can of "the good stuff" when I get near the track to prepare for flogging it w/o concern.

Locally available UNleaded race fuel in 5-gal cans:
--> Sunoco GT 100 (10% ethanol; 14.1 stoich, same as 93 E10)
--> Sunoco GT Plus 104 (13% ethanol; 13.7 stoich)

Cost difference is virtually nothing for 5-gallons of either, so the GT Plus 104 is a better bang for the buck to get the octane up:
--> GT - 98 Octane = 2.5 gal 100 for each gal 93 --> Add 5 gals to 2 gals 93 for 7 gals 98
--> GT Plus - 98 Octane = .8+ gal 104 for each gal 93 --> Add 5 gals to 6 gals 93 for 11 gals 98

There was (and I believe there still is) a licensing agreement between Torco oil and Torco racing fuel for marketing as Torco racing oil already had a name in racing.

I was talking to Rob Lancaster at the time the Evan Knoll stuff went down. They weren't happy about it, but they like the product enough to stick it out for a bit and see how it went.


Rob is the son of Bob Lancaster, the guy who started Torco.

Renegade is the Evan Knoll Torco.

That doesn't sound right. As far as I can tell, he's still in jail. And he didn't develop any fuel. I doubt Knoll has anything to do with anything.

But I could be wrong.

Not that it has anything to do with this thread, but I just read the "About" page on Renegade's web site. Please explain where Evan Knoll fits into this.

His employee's are the people that started Renegade

From what I read on the about page, renegade started long before Evan Knoll and the Torco deal were cut.

After calling on someone working for Renegade(who used to be employed by Evan Knoll Torco). I stand corrected. The Torco employee's did not start Renegade, but many went to work for them after Evan closed the doors. I in no way have tried to bash anyone with Evan's Torco, the new Torco, Renegade or Torco Oil International. I was in the race fuel business for over 17 years and sold Sunoco, VP and the new Torco race products. Retiring almost 8 years ago.

I didn't think you were bashing. Or anything else. I was trying to tie all the loose pieces together with what I actually knew and what you said.

That whole Evan Knoll episode was a nightmare and who knows if we know even the half of what went down. I be surprised if we did.