Question on shelf life of race fuel

[428kidd]

Would un opened Sunoco 114 be ok if its say 5 years old?  Thanks Lance

[GerryP]

Normally, yes.  Like everything else, it depends.  Petrochemicals have a shelf life.  Usually, they use butylated hydroxytoluene (BHT) as a preservative, which gives it years of shelf life in a sealed, light impermeable container.  Stored in a cool place, it is going to be useable.  Heat accelerates decomposition so it would have a shorter shelf life.  Temperature is really the variable here since sunlight can't get through the metal can.  Now, normally you wouldn't use it as a race fuel for a competitive event like where a title was on the line, but racers are always looking for fresh fuel to eliminate that as a variable.  If you want to know for sure, send a note to Sunoco with the particulars and see what they have to say.

[Falcon67]

I'm running on this-season-#3 year - VP110.  I keep it in the drum, tightly sealed, in the shed.  When the season is over, I leave maybe a couple of gallons in the cell for winter tinkering, any extra goes back in the drum. It's about time for a new drum, I hesitate to price it.  I intend to try and run methanol mid season. That for sure has to be tightly sealed in storage.  I also add Klotz top lube to the drum when I buy the fuel that way.

[Rory428]

Can`t speak for Sunoco (yet), but I have run 3 year old VP C12 with no issues, performance wise, however, when I was racing my NHRA Stock Eliminator Mustang, we had to go thru NHRA Fuel Testing several times per event, and I had some C12 from my 55 gallon barrel, that wasn`t even a year old yet, that barely passed, and the fuel tech suggested that I buy some fresh C12 from the VP trailer at the National event that I was at, which passed fine, even though the ET slip showed no improvement. That said, a few weeks earlier, at a NHRA Divisional race,that same batch of fuel passed easily. Funny thing is, a buddy was racing his 65 Impala Stocker at that same race, and he doesn`t run his car very much, and his C12 passed OK, even after sitting in the cars factory  (vented) gas tank for 3 years, go figure. I don`t have the Stocker anymore, so I don`t need to worry about fuel check anymore, and I now have a barrel of Sunoco Supreme that I am running in my Fairmont, that was new last year, but I also have a couple of 5 gallon cans of Sunoco Standard which I bought in 2022, that I hope to run this year. I have never tried race gas that was 5 years old, but my buddy has used some 3-4 year VP C12 on the Dyno, and it seemed OK. I have never had race gas "go bad", so I have no idea if it gets a bad smell like stale pump gas does or not. If it smells normal, and looks clear, I would likely give it a try. But I would certainly want to use it up soon. Or maybe you could mix the old gas with some new gas of the same grade.

[thatdarncat]

I’ve used some 3-5 year old 110 race gas a few times, and never noticed any difference in performance or drivability. That’s fuel I had in plastic fuel jugs, we have a few stations here that have it at the pump, so not sealed cans. As much as possible I do try to mix it with some fresh race gas as soon as possible. Just my experience.