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When we were developing the original fuel (now called Blue Thunder Sport
Formula), we wanted a fuel that would:
Quickly come up to and maintain operating temperature
Perform consistently
Provide over-lean protection
Have high visibility
Reach and Maintain Operating Temperature
First, the engine must come up to and maintain operating temperature quickly.
With some of the fuels we tested, it would take as much as 5 to 7 minutes
for the engine to reach heat saturation (operating temperature). This
made it nearly impossible to accurately tune the engine during the typical
3 to 5 minute warm-up before each race. In fact many times these fuels
would actually cause drivers to over-lean their engines. Here's how: During
the warm-up, the engine is tuned to a peak lean setting for maximum performance.
Then throughout the main, as engine temperatures increased further, the
engine would progressively run leaner. This leaner mixture would cause
even more heat to be generated, and in turn cause an even leaner mixture.
By manipulating the amount and type of oils used, we were able to produce
a formula that would reach its operating temperature within a few laps
and would maintain that temperature throughout even the longest mains.
With our formula, now you could tune your engine within minutes, and it
would hold that setting throughout a 1 hour main.
Consistent Performance
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With the fuels we ran in the early days, many times it was necessary
to re-needle an engine when a new gallon of fuel was opened. This was
necessary even though the fuel was the same brand and nitro content,
and even then some gallons ran better than others. We would carefully
plan to have enough of a particular fuel during a race.
When Horizon decided to offer fuel, product consistency was paramount.
Horizon approached Morgan Fuels to produce Blue Thunder. Morgan is one
of the largest and most sophisticated fuel producing facilities on the
continent with some of the most high-tech computer operated chemical
mixing equipment available. Their equipment can accurately repeatedly,
dispense chemical components to an accuracy of .01 ounce per gallon.
Plus, Morgan uses only the highest purity ingredients. Morgan's equipment
totally isolates each chemical component from air and moisture. During
shipping to Morgan's plant, during storage and even during mixing, an
inert gas (not air) fills the open area above the chemicals. This isolates
air and moisture from coming into contact with the chemical components.
In fact, the first time the ingredients of Blue Thunder fuel actually
contact air is when the fuel bottle is opened!
Over-Lean Protection
During fuel testing our R&D staff discovered an interesting phenomenon.
They were experimenting with a combination of oils that included a small
percentage of a specific low flashpoint synthetic oil. At normal engine
operating temperatures, this oil is an effective lubricant, but as engine
temperatures increased from over-leaning the needles, these critical
over-temperatures cause this lubricant to combust. At these over-lean
temperatures, this combusting oil causes the engine to bog (hesitate)
during acceleration. R&D found that they could very accurately change
the temperature point that the engine would bog by changing the amount
and/or viscosity of this specific oil. By adjusting this over-lean bog
condition to occur at precisely the point just beyond the peak lean
needle setting, this bogging can be used as a warning/ indication to
the driver that his engine is improperly adjusted over-lean and should
return to the pits and richen the mixture. If the driver chooses to
ignore the over-lean bogging and continues to run it, the engine will
flameout within minutes before damage can occur. We named this specific
oil "ZX-7". It is an effective lubricant at normal engine
operating temperatures, but turns into a combustible at over-lean settings.
Blue Thunder Sport Formula is the only fuel that offers the true over-lean
protection, an indication of ZX-7.
High Visibility
Fuel's natural color is a very "weak tea brown". Unfortunately,
transparent brown makes fuel tough to see making it difficult to tell
the fuel level in your car's fuel tank. Our staff experimented with
several colors of fuel including red, orange, blue-green and even purple.
They found that blue gave the best overall visibility. What makes the
Blue Thunder blue? A small amount of die is added during manufacturing
that gives Blue Thunder it's distinct color, making it easy to immediately
tell the fuel level of your tank.
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