EFS Combust Fuel Additive Test at Sebring.
Background: Two amateur Porsche drivers, Scott Leder & Mike Cristo brought their race prepared Porsche Caymans to Sebring January 27th, 2015 thru January 31st, for the weeklong PCA event. These two cars are both late model Caymans and are 100% race cars. Scott’s car (#35) races in GTB1 class, and Mike’s car (#878) races in class I. The cars came off the transporter on Tuesday and began a series of lapping sessions to set the cars up for racing at Sebring. Sebring is one of the longest, oldest, most storied historic tracks in the country. By Thursday, both cars had run numerous laps and went through the customary process of suspension and chassis tuning. Chassis tuning was handled by Bodymotion Racing of Ocean NJ, a well respected builder and tuner of racing Porsches. After chassis modifications were complete, Scott’s Cayman settled into consistent 2:26 lap times. Mike’s Cayman ran consistent laps in the 2:29’s. These lap times represented their best times when not hindered by traffic.
Results: Friday was test day; the weather was about 10 degrees F warmer than Thursday, mostly sunny, humidity about the same. Each car did a series of laps and again matched the lap times from Thursday. We captured base line performance data from both cars using the sophisticated AIM GPS and data logging system. Speed, braking, acceleration, lateral acceleration, RPM and gear selection can all be monitored and compared to previous lapping results. Data was collected using straight 93 octane fuel.
Saturday was qualifying and race day. Both cars were fueled with 93 octane plus 1 ounce of EFS Combust Power Boost per 5 gallons of fuel. All cars with adaptable ECU’s require a learning curve for the engines to take full advantage of the fuels enhanced characteristics. In the first Saturday session (warm up) with the additive, both cars exhibited incremental gains in performance and slightly quicker lap times. In the second Saturday session (race), both Porsches were taking maximum advantage of the superior fuel. Scott’s Cayman was seeing faster exit speeds through every corner and about 2.5 additional MPH’s at the end of every straight (see graph). Mike’s car was seeing about 3.5 additional MPH’s at the end of every straight (see graph). In sum, Scott’s laps were now in the 2:23 range. Mike was now lapping in the 2:26 range. Saturday was almost identical weather to Friday although about 1 degree warmer. Both cars raced in their respective classes and both drivers earned a podium finish.