I should share this with you fellas, see what you think. I put some toluene in my tank and it took approx 1 tenth off my 1/8th mile ET last weekend. I added an approx 10:1 mixture (10% toluene) to a half tank to acheive an approx 95 octane rating. My race tune is for 93 with instructions that it's OK to run up to 95 octane. I've been bracket racing this year quite a bit and lately have been running pretty much mid 8.40s in the heat of the day for the last 2 months. Conditions were pretty much the exact same as they always were when I run slower --humidity heat, density altitude, etc, good track prep. Nothing different on my truck, same track as always. I just wanted to bump my octane up so my increased boost (I run a 4lb lower) and race tune would be very safe... I don't really trust the gas stations around here, Citgo is about as good as it gets and the stations I get it at are pretty much sketchy Mom & Pop stations if you know what I mean. I don't think I've had detonation before, always running Citgo 93, and my times are fairly consistent... ie. there hasn't been a race day or night when i've thought i had some bad gas or my truck wasn't running right.

Anyway, I put the toluene in the tank at the gas station and drove about 2 miles to the track. My first trial run was 8.48 at 2pm, warm motor. next run was a "lucky bucks" run where whomever gets closest to their dial-in gets half the pot and buyback run should there be one available. Well, I dialed in a 8.48. DOH- it went an 8.40!! What the hell? Truck wasn't much cooler than 1st run. First round elims, she was pretty cool but i've found it doesn't matter that much with my truck, she goes a 8.35. What the ??? Other guy broke out bad too which is the only reason I didn't sandbag at the finish. I buy back in, run an 8.39 on an 8.35 dial-in ONLY b/c I was on the brakes at finish (was off by 5 mph). Educated guess is she would have ran an 8.34 that round. So I dial in 8.34, again I'm blowing by the other guy at the finish so I let off and ran high 8.3something... would have been around 8.35. It gets a little cooler and 4th round I cut a bad light and give her all she's got and she runs an 8.35 on an 8.34. It has went 8.17 in better air on F1s and I think she has 8.0s in her, but it's been months since conditions were that good. I run Hoosier QTPs now, same launch technique always.

Sorry for the novel, trying to only give the full facts... Bottom line is, I was running 8.35s when I thought I should've been 8.45s earlier in the day and continued to run 8.34-35ish when i would have expected 8.40-42 later in evening. I think my first run, maybe second were not getting the full effect of the recent mix of toluene. By the 3rd, the toluene was fully in the lines and getting full effect. I am convinced it was the toluene, maybe just the added energy content? I dunno. $7.30 per gallon. Race gas at track is like $6 but 112 octane and leaded. I may continue to run this 10:1 mix.

Anybody else have similar experiences?? I'm not going to run over a 95 octane mix, and the toluene was just to be safe, but I am at this point convinced it's making me run faster.