What's that smell?
 

Every so often some will run up an engine in the pits and there is a special fragrance (not smell) that I love...some say it is the Nitro, others say it is Castor Oil..........I'm thinking it is Castor because I remember when I was a kid at the UC circle, I smelled that same wonderful 'air freshener'.....

So..........is it Castor?

RE: What's that smell?
 

Yes Jerry, it's castor.

I can't tell you how many times I've considered adding castor to my cool power just to get that childhood memory back! :D

One guy at out field uses it, and every time he powers up in the pits, I feel like I'm 7 yrs old again [&:]

RE: What's that smell?
 

I feel like I'm 7 yrs old again"

Aren't you???? :):):)

RE: What's that smell?
 

Castor! I love that smell.

RE: What's that smell?
 

I like the smell too BUT I"m not a fan of the smell after inhaling it for a while.....[sm=spinnyeyes.gif] Quite a different aroma

RE: What's that smell?
 

A huge Indy car friend of mine swears it's a Methanol smell. Which is what Indy cars burn. I really don't care. I just like the smell too.:D

RE: What's that smell?
 

Hi!
No it's Castor oil fumes. I love it:D

RE: What's that smell?
 

Damn, ya got me thinkin' about it... now I gotta go out and get some.

RE: What's that smell?
 

Methanol has no oder, nitro has a faint almond oder. Some full scale racing oil are castor or a blend of castor and other oils so that may be what your friend smelled. I once had a friend who thought nitro smelled like a cross between burned rubber and bleach. I had to explain to him that (back then) they put a puddle of water, bleach, and rosin for the tires to burn through. Thus cleaning them and heating them. That is what he smelled. You can smell the nitro if you go in the pits of the fuel dragsters and funny cars. They do not smell like our castor based fuel burning. Our synthetic oil smells a bit like castor as well.

RE: What's that smell?
 

A number of my boating buddies (full sized boats, w/Merc v-6s) use Klotz 2-stroke oil. Sometimes when we're making a run up a river I'll fall in right behind them so I can get a good wiff of that good 'ol 'Cox fuel' scent!:)
Some smells ya can never outgrow!

RE: What's that smell?
 

It's gotta be the castor. Get behind a plane in the pits using all synthetic oil and you won't smell that aroma. To get an idea of nitro odor, go to a dirt bike race. Smells a lot like 100+ octane race gas.

Oh, as far as castor goes, this might not be much of a problem with the amounts we inhale, but WWI pilots inhaled a lot of it as their lubricants were mostly castor based and they were in a constant mist of it behind those rotaries. Their first thought after landing was NOT "let's go to the "O" club for a drink", but rather "where the hell is the outhouse?":D

RE: What's that smell?
 

??? Nitro doesn't smell like gas and its oder isn't as strong as gas. Last time I went to a dirt bike race they were using gas, with 2 stroke oil, some with castor oil. Now that was in the 70's and things may have changed, but since I don't see any need for extreme speed jumping hills and such, I suspect they are still using gas.

RE: What's that smell?
 

I use parma vanilla and coconut scents in my fuel (seperate gallons)
They have root beer, cinnamon, cotton candy, bubblegum and a lot of other scents to add on tower hobbies site.

Ronnie :)

RE: What's that smell?
 

I didn't mean to say that nitro smelled like gas (it doesn't), but there's an aroma that high octane gas has that is a bit different than regular pump gas. Maybe some of the guys are adding some nitro for all I know; I roadraced back in the '80's and we regularly added nitro to our fuel. The horsepower gains are good for a lot more than jumping hills.

RE: What's that smell?
 

It actually isn't that high octane gasoline smells any different from 'normal' octane gasoline. It's that the high performance engines that are using the high octane gasoline have their timing and fuel/air mixtures set to peak power, resulting in a lean burn condition and the great smell that is associated with NASCAR, SCCA, etc. racing. This also results in a slightly grey, powdery film on the inside of the exhaust system. The great smell from our small glow stuff is from the Castor oil. If you want to test this, run one of your engines 'normally' and then add a couple of ounces of castor oil (such as from Sig) to a gallon of fuel and run that. You'll notice the difference.

RE: What's that smell?
 

If you ever have the chance to go to Old Rhinebeck Aerodrome or anywhere else where they run the old WWI rotary engines, you can smell the castor from them. It smells a little different mixed with gasoline than with methanol, but you certainly can tell it's castor.

I can relate to the confusion of odors between methanol and high octane racing gasoline. I've been to several Champ Car races (when they were the Indy Cars) and the smell of methanol exhaust was reminiscent of glow fuel exhaust. (And yes, you can smell the exhaust). But the high octane fuel they burn in the Modifieds at our local racetracks makes a very similar smelling exhaust, too.

RE: What's that smell?
 

I've not only BEEN to the old Rhinebeck Aerodrome, got to fly as bombadier for Bill King in his Gypsy Moth!