Green, blue, yellow, orange, purple, or no colour at all. Race-fuel dye isn’t branding. It’s the quickest check there is, in the paddock and at scrutineering.
A coarse signal, on purpose
Pour from a jug in any European paddock and the colour tells you roughly which family of fuel is in it before you’ve read a word. It won’t give you the octane to a decimal place. It will tell you, across a crowded awning, that someone has handed you the wrong drum.
Colour narrows the search; the label settles it. Several different VP blends share the same shade (C14, Q16, T4 and T2 are all yellow) even though they’re different chemistry for different jobs. Always confirm by name and part number.
Colours across our range
| Blend | Colour | Type | Typical use |
|---|---|---|---|
| C12 | Green | Leaded | Compression up to 15:1; drag, circuit, road and two-strokes |
| MR12 | Green | Leaded, oxygenated | Four-stroke bikes, stock or mildly modified |
| C16 | Blue | Leaded | Turbo, supercharged and nitrous, up to 17:1 |
| Q16 | Yellow | Leaded, oxygenated | Intercooled forced-induction drag |
| MOTO R | Colourless | Unleaded, oxygenated | Motocross and FIM motorcycle racing |
| RX102.2 | Colourless | Unleaded, oxygenated | FIA circuit and rally; FIM-approved |
| R5.1 | Colourless | Unleaded, oxygenated | Rally2 / R5 |
| T4+ | Colourless | Unleaded, oxygenated | Four-stroke replacement for pump petrol |
Colours and applications as published by VP Racing Fuels.
Where colour becomes evidence
Sanctioning bodies check fuel. Lead content, oxygen content, specific gravity and dielectric all have to land inside the window that technical scrutineering will measure, and colour is the first thing anyone looks at.
A blend that’s the wrong colour for the class starts a conversation before a single instrument comes out. That helps the racer as much as the organiser: the mistake gets caught in the queue rather than after the result.
Clear says something too
Many unleaded and oxygenated blends are left colourless on purpose, and some classes require it. A dye is one more substance in the tank, and some rulebooks would rather nothing were added that doesn’t need to be.
So a clear fuel tells you it’s very likely unleaded and very likely built for a class with tight rules, and that the label is now the only thing that identifies it. Clear fuels are the ones worth labelling twice.
Decanting into jugs? Mark every jug with the blend and the date. Our VP jugs come in a range of colours, so you can colour-code by blend as well.
Need help reading a label?
Send us a photo of the drum label and your class rules, and we’ll tell you what you’ve got. info@rallyfuels.com
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