How do I carry enough fuel for an endurance race without blowing myself up or getting arrested?

Okay, here's our current situation: We have nine 5-gallon fuel jugs, which is enough for 2.5 pit stops in our Miata. So, we're running out to buy more gas 2-3 times per day. And sometimes that's a long drive, because Sunoco is a partner and we try to buy from Sunoco stations. 

We don't normally have tons of extra crew around to do fuel runs, and buying gas at the track is just too expensive. Plus, it's annoying having to keep a truck free for fuel runs. I'd love to be able to stockpile a full day's worth of gas at the track. 

So, what's the best way to do that? Buy a bunch more tiny jugs? Buy a 55-gallon drum and a pump? Buy some rolling boat gas tanks? Something else? I have some ideas, but figured I'd ask how everyone else is solving this problem before I got too creative. 

I know I can have fuel drop-shipped to the track, but that's pretty major overkill for a car running pump gas. 

Thanks!

Whatever happened to that cool auxiliary tank-in-the-bed tow pig setup you had?

I sold it with my F-250, but it only held 15 gallons and was pretty slow to empty fuel out of.

For our Thunderhill 25H efforts with Honda, we used 55-gallon drums with pump setups.

The downside, not that it ever happens to YOU, is if the car is retired early you have a LOT of fuel leftover.  But it's easily stored in the drums.

Doing the math, you probably could buy two 55 gal drums.  Might even need one fuel run even with that.  That's a lot of weight though too.

We buy a 55 gallon drum for our car but we don’t take it to the track (short track modified) we pump from that to 5 gallon jugs that we keep in the trailer. I know we bring the 55 gallon drum home in the truck but I don’t know how great of an idea that is? We are going a pretty short run from the fuel place. If we had to tow hours with that in the bed it may make me nervous 🤷‍♂️

Including the extra “just in case” volume, how many gallons are you expecting to need, assuming that you’re starting with a full tank in the car?

Do they not have a fuel concession at the track?  I will fill up all my jugs at the cheap pump outside the track before the event, but for additional fuel during the day I just use the one that's more convenient.

I have considered adding an in-bed refueling tank that's rated for gasoline to my truck.  AFAICT that's the safe/legal/easy way to do it, although it's not cheap.

https://www.transferflow.com/82-gallon-refueling-tank-system

The 55gal drum + pump was my first thought but it's tricky to tie down. There are squarish fuel tanks in that capacity ballpark made for truck bed and marine use though.

One thought I've had is to add tanks to the underside of a trailer and integrate an electric pump - like towing your own gas station around.

Maybe you could mount a 55 gallon fuel transfer pump in the bed of the F-150 and fill it when you're filling the jugs? That'll save you one trip to the gas pump.

codrus (Forum Supporter) said:

Do they not have a fuel concession at the track?

It's too expensive.

If you start with a full tank of gas and pit stop every 2 hours, that means that you should have enough fuel for 6 hours of racing plus a bit.

How long are the races Yall are doing?  I'd say just get 2 more cans and call it good for an 8 hour race. You don't even need good fast cans cause you can always transfer between jugs.

55 gallon drums are somewhat convenient.  However, you still need to take the cans to the drum and pump them.  So, you are only saving the amount of time it takes to drive to and from the gas station.  

Also, a 55 gallon drum is HEAVY.  It's not exactly portable. Plus, it's kind of assumed it's in the trailer.  This is a big fire hazard.

If it's in the back of a truck and visible, there are regulations about transporting fuel that you may or may not run afoul of.

I'm sure the same rules apply to many smaller containers, but nobody has ever stopped us for individual fuel cans in the bed of the pickup.

We've done it both ways.  We went back to just the 5 (actually 6) gallon hunsacker fuel jugs.

The Chumpcar effort I was a part of used 55 gal drums. You only need placards if you are hauling more than 1,001 pounds. We had two drums, but we usually ran two cars.

We also had a semi, so space wasn't a big problem. 

Clearly, the answer is to buy another truck so you can load it up with even more fuel jugs. 

Colin Wood said:

Clearly, the answer is to buy another truck so you can load it up with even more fuel jugs. 

Give this man a cookie! ^^^^

We use something similar to these with a rotary pump to move into hunsakers (ones rated for fuel storage). We have two + 3 hunsakers and great for space saving.

https://www.uline.com/Product/Detail/S-11860/Drums/Plastic-Drum-with-Lid-30-Gallon-Open-Top-Blue

I've used these pretty often. This one is 45 gallons and sells for about $300. 

In reply to fatallightning :

That seems like a good balance of capacity and ease of moving. It would fill the current jugs once (nine 5 gallon jugs), saving at least one trip to the station. 

If they can wait until the jugs and that are empty, then a single trip to the station to fill the jugs and and fuel cart is all that would be needed, even on days when they would make 2-3 trips. 

Edit: being in FL, it may be possible to find similar fuel carts used for less money since boat owners will use them to avoid paying fuel dock prices when they have smaller boats on a slip. 
 

Fuel drums also come in 30 gallon, and those are a LOT easier to deal with than the 55-gallon drums. I have one that I used to fill with E85 for the Corvette if I was doing an event someplace that didn't have nearby E85. I'd stow it inside the enclosed trailer close enough to the door where a fuel hose from a pump could reach it, then fill it at the last opportunity before I got to the event. The only trick is they're shorter than the 55 gallon drums, so you need to modify the pump pickup so it doesn't bottom out.

You asked about the legal aspects.  Might need to check the DOT regs specifically.  There is more to it than random Internet forum responses.

A 55 gallon drum MIGHT work. But it has to be rated for the hazmats you are hauling, sealed, and secured.  This means that a plastic drum won’t work, a drum with the pump and pickup in it won’t work, and that 400 lb drum needs to be secured in a way that it won’t slide around if you are in a wreck.  That’s a lot.

1001 lbs of hazardous material is the limit. Above that means you need a CDL with a hazmat endorsement.  2 drums of gasoline won’t pass that limit, but 2 drums plus a full tank in the truck and a full tank in the race car might exceed the limit.  It’s all hazmats you are transporting.
 

You might also have a problem considering the business you are in.  I could haul gas and call it personal use, your commercial registration plus the fact that you go to the track as part of your regular business operations might make it a commercial transport of hazmats.

It also wouldn’t surprise me if your insurance company had some issues that you should be aware of.

As is usually the case, the answer is “it depends”.

gasoline is 6-6.55 lbs/gallon.

You're using (9*5)*(1+2) to (9*5)*(1+3) gallons of fuel per... day?  it's not clear if that's for the total day or race?

but assuming the following is the total you need to bring with you:

Okay, here's our current situation: We have nine 5-gallon fuel jugs, which is enough for 2.5 pit stops in our Miata. So, we're running out to buy more gas 2-3 times per day. And sometimes that's a long drive, because Sunoco is a partner and we try to buy from Sunoco stations. 

that's 135 to 180 gallons of fuel.  which is 878lbs to 1170lbs (not including the weight of the tank) assuming the higher density... although, I think 6 lbs/gal is the more commonly used density (would be 810 to 1080 lbs of fuel alone).

Double that, if this is to cover two days of the "race".

I think you're taking two trucks with two 55 gallon tanks?  or one 55 gallon drum with the car, and two drums with a second truck?  If it's two days of racing, I think that means you need 3 trucks?

Thanks for all the suggestions and advice, everyone. Lots of good ideas in here.

To do a little more math: The car uses 8.5-11.5 gallons per hour depending on the track and how hard we push , and the races are 8-14 hours long. That means we use somewhere between 68-161 gallons of fuel per day.

I'm not trying to carry 161 gallons tomorrow or anything, just trying to get an understanding for how teams in similar situations have scaled up from a few small gas cans. So, this has been really helpful so far. 

I wonder if this is something Sonic has covered elsewhere in the past?

One of these? Fuel Mule

Something Jerry Hoffman started production after selling DIYAutoatune.

MadScientistMatt said:

One of these? Fuel Mule

Something Jerry Hoffman started production after selling DIYAutoatune.

I think that I should be able to ride just about anything with wheels and propulsion, and I'm disappointed that I can't ride that mule.