Yep, and every forum has many guys refusing to do some own research with recourses that are close in hand.

I would suggest Flash Point, NitroLux or VP. Have not tried Sidewinder then again you dont see many racers using it either. I would stay away from TNR, was very inconsistent from Gallon to Gallon.

Sidewinder Off-Road 30% nitro, purchased from my local hobby shop (4 minutes from my house, where my local track is) has been my cheapest option ever since Bones Brew's fuel division went tits up about 3 years ago. And I only tried out and switched to Bones back in like 2020 because Byron's vanished.

I was somewhat worried about Sidewinder because I didn't get the impression that it was "serious" enough, simply because I never saw sponsored race guys running it, but I'm now 3 years into running Sidewinder and can confidently say that it's been great. 10/10, zero complaints.

To be honest, as far as engine behavior / tune / idling / power / etc., I've never been able to perceive any difference in the different fuel brands I've run, and that includes buying a gallon of VP Lutz Blend like a year ago when I was at an out-of-town track, and a gallon of the old Losi Nitrotane (20%, the only non-30% I've bought) back when I picked up a pullstart RTR Losi to get back into the hobby.

Being a die hard Byrons guy from planes to cars it hurt having to find something new. We went to VP and I've tried Tessman, Lutz and the ProCar.
Tessman made great power and decent run time but three gallons and you're looking for bearings
Lutz I could of sworn was just repackaged byrons. Really good life (6 gallons) on internals, with a pretty bronze finish on the internals.
Currently running ProCar, seems to be an inbetween of Lutz and Tessman for my self. Better power then lutz and way better economy then Tessman.

These are my findings, doesn't mean they are right lol

I've been using S&W fuel for over 20 years, they're a small company out of Eastern PA. I use the 20%, never an issue with quality or consistancy. I've put at least 10 gallons through an OFNA Violator before a complete tear down, and at least 6 through a Jato3.3, and that is still going strong.

I didn't mean to ressurect and old thread, but I feel this is relevent.

Fuel threads should never die considering how quickly the offerings dwindle. Glad I saw this bumped because I almost gave Sidewinder a try. Remember hearing the name 20 years ago but never knew much about. Sounds like a friend of mine that blends his own is going to blend me some as soon as another meth supplier is located.

I'll have to look into that S&W fuel. 30/11 is important for me. Do you know what their oil package consists of?

Just curious -- why would you be glad you didn't try Sidewinder? Maybe I'm misreading this lol

I know my excellent experience with Sidewinder ever since Bones Brew fuel closed is just anecdotal, but I've never had the impression that Sidewinder had accumulated a bad reputation* where one who had recently considering buying/trying it might be glad that they ultimately didn't.

'Bout the only non-positive remarks against Sidewinder that I'm aware of is the aforementioned lack of top-dog pro drivers sponsored by them/Morgan Fuels, which doesn't functionally mean anything to the consumer.

* Compared to, say, VP Tessman blend,
which has a bit of an established record for bearing corrosion (or at least a faser-than-normal rate of corrosion) and/or shortened piston/sleeve life.
Not speaking from experience here as I've never used that VP blend, but just going off of collective observations.

Sidewinder fuel is great. I’ve been running sidewinder 30% for years now coming from VP. I Race1/8 Nitro buggy and Truggy. Engines run cooler than they did with VP and produce much better smoke. I would definitely recommend sidewinder ,dozens of people at my local track run it and have had no issues most guys getting 7 to 10 gallons on their engines before any maintenance needed on their engines.

Vp tessman but will need more attention with after run oil. Vp lutz, nitro pro, vp pro car 30%, Flashpoint and nitrolux now. There's lots of commercial fuels out there. I've been using the tessman stuff with no issues.

Morgan makes that fuel and their specialty seems to be airplane fuel and not necessarily car fuel. I was doing some digging around on the internet and didn't really see anyone mention anything about their car blends. I believe I saw something about them using a synthetic blend and that's not something I'm after. I know Byron's had one of the best, if not the best, oil package for off the shelf fuel and it was spoken of in high regard on several forums over the years. S&W appears to use a premium oil package so I'm going to probably reach out to see about their custom blends.

I've heard from people with considerably more nitro experience that VP and Flashpoint are the good fuels to get.

Of the different VP fuels, I have seen claims that the Lutz blend is the most engine-friendly, but that seems like the sort of thing that would need some complex testing to confirm. I always use after-run oil anyway, so anything about some fuel needing it and others don't just doesn't apply to me.

For break-in, there are break-in fuels, but you can also get a quart of Klotz synthetic 2-stroke oil and add a few percent to regular racing fuel.