http://www.ethanolrfa.org/factfic_enperf.html

Hmm, I don't know, what do you guys think

Don't Indy cars run on ethanol, or am I just a dumb ass?

I think so. Some of the sites said they run them in the race cars. Aren't they all alcohol-based?

Yes I believe CART, Formula 1 and IRL all run pure ethanol. Ethanol fires are scary because you can not see the flames.

How cool would it be to run a 2.8 pully with no knock retard with this fuel? wouldnt this work? With it being such a high octane?

Hello,

This is what I see.....
Ethanol is a cleaner burning fuel, and to help keep the environment clean, you are encouraged to use Ethanol based fuel. Even though your MPG will drop by 2%, the benefits out weigh the drawbacks. This seems to be targeted toward "the average driver".....Seeing how most of us are driving above and beyond what the average driver is doing....I ask this...

I dunno about pure Ethanol, but, if your MPG is going to drop due to using Ethanol based fuel...Isn't your performance going to suffer too???

Later now,
Clint

You got that right. Besides the race cars are runnin super high compression ratios. If you wanna fight KR with octane just buy your fuel from the local airport. AVGAS is 104 octane.

I'm guessing the reason why gasoline is used more that ethanol is the obvious safety reasons. IIRC, water is the only thing that will put out an ethanol fire, fire extinguishers don't work. I remember watching some Indy race or some kind of open wheel racing and everytime there was a fire, everyone started throwing 5 gallon buckets of water, dropping their fire extinguishers. Ethanol is a very volitale fuel. The most dangerous part of using ethanol is refueling.

Someone correct me if I'm wrong, but I seem to remember this from a couple of years ago, watching some race.

Yep. Happens frequently no smoke no flames but burns and burns and water is the only way to get it out fast.

Here's some more information I found:

ethanol - it has a high octane rating, which is essentially the measure of its resistance to generate knock and (this is related) it releases less energy during combustion than gasoline (and its constitutuents, such as Toluene & Xylene).

Check out section 9.3 at http://www.faqs.org/faqs/autos/gasoline-faq/part4/. Note three things: ethanol is more likely to vaporise and the heat it gives off in that process is 3 times that of unblended pump gas and that the flame temp of gasoline is over 100 degrees C higher (more than 5 percent) than ethanol. So, even though ethanol has a higher octane, it produces less power (which is generally the case with all higher octane fuels) and generates more heat. Further, since it is more likely to vaporise, it is not as good at quenching heat in the combustion chamber, something that all the custom and aftermarket PCMs for our cars do by added more fuel - it cools the combustion chamber down and provides more fuel when more timing is used. With ethanol, the combustion chamber will not be cooled down as well as with unblended gas.

Finally, because ethanol is an oxygenate, it effectively leans out your car, causing your performance PCM to want to chuck more fuel into the combustion chamber, which is only going to make the combustion temps rise because of the added vaporisation heat of ethanol, which isn't good in the L67. Lean cars also generate more heat because of the reduced quenching effect.

That's the semitechnical explanation. There are a ton of comments about "blended" and "oxygenated" gasoline at Regalgs, OQcgp, and clubGP. Ethanol is generally regarded by all to be a performance reducer. I've purchased blended gas from both Husky and Mohawk more than once from each and my car noticeably ran weaker. It's not that you can't run ethanol, but that you'll not run as powerfully, especially in an engine like ours where keeping combustion temperatures down is key.

Well if this fuel is so much better on the environment could it be just a matter of time before they develop an engine that safelly and effectively burns this gas??? Diesel started out the same way, uncontrollable unsafe, his name was Cummins.......Now look what diesel is, eventually we are going to have to have an alternative and i dont know if it will always be electro gas engines........

Avaiton grade fuel is not measured in the same octain levels as automotive fuels. 100 or 100LL for aircraft is similar to auto 91-93. We have this discussion alot at my University's car clubs website. We're an aeronautical university, so our engineering majors and graduates have decided to list all the technicals on this topic. As well as avaition fuel lacks upper end lubricant that auto fuel has. So DO NOT USE IT.

Hey, in North Dakota we have a fuel called E-85. It is at least 85% ethanol and is suppose to be 100+ octane. I have used it in my 1995 GP SE and it runs just fine. Plus it is $.20/gallon cheaper.

Damn. I was ready to drive to the airport for some since the nearest race fuel is 2 hrs away. You can buy race fuel on line, and they deliver it to your door. 5, 30, and 55 gallon drums.
Jack

I'd think that the AVGAS would be a better fuel being that you can't just pull off the side of the road in an airplane.