On Date: Tue, 1 Oct 2002 05:49:12 -0700 (PDT), Don Miller
<turbospl311@yahoo.com> said:
>Hi all,
>We have run into a question here with our Junior
>karting program. IKF rules do not allow for gasoline
>but run methanol. I thought Methanol gave higher power
>out of the same engine. Am I mistaken? The local IKF
>representative told me they run methanol because it
>has a higher flash point then gas and is therefore
>safer. What are other regions running in their Junior
>kart programs?
The main safety benefit to methanol as a fuel is that it can be extinguished
with water and is completely miscible in water. Its energy content is about
half that of gasoline (BTU/gallon), and you need to burn roughly twice as much
in a given amount of air to get the same power. It has a greater heat of
evaporation than gasoline, which means it serves as its own charge cooler, in
effect.
The main drawbacks to methanol are that it's corrosive to a lot of rubbers and
metals (notably the aluminum used in a lot of engines), which is why CART and
IRL and drag racers using methanol "pickle" their engines by running some
gasoline through them before putting them to bed for the night, and that it
burns with an invisible flame. It is, like gasoline, poisonous to ingest, and
can cause chemical burns if left in contact with the skin (although it's less
likely to do so than gasoline).
Jim Crider
Product Development Engineer
Engine Group
Metaldyne, Inc.
autojim@att.net
jamescrider@metaldyne.com (work)
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