I had understood it to be closer to 120-122 which is still much better
than gasoline Have worked on sprinters for a very long time and alky
drag cars am not disputing the benefits but is not a fuel that is
appropriate for the gas class. It also does not work well with nitrous
and by itself does not add enough power for a N/A engine compared to the
simplest of nitrous. For a very high rpm engine nitro is not all that
much worth the effort as it burns slow but is very suitable for those
tractor engines that turn 6500 rpm.. Oh well never mind this has
digressed too far..The original thought was the quality of the gasoline
available at Bonneville and at least 2 people that have a real good clue
on the tune-up loosing an engine due to a fuel related problem at the
same meet with the same fuel...
Dahlgren
dferguso@ebmail.gdeb.com wrote:
>
> well, maybe some of the veteran land speed racing gurus can help out here,
> but i think methanol has an equivalent octane of near 140 , and while a
> gasoline internal combustion engine utilizes an air / fuel ratio ( by
> weight ) of 14+ to 1, methanol is at around 6 or 7 to 1, and nitro is near
> 1 to 1, so jetting, still critical, becomes less sensitive with the latter
> fuels. but likewise fuel flow demands increase dramatically, especially
> when nitro is introduced. another quality of methanol is that for a given
> expansive force on the piston during combustion, the net thermal component,
> or heat output , of the methanol is a little less, so the engine tends to
> run cooler yet still makes alot of power. other factors are involved-
> unfortunately there is no direct correlation between gasoline and methanol
> since they are very different compounds, but the fact that top alky drag
> racers can run static compression ratios of 12 or 14 to 1 with big 14-71 hi
> helix blowers and such with viscious overdrives and go through the lights
> at very high rpm sheds light on why methanol stands as an important fuel to
> racing. dont forget that methanol is somewhat corrosive, so this is a
> disadvantage which must be weighed against some of the superior qualities
> if your not into draining and flushing your fuel system on a regular basis
> . - doug @ black radon
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