Bio-Ethanol in motor racing

Still here, spewing Googled cut and paste drivel and hurling insults in all directions from the safety of your bedroom eh Chris? It's time you published your contact details again so people can enjoy a face to face debate................lol.....................!...............lol.........etc.

g f

Hi Tom,

Didn't Porsche do that once upon a time with a 916 or something? Got

With all the knowledge of engine tuning you have shown us all on here, then I cannot fathom why you dont build your own engines.

On specially blended race fuel costing £5 a litre yes.............bit expensive for your average chav though!

Indeed, and Holbrook will happily sell you everything you need to get best performance from 113 octane ethanol. Alcohol has been the fuel of choice since at least 1980, and a huge range of engines from chain saws to V10 monsters have been designed top run exclusively on alcohol. NASCAR and Formula One are unusual in staying with gasoline for so long, but as I said, I have a vague memory that in the glory turbo days several F1 teams were using either all alcohol or alcohol/gasoline (oxygenated) fuels.

Then the FIA got all anal about fuel and specified the composition of fuel in fine detail.

Don't those Aussie speedway bikes run on alcohol too?

Could you kindly explain your understanding of fuel chemistry? A reference to the institution where you obtained your degree would also be of interest.

SCSA use one licenced engine builder; Roush Racing, so we don't get much choice.

IRL have recently been testing 100% ethanol at Indy in preparation for the 2007 season. It's 100% ethanol, not blended with anything.

Steve Firth (%steve%@malloc.co.uk) gurgled happily, sounding much like they were saying :

It goes back at least half a century before that in motor racing. You really wouldn't want to get too near the stuff that Mercedes and Auto-Union were using in the 30s.

The good news is ethanol flames are relatively cool so the fire resistant suits should last a little longer but I hope they plan to add something to help make the flames more visible.

Your drinking habits aren't needed in here Steve.

Quite a few race cars use it across several different series, it's a great fuel and if we were keeping the FVJ (we are getting Kimi's ex FR to replace it) I'd be looking to run it on E85 when we get the ITBs on it. Unfortunately it's all £££. The only real problem is getting the stuff for road use or I'd swap my TDi for a modified 1.8 or 2L 20v (that and it's still taxed too much)

Wouldn't count on it; Champ Cars running on methanol have the chance of an invisible fire, so they squirt water at the side of the car during pit stops as a precaution...

It's not only in top flight motorsport that alcohol fuel is used. It's also used in clubman / National hillclimbing in the UK. The cars that run it are required to display an orange disc next to the competition number to alert marshalls in case of an accident and the possibilty of an unseen fire. This may be one of the reasons why it's not used in NASCAR and F1.