>"This power gain due to increased volumetric mass efficiency is the >primary reason for the popularity of methyl alcohol as a racing fuel. >With ethanol the effect isn't quite as dramatic, but the greater heat >value partially offsets the lower latent heat. Overall, this power >increase with alcohol fuels considerably mitigates the liability of >low heat value... the main point illustrated is that the two fuels >are remarkably similar in performance in a correctly adjusted engine."
Interesgting. One additional thing that occurred while I was reading: with gasoline muscle cars and such, you often see folks go to lengths to get even more good air to their engines and fuels. Ok, but maybe this will cost a bit either in reduced aerodynamic efficiency (since you're scooping a bit more air out of the flow) and-or using a bit of the engine? since some of these air-increase schemes may involve using engine power, say to power a super-charger? Getting back to the aero, here we have what on the face of it is an advantage for EVs (since they can do away with an air intake, except if you need air for cooling the batteries or for interior air issues). I was thinking all this, and then came to the passage where it mentioned favoring methanol for racing. I had been thinking that whatever minor loss of aero there is for a hood scoop or engine-air-intake, and whatever minor increase in complexity there might be for a supercharger or turbocharger, there are probably offsetting considerations. But here we have (some) real racers voluntarily going for Methanol because in their view it's the best fuel for the job they have. I'm pretty sure Indy racing has been using Methanol, but I don't think NASCAR and I don't know about F1. The reason you provide for the use of methanol does sort of seem to be related to the way I'm looking at it, though not directly. I guess it looks to me like they're "having to do less work" to get the necessary air to the fuel for optimal burning. I wonder how this works out with H2 in an ICE engine. MM Biofuel at Journey to Forever: http://journeytoforever.org/biofuel.html Biofuels list archives: http://infoarchive.net/sgroup/biofuel/ Please do NOT send Unsubscribe messages to the list address. To unsubscribe, send an email to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Yahoo! Groups Links <*> To visit your group on the web, go to: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/biofuel/ <*> To unsubscribe from this group, send an email to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] <*> Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to: http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/
