murdoch wrote:
> That is interesting to learn about NASCAR, but my question is what are
>
> they using now, not how did they get started.
I understand. My knowledge is incomplete, but nearly all the track
auto racing venues I'm aware of use methanol as a fuel. Further, it's
easier to find aftermarket racing equipment for methanol than ethanol.
That should be a fairly reliable indication, at least in North America.
> Not sure, but this may be a bit of a misunderstanding. My thought was
>
> that if less air is required per unit mass of methanol or ethanol, in
> mixing them, to get a given level of horsepower, then technically it's
>
> requiring "less work".
What it really means is that fuel pressures must be higher, and
injectors more robust to get that volume of fuel into a cylinder. There
is still a considerable amount of effort put into cramming as much air
into the engine as is possible--hence a lot of research has gone into
cylinder head porting, the development of tuned intake tubes and big
turbos. In general, racing engines use short stroke crankshafts, large
diameter cylinder bores, and high overlap camshafts in order to produce
high horsepower at high rpm. This is, as I'm sure you realize, a very
different approach than is typical in a street car, where we want long
stroke crankshafts for torque.
I believe I understand what you mean by your statement, but I would
never think of it that way. Of course, that doesn't mean I'm right!
> That those ethanol or methanol people are in
> racing and then will go out to do much more work, because they don't
> want the same level of HP, but want greatly boosted HP, seems to me a
> separate issue?
Volumetric efficiency is related to horsepower in a sense. The
displacement of an engine is limited by its physical dimensions, and
will never completely "fill" under atmospheric conditions. Forced
induction enables a small engine to act like a bigger one, in essence,
increasing volumetric efficiency beyond 100%. (That's where the idea of
"boost" comes from.) Power increases because more fuel can be burned in
the air shoved into the cylinders by a turbo, a high vacuum signal
caused by high static compression ratio, a specially designed camshaft,
or a supercharger.
This begins to make sense if you think of an engine as an air pump.
The more air and fuel you can cram into it, the more power you can
make. Turbo diesel engines, by nature, burn lean. Hydrogen can burn
very lean--with as much as 96% air. The other fuels require air AND
fuel in very specific proportions.
>
> Otherwise, lest I forget, thanks for your as-usual highly-educational
> post.
You are very kind, and very welcome!
robert luis rabello
"The Edge of Justice"
Adventure for Your Mind
http://www.1stbooks.com/bookview/9782
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