Excellent point Ken. My, how the years fly by.
I agree.
It would be a simple matter to modify existing engines to run efficiently on E-100. I suspect we will see it the next time gasoline hits $4…Propane is also high octane, but not as high as ethanol or methanol…
Ethanol is expensive. Maybe too expensive to be a substitute, especially when it is derived from utterly inefficient corn. Maybe by the time gas is $4 again, cellulosic ethanol will be available.
Hey, that could be a while! Wouldn’t that be great?
I read a year ago that Ford (I think) was looking at a 2-tank system (gas/ethanol) with a high-compression (11:1) small-displacement engine with a turbo. With ethanol, you get very high specific output. Run out of ethanol? No turbo boost, still get normal power.
The BMW 5.0 V-10 could be considered a street F-1 engine (based on where its HP and torque are in the rpm band and how high it revs along with getting 500hp) and it has a 12.0 compression ratio. This kind of compression used to be the domain of cars that had problems being “streetable” (Uses unleaded preminum) max torque at 6100 and hp at 7750. I have to think a mistake was made with this high rpm design.
F1 cars actually use pump gas for fuel, the FIA made that rule a few seasons ago. Indycars use 100% Ethanol.