BIOFUELS: After 1M miles, NASCAR gives thumbs-up to ethanol blend

[Bill USA]

http://msn.foxsports.com/nascar/story/BIOFUELS-After-1M-miles-NASCAR-gives-thumbsup-to-ethanol-blend-64485096

NASCAR drivers have traveled more than 1 million miles on an E15 ethanol blend fuel with no setbacks, the organization that sanctions and oversees auto racing said today.

NASCAR (the NationalAssociationforStockCarAutoRacing) issued a report that details its use of Sunoco Green E15, which uses a blend of 15 percent corn ethanol and reduces greenhouse emissions by 59 percent over conventional gasoline.

Long criticized for its environmental impacts, NASCAR formally launched the E15 fuel at the Daytona 500 this year and has used it on all three of the sport's major racing series: the Sprint Cup Series, Nationwide Series and Camping World Truck Series.

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Former driver Richard Childress, who now owns Richard Childress Racing, said that not only were his cars reporting no problems but some were seeing increases in horsepower. He added that "as an owner, it's nice to know that the fuel your cars are burning are made from American-grown corn."

[RC]

1. "...but some were seeing increases in horsepower. "

Pardon my Anglo-Saxon, but Bull Shit.

You cannot dilute gasoline with something with 20% less energy and get increased horsepower.

[TheMadMonk]

2. You can if the burn is more efficient.

Endurance trials conducted here in Australia, also gave counterintuitive results with the highest mileage coming from the highest ethonol blend, and the worst results coming from the high octane "performance" fuel.

My guess is that the blended fuel burns slower and longer, providing power for a greater proportion of the power stroke.

[Fledermaus]

3. Higher compression is possible with higher octane...yes more power is possible

[Bill USA]

4. that's a quote from Richard Childress a former driver and owner of Childress Racing. I don't know

if there is much point in trying to explain this to someone who says Childress doesn't know what he is talking about :rofl: - but here goes...

Ethanol has an octane of 115. Gasoline, high test, is aroung 92-93. Higher octane means you can operate at higher compression ratios which gives you a more effficient burn and greater power. Now, I doubt if the car owners went to higher compression ratios but they probably did move up the spark advance - you can do this with higher octane fuel (the 15% ethanol will raise the octane a bit and enable you to move the spark timing forward a bit). This in itself, can produce more efficient combustion and greater power output.

... this is really no news to people who have a little knowledge of internal combustion engines and fuels used in them. Years ago, before Nitrous became so popular in drag racing they had two major categories of cars: Gas fueled cars and what they called 'Fuelies' ... which before nitro meant alcohol. Alcohol allowed the racers to use GMC blowers (superchargers) to boost compression - wildly. You could not do that with low octane gasoline (even the leaded gas of that era). Consequently it was recognized that it wouldn't be fair to make a guy running gas to have to compete with a car powered with alcohol and 'blown'.

here is some more 'bullshit' on getting more power out of a given displacement engine using ethanol with turbo-charging - if you're interested: http://www.ethanolboost.com/EBS_summary_2-10-09.pdf

"Our engine technology is called Direct Injection (DI) Alcohol Boosting, and is used with turbocharged gasoline engines. It involves on-demand injection of an alcohol containing fluid, such as an ethanol or methanol-water mixture similar to windshield cleaner) or E85, into the engine. This on-demand direct injection allows operation of a given size gasoline engine at much greater power and at higher compression ratio. This makes it possible for automakers to use much smaller and more efficient engines to achieve the same or better performance as today’s engines."