Race Fuel That Has Oxygen In

[djones]

Speaking totally in theory here - what would this race fuel do in a road car such as an E46 M3?

I understand the higher RON rating cannot be taken advantage of without mapping for it to advance timing, but does the 3.7% of oxygen in the fuel do anything?

http://www.aaoil.co.uk/racing-Sunoco-FR ... acing-fuel

[flynfrog]

In race engines its a good way to get a little extra power. Its probably not worth the cost in a stock engine since the octane will be to high. Its handy when racing at high altitudes where the air is thin

[Belatti]

Thats really expensive! I see it useful for Kart divisions where the carbs have restrictors and you are allowed to use all the compression you want.

[Flummo]

The amount of power a engine can develop depends on the amount of fuel it can burn, and in turn that depends on the amount of air (or rather oxygen) it gets. Adding chemicals that contain oxygen to the fuel can increase the amount of fuel that can be burned = more power.

But any time you change fuel you need to adjust the engine for it. Ordinary pump gas is supposed to be more or less the same so you are supposed to be able to change between diffrent octane ratings and diffrent gas stations without making adjustments, but when you use any other fuel you MUST rejet the carb or map the fuel injection to get correct fuel to air ratio. With oxygenated fuels it is likely you need to inject substantially more fuel to prevent the engine from running lean.

[Ian P.]

http://www.epa.gov/mtbe/gas.htm

First the good news....yes it is reasonable and beneficial to put Oxygen into gasoline. It increases combustion efficiency, reduces emissions and is readily available.
Now the bad news.... it is really nasty s****t. Problem is it is water soluable being methanol based and has some rather socially unacceptable side effects. Something about cancer and poisonous effects. Bottom line, GONE...and not likely to be seen again.
In the case of the current regs for F1 fuels, with the drive for a green organic component in the fuel, it opens up the chemical options to blend some really exotic fuels that are very specific to F1. A poorly thought out regulation in my opinion.