Driver62 asked:


Im curious as to if I can run E85 as a circle track race fuel. Can I mix it with my gasoline? Can i run it straight? Will it even make any difference? I have heard of other racers cutting there gas with alcohol and getting amazing results.

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1 Comment so far

1. jobel June 17, 2009 10:21 am

   Ethanol increases the octane rating of the gasoline. By itself, ethanol’s octane rating is somewhere around 115. Though the higher octane rating doesn’t increase horsepower all by itself, it allows you to run higher compression ratios (all the way up to 15:1 or 16:1 depending on the percent of ethanol used) and get a bit more efficiency and power out of the engine, and you can take advantage of longer duration cams and bigger heads, etc…. Ethanol has a different stoichiometric air/fuel ratio than gasoline, so you’ll have to rejet your carb(s) to run richer if you mix it with your gasoline, or you’ll have to totally modify the carb or buy ready made parts to run ethanol by itself.

   Also remember that some rubber and plastic parts are adversely affected by contact with alcohol, though this is more of a problem with methanol than ethanol. Still, be sure any electric fuel pumps or other rubber/plastic parts that will come in contact with the ethanol are alcohol compatible.

   Hope this helps.

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