This is a quote from Larry Meaux, the man I would argue has dyno'ed and collected more data on automotive racing engines than anyone I know of.

This is from a forum post over on speedtalk.com concerning the requirement of having to increase port cross sectional area to get the most from alcohol as a fuel.

"...you'll loose an immediate 8-12+ % PerCent Loss in Ve% just switching over to Methanol -vs- Gasoline,
..but you'll usually also pickup that same 8-10 % PerCent gain in Torque
with Methanol, even with the Ve loss

there's more HP/TQ waiting for you if you could recover more of that 8-12 Ve% Loss

further optimizing the Intake Port Runner cross-sectional area, port velocity, port shape for Methanol will get you even more TQ/HP gains, especially mid-range to top-end MPH/ET ."

That quote is driven by the fact that the increased volume of fuel occupies a portion of port cross section that would normally be used by the air traveling through the ports.

One of the most attractive aspects of running alcohol is that is has a much wider tuning window. There is a perfect fuel/air ratio for alcohol, but it will run and make decent power when the jetting is out of whack. The same error with race gas will net either burned pistons or fouled plugs.

Rob