E85 fuel

[looseunit225]

hey guys and girls!

here in australia i have been reading a fair few articles on a new type of biofuel that is being brought out its called E85 dont know if you guys have heard of it!

its 85% ethanol and 15% petroleum!

bassicly performance car magazines hear are calliong it a streetable Methanol with no reports of corrosivness from the fuel with a rated octane level of 110 and the stuff is like ICE to touch!

best of all its about 20cents (AUS) a litre cheapewr than pump fuel!

has anyone heard or done anything about it yet?

[Mark75H]

It is common in the US and not really a viable race fuel.

In the US it is looked down on because use of food crops as fuel increases food cost. There are a lot of foods with corn or corn sugar as sweetener. You end up paying for your street fuel at every meal. In the end you will be unhappy. There are better crops that yield more ethanol and you eventually will see corrosion and water contamination ... a no win situation

[looseunit225]

the problem we have come across here in Australia is that as of the end of this any leaded fuel is strictly banned from racing with big penalties!

so we are looking for a cost effective high octane fuel to take the place of AVGAS

not to mention Australia has alot and i mean alot of sugar cane plantations and thats where they are getting the ethanol from!

plus sugar cane is a reneweble substance so i dont think its really that bad and could be an oprion for the future?

[Mark75H]

When the price of sugar goes up you will change your mind.

If you are going to use alcohol, you might as well use methanol. Methanol is made from sawdust and wood chips ... industrial waste, not food.

[looseunit225]

methanol is also outlawed in ski racing here in Australia!

dont ask me why! but it is!

we have alot of pointless rules that seem to make sence but i spose thats what you get when our committee is made up by people that have little boat knowledge and or engine knowledge!

[Mark75H]

You may find that the same rule makes E85 illegal

[Tim Chance]

I know very little about ethanol except that I like it in a glass with ice, tonic and a wedge of lime.

E85 in the USA is strictly a political agenda. A person seems to think it is good or bad depending on if the money is going out of their pocket or into their pocket.

I run in the PRO Division over here and run methanol and caster oil. At the end of the day I start the engine and flush it out with gas and oil. I have no problems.

A couple of years ago the Indy Racing League (runing Sunday, October 26 at the Nikon Indy 300 at Surfers Paradise in Australia) switched from methanol to ethanol because of sponsorship money. Not because it is faster or better. But it does work.

[looseunit225]

You may find that the same rule makes E85 illegal

Mark thats the stupid thing here in Aus they determine E85 as a pump gas so they have allowed it in racing!

we are allowed to use certain racing fuels but for $800+ a 44 gallon its not very viable for us to run seens i will use near on a drum for one race!

besides all the political things am i going to be able to run this fuel like i was running avgas or am i going to hgave to pull ignition timming out of it and build a new set of heads to drop it back down to be able to use pump gas??