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Marshall Brain

Hi, I’m Marshall Brain with today’s question. Do racecars use gasoline like normal cars do, or do they use something else? It depends on the type of racecar you’re talking about. For example, NASCAR engines burn 110-octane leaded gasoline. Indy cars burn pure methanol, also known as wood alcohol. Top fuel dragsters and funny cars burn nitromethane. Each of these fuels has advantages and disadvantages. For example, the methanol fuel used in Indy cars has the advantage that it can run at extremely high compression ratios, meaning more power, and the engine’s able to handle turbo charging easily. Methanol also has a nice safety feature. You can extinguish a methanol fire with water.

110-octane gasoline also handles high compression well. Nitromethane is basically a liquid explosive and contains a great deal of energy per unit volume. It has more than twice the energy as a similar amount of gasoline.

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