Originally Posted by shakran

And so do alcohol powered dragsters, but that doesn't mean it's a good idea to pour everclear into your honda. That car was specifically designed to go fast using ethanol. That car's engine has a high enough compression that it REQUIRES the high octane of ethanol. But street cars don't have anywhere near that kind of compression ratio, which means higher octane gas actually reduces their performance. A lotta guys think putting 100 octane racing gas into their tank will make their Explorer go faster. In fact, it's just the opposite. The reason fast cars call for higher octane is actually to reduce the detonation potential so that the gasoline doesn't explode before the piston gets to the top of the cylinder - called predetonation, or pinging - which would wreck hell on the motor.

You can make a vehicle fast on any fuel if you design it from the ground up to use that fuel. Put another way, the 4-6-2 Mallard steam locomotive went 125 mph, but that doesn't translate into the concept that we should give up gasoline engines and go back to driving Stanley Steamers.