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Originally Posted by maxSaleen
I'm aware of the fact that ethanol has been in use for a very long time. I'm just saying that it hasn't been used properly. A fuel with such a high octane rating is going to need a lot of oxygen for proper combustion. Normally aspirated engines are not capable of this. Any engine with a pressure boost will increase the amount of air (and therefore oxygen) and thus be more efficient with higher octane fuels. ....
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I've used it as race fuel.
It actually carries less energy per pound, but you can run at a higher compression ratio, which makes an internal combustion engine more efficient (a major reason why diesels are so fuel efficient).
So... running some kind of boost
does make alcohol work better as a fuel, but it's not a matter of needing more O2 so much as raising your effective compression ratio (running boost increases your effective displacement as well).
There were some amazing motorcycle engines built to use boost,(IMHO the most interesting one was the AJS "Roarer") but they pretty much fell by the wayside when the technology was banned after WWII (mostly an issue with the tire technology of the day not being up to the amazing-for-then power produced).
As a side issue, an engine fire, when using alcohol, is a very scary thing (I've only experienced two) - but it's probably minor compared to what a hydrogen fire would be...