Quote:
Originally Posted by Ciao
Sounds good, so when high octane is not used and ignition is advanced (tuned) will detonation (pinging) occur?
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Ciao, that's an oversimplification, but in the strictest sense; yes.
In the old days of distributor-ignitions, without knock sensors, etc, it was very common on "tuned" cars with high compression-ratios (or forced induction) to have an ignition curve that was so aggressive that detonation would occur. This was particularly true when the engine was warm, as that lowered the amount of compression before spontaneous combustion (and subsequent detonation) would occur. We did that because we were trying to get the cylinder pressures as high as we could, so we needed to have as much burn-time as possible. Higher octane would allow us to run a more aggressive ignition curve (which, believe it or not, we'd tune with springs and weights!!)
Now though, in today's world of improved combustion-chambers, improved cylinder-fill, direct-injection, hotter-spark and all of the sensors helping to adjust the mixture, this isn't as important. Getting a complete burn, quickly, is not as difficult to accomplish as in days past.
In short: only a fully-built, race-prepped engine with an aggressive tune which includes ignition-curve mapping, and high CR will benefit from higher octane fuel. And that's why they sell it primarily at the racetrack. :-)
Now, as someone else mentioned; Oxygenated fuel is something entirely different! haha. I've got lots of experience with oxygenated fuel, but never in a computer-controlled environment, so I've no idea how an ECU responds to that. I'd love to hear from anyone who HAS tried it, hehe. There's nothing that brings back vivid memories of superbike racing like a whiff of oxygenated fuel..... :dance: