Higher octane fuels could become available in the future

[Porsche9]

Europe already have higher octane fuel and it could be coming to the US in the future. Wouldn't that be nice especially for us in the west were anything better than 91 is hard to find.

Higher-Octane Fuels Are Under Development, Report Says - Motor Trend

[Fintro11]

Love my chevron 94

[Timco]

I've only seen better than 91 at the old LHM track.

[That986]

Run on 99 all the time, lovely stuff.

[Deserion]

I think that the article could be better written. We're pretty much running the same gas in Europe and North America, in general. The author says Europe has higher octane - yes, but that's because it's measured differently. Europe posts the RON (Research Octane Number), while North America posts AKI (R+M)/2 (Anti-Knock Index [RON+MON]/2).

98 RON = 93 AKI
95 RON = 91 AKI
91 RON = 87 AKI

So in the last paragraph, there is no actual difference in actuality. The GM engineer doesn't state which method is used in mentioning 114 octane (likely RON, I would guess). I run 93 AKI in my Porsches.

[JFP in PA]

Originally Posted by Deserion

I think that the article could be better written. We're pretty much running the same gas in Europe and North America, in general. The author says Europe has higher octane - yes, but that's because it's measured differently. Europe posts the RON (Research Octane Number), while North America posts AKI (R+M)/2 (Anti-Knock Index [RON+MON]/2).

98 RON = 93 AKI
95 RON = 91 AKI
91 RON = 87 AKI

So in the last paragraph, there is no actual difference in actuality. The GM engineer doesn't state which method is used in mentioning 114 octane (likely RON, I would guess). I run 93 AKI in my Porsches.

Motortrend rarely get anything correct; nothing new here..........

[BER]

We used to be able to get 94 octane at Sunoco stations, but I have not seen it for a couple years.

My local airport will dispense 100 octane Avgas into 5 gallon metal cans. Cost is $4.75/gallon.

I don't do it often, but I will occasionally mix the 100 octane Avgas with 93 octane pump premium in my 3.2 Carrera Sport and it runs like a scalded cat! Have not tried the mix in my Boxster yet, but I will soon.

[AZ986S]

Originally Posted by BER

We used to be able to get 94 octane at Sunoco stations, but I have not seen it for a couple years.

My local airport will dispense 100 octane Avgas into 5 gallon metal cans. Cost is $4.75/gallon.

I don't do it often, but I will occasionally mix the 100 octane Avgas with 93 octane pump premium in my 3.2 Carrera Sport and it runs like a scalded cat! Have not tried the mix in my Boxster yet, but I will soon.

$4.75 is much cheaper than $8.50 I pay for the 100 Octane unleaded I get for track events. I believe the 100LL Avgas still contains some lead though, so I wouldn't use it.

[edc]

You can get 102 RON. Mainly in Germany and continental Europe. If you jus want an octane boost then put some octane booster in with your fuel.

[lkchris]

It's irrelevant to current car owners.

The point is, the higher your compression, the more efficient your motor. This is a fuel saving thing and is occurring to urge manufacturers to produce higher compression engines. Turbocharged, maybe.

A given motor only needs the octane it needs and feeding it anything higher does nothing except possibly waste money.

[Porsche9]

Originally Posted by lkchris

It's irrelevant to current car owners.

The point is, the higher your compression, the more efficient your motor. This is a fuel saving thing and is occurring to urge manufacturers to produce higher compression engines. Turbocharged, maybe.

A given motor only needs the octane it needs and feeding it anything higher does nothing except possibly waste money.

True, but it would be nice to be able to get 93 octane which are cars are designed for. Modification to fueling and ignition timing could also yield power increases if you have access to higher octane fuel. Back in the day I would advance ignition timing at the distributor as much as the fuel would allow before ignition knock was induced. If the car would run fine on regular you could run super and advance the ignition a bit and squeeze some extra power out of the car. Obviously this was back in the day of distributors.