Welcome to brain Stuff from how stuffworks dot com where smart Happens. Hi, I'm Marshall Brain with today's question. Do race cars use gasoline like normal cars do or do they use something else? It depends on the type of race car you're talking about. For example, NASCAR engines burn a hundred and ten 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 methodol fuel used in Indie cars has the advantage that it can run at extremely high compression ratios, meaning more power and the engines able to handle TERMO charging easily. Methodol also has a nice safety feature. You could extinguish a methodol fire with water. Hundred and ten octane gasoline also handles high compression well. Nitro Methane is basically a liquid explosive and contains a
great deal of energy per unit volume. It has more than twice the energy is a similar amount of gasoline. Be sure to check out our new video podcast, Stuff from the Future. Join how staff Work staff as we explore the most promising and perplexing possibilities of tomorrow. The hou stufforks iPhone app has arrived. Download it today on iTunes,