Now that you know what methanol is, one limited use for methanol is in automotive fuel. Internal combustion engines, mainly  by virture of the fact that is it not nearly as falmmable as gasoline.

Pure methanol is required by rule to be used in USAC sprint cars, midgets, modifieds, etc etc, other dirt track series and Champcars.

Methanol can also be used in radio control, control line and free flight airplans, cars, and trucks as well. Some drag racers and mud racers will also make the use of methanol their primary fuel source as well.

Since methanol is not as combustable as regular gasoline, a high combustion engine has to make use of the fuel. Mainly a supercharged engine in top alcohol dragsters and the above mentioned racers. Even up until the end of the 2006 Indianapolis 500 racers used methanol in their cars.

Aside from the power it takes to combust methanol, it’s not commonly used to fuel vehicles these days due to their aluminum engines. Methanol easily corrodes aluminium, and attacks the oxide coating that protects the aluminium from corrosion.

When methanol is produced from wood or other organic materials, the resulting organic methanol has been suggested as a renewable alternative hydrocarbs. However you still can not use the pure bioalcohol in vehicles today due to the damage it will do to your metal piping and rubber seals of the engine.

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