I meant good one for cabfrank.
Basically E85 offers octane better then the best race gasses on the market and also provides extra oxygen to the combustion (ethanol has oxygen molecules in it that break off during combustion). On top of all that it has a high latent heat that cools the intake air temps to allow more total air to reach the cylinder.
Basically it is the perfect race fuel only methanol and Nitromethane offer higher performance (and methanol has been debated).
Pretty much everything you ever seen that says e85 is worse is looking at MPG, in which case, yes, E85 is worse. It uses about 30% more fuel then gas all else being equal.
The ones that look at performance with E85 generally do it on cars not tuned for E85 or tuned from the factory to give the same performance on both gas and E85.
If you retune a car properly for E85 it will make more power on any engine out there, NA or boosted but boosted engines will see far far larger gains.
Some flex fuel cars are actually coming from the factory setup to make more power on E85 now days, as they should. They can make more power on E85 with the same cylinder pressures (aka, same stress on the engine) then pump gas.
Generally you can expect a modest gain on a good NA engine with E85 and a good tune but a boosted engine can sometimes double the HP levels depending on the setup and assuming the engine can handle that power to start with.
Which brings up another point, you will basically always be able to make more power out of an engine with E85 then pump gas all else being the same. Even if at the limits of what it can handle. If the engine generally pops around ~400whp on pump gas, it is pretty common to make ~500whp on e85.
The end result is that cars are now making 2-4x more power for given “classes” then they were 10 years ago. 10 years ago 1000whp was still considered massive power. Now days that usually doesn’t even get you an invite to the big events.
As far as the street car vs race car thing. My definition of a street car is anything that you can comfortably daily drive. There are boatloads of cars in the 1000-2000hp range that fit this. They have AC, full interiors, radio, comfortable seats ect. They just happen to go 60-130mph faster then most cars go 0-60.
Course being in the north Texas car scene tends to change your view of fast cars, just a little. A few videos for anyone interested in why : http://www.1320video.com/tag/texas-invitational/
1,500hp viper that is stock looking and feeling until you get under the hood as a 10 second google example: Turbo Viper - 1500hp Street Car! - YouTube
Ok… That makes perfect sense. I got hung up on the term “street cars”, as in daily driver… go to the store type. :person_facepalming:
What TA was referring to was something in an entirely different realm. Absolutely nothing to do with a street car that most people have in their driveway…… in which E85 would suck. 
On a side note… anybody care to hazard a guess about how much Nitro a Top Fuel car will burn on a pass… warm up, burnout, & staging included?
No, I meant exactly what I said. Street car that can and is daily driven and taken to the store for a snack with AC and radio. I know of dozens of such cars in my city alone and many dozens more in the surrounding areas.
Just look at the Texas invitational each year, that is just a very small sampling of the cars we have floating around here. Most of those cars are street cars and many are daily driven as well.
E85 will work better in any car you have parked in your driveway if you retune the engine for it, assuming you are not talking about MPG anyways. Change a few parts on the engine and it can make bigger gains. Already have a turbo or if you add one and the gains get exponentially larger.
Now that said, just tossing E85 in your gas tank will not generally net you much if any gains. If the car is not tuned for it you will see a loss actually. E85 is very different then gas and must be tuned accordingly (and properly, not just to get the correct HP rating). So for most people that just drive their car and don’t know a turbo from a supercharger, yeah, you won’t gain anything from E85. Although if you have a flex fuel you also won’t loose anything generally.
In a car that is properly setup on the other hand, there are massive gains to be had.
A nitro car will burn a few gallons of nitro during a complete pass. The fuel lines are over 1” thick to allow that much fuel flow.
Having a 1000 horsepower daily driver is about as smart/practical as having a pet tiger.
In other words, not smart or practical. Lol
BTW, 99.999999 percent of people have a different definition of street car than you. So I can’t say your wrong, but you can’t expect others to agree to your definition either. Just saying.
Having a 1000 horsepower daily driver is about as smart/practical as having a pet tiger Giga Thrower.
Ok… we were posting at the same time TA. Obviously, we have two completely different definitions of “street car”. So no use playing word games about either one. I appreciate where you are coming from more than you could know… but personally I have zero interest in spending the type money required to be able to drive a race car legally on the street.
More power to those that do.
And yep, the average is about 15 gallons of Nitro per turn. Of course you already know & knew that TA… probably several did not. 
Fuel lines much bigger than a garden hose have always amazed me…….
If they use the best spring combo (P2?) that’s been tested then we should be OK there. Moreso if TF likes it too. I’d hoped for max strength but as long as it works I won’t beetch If it goes bump-mode-change in normal handling someone’s gonna catch hail from me :rage: Any news on the LEDboard delamination being solved?
The Eclipse approaches- I MUST be ready to replace the sun by then!
Phil
What? No.
1000 hp ride or tiger cost thousands of dollars up front plus hundreds of dollars per month to maintain.
Giga thrower is like 150 bucks total. Not even close.
The posts in this thread...
I would say that most people define a street car basically the same way.
It is a car that can be comfortably driven on the street. More and more cars now days are leaving the interior and the rest of the car stock to the point that you would not even know they were modded until they step on the gas. They drive just like stock till boost kicks in as well.
They are perfectly sane and usable on the street, you simply don’t push your foot to the floor unless you have a solid mile of open road in front of you.
To people out of the car loop, it sounds insane but it is really not that big of a deal with how people are doing it now days.
The best comparison of a modern 1000hp+ street car is that of a Q8 honestly.
You have the choice, you can use it as low powered night light in moon mode.
As a general use light to see the attic at a low range mode.
To light up the whole yard in the mid range modes
Light up the whole street in the high modes
Or send a message to the mars rover in turbo mode with the price being enough heat to burn yourself inside a few minuets.
A modern street car is the same way, just because it has the ability to produce 1000hp doesn’t mean that you have to use all that power. It will be perfectly happy cruising along at 20hp, or 100hp or 500hp.
The difference is that with a 100hp car, you are limited to 100hp. With a 1000hp car you have a lot more on tap if you decide you want it.
Part of the experience is standing at the fence near the lights and having your eyes get watery from the heavy nitro fumes 
The alky cars have a different smell and are sans watery eyes. Both are mighty quick down the track IIRC the Alkys use about twice as much fuel per run. It’ been about a dozen years since I’ve been down to Comerce Ga to experience the action; gotta get back there again someday.
Phil
And that pretty well sum it up nicely…… :+1:
.
Building a 1000hp car will indeed cost a fair amount but a whole lot less then buying a car with that much power from the factory (about 1 million+ give or take). I know guys that have built 1000hp cars for less then $20k car included, not bad at all if you ask me. You can easily build a car with a lot of power for less then the cost of a new car.
Modern materials and engine builds are very reliable when done right. I know lots of guys with high HP that do nothing more then change the oil for years. just like a normal car. All about how well you built it in the first place really, you can spend more up front or more over time.
Flashlights really are a good comparison. 10 years ago the idea of a factory 6000 lumen flashlight was insane, now it is happening for $40 and no one expects it to have anymore issues then a 1000 lumen light.
Same for cars, 10 years ago the idea of reliable daily driver 1000hp+ cars being common was insane. Now (mostly thanks to E85) it is here and happens all the time.
Oh, don’t get me wrong. I’m standing in line for my GT. Got my lawn chair and my sleeping bag. The GT isn’t really practical, but I still want one.
TA…. you need to re-enter Earth atmosphere.
“Most people” would in no way what so ever even include 500 hp in the same sentence as “daily driver”…. much less 1000 hp.
You mention people “out of the loop”. Taking all drivers & vehicles into considetation; what percentage do you actually think are “in the loop”?
Personally…. I would say the vast majority are “out of the loop” with a minute minority being “in the loop”.
Edit …… If power cars are your thing, fine. But for the vast majority of people they are not… in any way, form, or fashion.
TA, are you trying to convince people that a 1000 horsepower car can be a daily driver? Why?
A daily driver should be a vehicle that has low insurance rates combined with good fuel economy. In other words, a vehicle that is very cheap to operate on a monthly and yearly basis.
IDK, maybe you don’t care how money you’re spending on fuel every month? Most folks do care.
Texas_Ace, where in Texas do you live? I went to school in Longview, so I’m pretty familiar with that area, and I’m trying to find a job in or around Houston. I really enjoyed the state, and it would be cool to know what town has a fair amount of its people tuning their cars to such extremes.
It’s kind of amusing seeing people debate what is daily drivable when I used to commute on a Suzuki GSX-R1000 that only needed a sprocket swap to dip into the 9-second 1/4 miles, and I thought nothing of it being my “daily driver.” Hell, I had just a motorcycle for over a decade, and even got my full money’s worth out of my Costco membership with just a bike.
Bikes are very good daily drivers. Insurance is usually dirt cheap. I pay like $75 a year. Fuel costs are low as even a 1000cc will probably get 30mpg. There are many downsides as well. Like most folks can’t ride or live where the weather is too bad to ride.
If I lived in Hawaii, I’d ride everyday as well. :+1: