Quote:
Originally Posted by Table 5
Hmm, that's a little disappointing (not a fan of ethanol at any grade). Higher altitude and relatively low octane doesn't bode well for getting the most performance out of a nice car.
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Actually, you're got that wrong. High altitude means you can use a lower octane. All an octane rating means to us, in reality, is that the gas is less sensitive to pre-detention. At a higher elevation, you have less oxygen, thus a lower chance of pre-det - therefore higher octane is less important the higher you go. This is why some places in high-alt Colorado sell 85 and 83 grade.
The only time this is not true is in turbo charging, as the turbo spins faster to cram more air in and compensates for the altitude, thus it requires the same octane regardless of altitude.