So, back to this:
A) 100 oct from 87 was useless.
B) A technical headache anyway.
A&B: From Wotan:
1st:
I will point out that just pouring high octane fuel into a tank doesn't necessarily mean you will see any significant performance gains. Things like compression, adjustment in timing etc. are necessary to take advantage of the higher octane fuel.
and 2nd:
I don't think you understand the point. The simple act of pouring a 100 octane fuel into a Spits tank won't necessarily mean much in terms of added performance.
It may actually hurt performance.
Just like you couldn't just 'pour C3' into a 109K and run at 1.98 ata I doubt seriously you just pour 100 octane in a Spit Ia and off you go...
Things dont work that way. There would have needed to been some adjustment made to take advantage of high octane fuel.
So, if I understand you right, being able to use 100 oct fuel if it was at all available was useless, for it was a technical issue to deal with before it could be properly utilized, right?
I did point out that RR had been squeezing up to 2000 hp out of an early PRODUCTION model Spitfire, so they knew the game.
Bring 100 octs, change sparks etc, perhaps fiddle with the timing (well, it's all magnetos anyway) and it is not a big problem.
So, a question or two, did you ever fly yourself? Did you ever change sparks? and did you try to run your car on stronger or weaker fuel than it is optimized to?
Running a high octane optimized car, say 98 lead is a pain with 98 unleaded, (best to use lead liquid like STP with fuel), terrible on 95, however fine on aviation fuel (100-120)
Not kidding, tried it...nener nener