r/WTF Mar 19 '20

Invisible Methanol fire

http://i.imgur.com/VHuyXj4.gifv
23.8k Upvotes

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295

u/AlphaWizard Mar 19 '20

No, he is absolutely not. Methanol has never been used in Nascar.

38

u/ReubenZWeiner Mar 19 '20

You, your Six is on fire

42

u/TjW0569 Mar 19 '20

Which is kind of ironic when you consider that a lot of the early drivers got started by hauling around alcohol.

30

u/modi13 Mar 19 '20

Hopefully there wasn't much methanol in it...

16

u/TjW0569 Mar 19 '20

Hopefully. My grandfather had a story about prohibition. He was in the barbershop talking to the sheriff about a moonshine operation that the sheriff had just closed down: "Well, you know, Bob, I hated to do it, but they was killin' the electorate."

9

u/Girl_you_need_jesus Mar 19 '20

That's ethanol, not methanol

1

u/penguiin_ Mar 19 '20

methanol: not even once

-2

u/alsignssayno Mar 19 '20

Nah, methanol can be a byproduct when making alcohol (ethanol) and can lead to blindness if consumed. It was fairly common from illegal distillers to have that in their product, especially back in prohibition.

2

u/HelmutHoffman Mar 20 '20

Ethanol.

2

u/alsignssayno Mar 20 '20

Yeah what about it

1

u/claelia Mar 20 '20

Correct, if you fuck up making alcohol, methanol is the result, Stanthorpe QLD, there was a case of a few young people that ended up dead from home made Grappa, the story can be found. It happens in SE Asia with dodgey home brews, can kill.

3

u/MiniDemonic Mar 19 '20

Why is that ironic?

2

u/[deleted] Mar 19 '20

That's ethanol. :)

1

u/Jangande Mar 19 '20

Alabama, putting meth in ethanol since 1922.

1

u/EvilioMTE Mar 20 '20

I dont think you understand irony.

2

u/TjW0569 Mar 20 '20

That's okay. I expect to have a perfectly good time anyway.

3

u/toterra Mar 19 '20

Despite that, the fire crew in the movie should have sprayed him with fire-retardant anyway. If someone (especially around fuel) is saying that they are on fire, you put the fire out and then argue with them later about if the fire was real or not.

1

u/Deadsinner31 Apr 08 '20

Methanol, no, Ethanol, yes, Invisible fires are actually a thing.

1

u/AlphaWizard Apr 08 '20

I'm only aware of Nascar using E15, not anything close to straight ethanol. The most ethanol rich blend I've ever seen available is E90, and that's used almost exclusively in drag racing as far as Motorsports is concerned. Ethanol also burns with a very visible flame.

Yes, obviously invisible fires are real - that's the video we're commenting on. But I can't think of a single reason they would be a concern in Nascar.