That Car and Driver article is really an "eye opener" isn't it?
I keep hoping, now that we have someone who is scientifically trained in the Dept of Energy, (at least I think we do?) we might just finally move forward in this process of converting sources of energy into useful results. I think the Engineering Community is up to the task, if they can just get a little incentive and the resources to forge ahead.
And, I believe you are correct regarding open loop - the fueling is taken off a map that probably tries to be the best of "both" worlds. Since E85 has a much richer ideal A/F ratio, (and it's possibly less prone to ignite?), I think you're dead on too about the mixture being VERY rich for a flex fuel vehicle running real gas at start. Personally, though, I'm quite surprised at how long it takes my truck to come out of open loop after start (I can tell it has because the torque converter will suddenly lock up).
I imagine this could be an area where Bill's custom tunes would really stand out. Since WOT is also open loop, he could tweak the fueling to be appropriate for the particular fuel used - rather than tuning a compromise.
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