RE: What's that smell?
If you ever have the chance to go to Old Rhinebeck Aerodrome or anywhere else where they run the old WWI rotary engines, you can smell the castor from them. It smells a little different mixed with gasoline than with methanol, but you certainly can tell it's castor.
I can relate to the confusion of odors between methanol and high octane racing gasoline. I've been to several Champ Car races (when they were the Indy Cars) and the smell of methanol exhaust was reminiscent of glow fuel exhaust. (And yes, you can smell the exhaust). But the high octane fuel they burn in the Modifieds at our local racetracks makes a very similar smelling exhaust, too.