I found this forum on race engines that might explain the separation a little---specific gravity.
"Also as a certified Aircraft and Power-plant technician and private pilot, I also know that Av-Gas is not formulated like auto gas, i.e., they are quite different. Av-Gas is formulated for longer shelf life as some air planes will sit for extended periods between fill ups. Av-Gas is also formulated to withstand the extreme temperatures of higher altitude and for many other factors that is not taken into account with auto gas.
This different formulation alters Av-Gas so much that its specific Gravity is much less than that of Auto Gas. That means for given volume, there is actually less mass, (less dense, i.e., in a running engine, Av-gas burns leaner for a given jet size/injector pulse width compared to auto gas). With that means for us Auto guys, is that if you just switch to Av-Gas from auto gas, you will have to run slightly larger jets in the carb or slightly longer pulse widths for the injectors if the engine is fuel injected. You may have heard old timers talk about running Av-Gas in their cars, motorcycles, lawn mower, etc and mention that the Av-Gas is so much hotter that they burned a valve or melted a piston! Uh, yeah they burned the valves and melted pistons, but not from Av-gas being hotter. Av-Gas is NOT hotter, i.e. no more BTU in Av-gas vs Autogas, it is less dense, those bone heads didn’t compensate for that and as such, their engines were running too lean and THAT is what burned their valves and melted their pistons. 
Another attribute that Av-Gas has a slower burn rate, ie. flame speed. I have only read this in one other place, but the source was credible so I believe it to hold water. A slower flame speed could be a hindrance at elevated engine speeds as the rate at which pressure rises due to combustion is slower and therefore depending on the combustion chamber size, the engine could become less efficient at making power the higher it revs, i.e. burn event is not happening fast enough in the time available at high RPM."