The Wankel engine is increasingly being considered as a prospective power plant for the light weight aviation sector due to its high power to weight ratio. But this engine suffers from problems of low flame speed, long combustion duration and high heat loss which results in the end charge not being burnt completely causing high specific fuel consumption (sfc) and excess HC emissions. The eventual result on the air vehicle is reduced endurance and range. The indigenous Wankel engine developed at the National Aerospace Laboratories has a sfc of 335 to 365 g/kWhr as against 280 to 300 g/kWhr for a typical four stroke gasoline engine. Higher SFC reduces endurance and range of air vehicles. One of the ways to reduce SFC is by operating the engine at high compression ratios. The objective of this research work is to experimentally study the performance of the NAL developed Wankel engine at high compression ratio with gasoline and with gasoline fuel blends to address the above- mentioned shortcomings. Literature on the Wankel rotary engines report that the engine is more resilient to knocking compared to the reciprocating engines. This will enable the engine to operate safely at high compression ratios and to be more tolerant towards knocking resulting in higher flame speed, lesser combustion duration, steeper pressure rise, possibly lower sfc and reduced emissions.