Vetter Fuel Challenges

[gregsfc]

2017 mid-Ohio Vetter Fuel Challenge has been run and was a complete success! Not yet in the books, so we'll not say "it's in the books."

Great job and hats off once again to Kraig for organizing, planning, and executing a beautiful and at least somewhat fast ride/route at the mid-Ohio Vetter FE Challenge while also doubling his duties as a major participant, which has got to be a tough thing to do and a lot of hard work. Very selfless and caring work, and I appreciate what he did this year to make me and my spouse's day a very enjoyable one. We all owe Kraig a great deal of gratitude for what he's been doing for the mid-Ohio the last few years, and the attitude/spirit in which he approaches this contest; being so welcoming to all comers and giving everyone some spot light on themselves and their rides; and letting everyone participate with regards to their opinions about execution decisions. I really like those new aspect of these rides and hope they are here to stay. Absolutely loved being there with the other riders in 2017!

It was said that there were no break downs this year and that maybe that was a first. Unfortunately, part of the reason for that may be there were so few of us; I count eleven after the fact not counting chase trucks, but I didn't actually do a physical count while there, so it's possible I missed one or two. Eight substantially modified or streamlined; and three stock or near stock rides. I'm not sure though that the lack of participation can be fixed in the short term. Gas prices are low; and not that much mc interest these days beyond super sport riding and noise making, but what we did have there this year was all top notch individuals that taught me and Gail a lot.

Great job also by Nate with helping Kraig select a route and make out maps and ride instructions/addresses and such. And great job by Scott most especially for helping with pre ride instruction meetings and for presenting the "Vetter Intent Message" about why we ride, the spirit of the contest, the rules, and the reasoning behind the rules. Scott was also indispensable just by generally helping everyone else out, as was (as always) Vic and Alan.

Really enjoyable time and we lucked out on weather as this was probably the first day out of many that most locations east of the Mississippi went pretty much rain free.

Thanks everyone who helped to make this happen giving the opportunity for me to ride with some real elites and legends that "race for the right reasons"!

[bschloop]

I'd also like to thank everyone who was involved in putting together this year's ride. I had a blast. It was also nice getting to see Craig Vetter again, even if it was via Skype. Congrats to Vic on breaking 200mpg too.

[Grant-53]

For results see Schultz Engineering - Custom Motorcycle Parts and Renewable Energy Products The distance and time are roughly comparable to the Green Grand Prix but speeds are higher on the road. Glad to hear the event has been a great success. Congrats to Vic for another big step up in mpg. Many thanks to Kraig Shultz for all the work needed to bring this off.

[bschloop]

This year's ride showed us a few things,

First, it is possible to get over 200mpg sitting up, Go Vic.
Second, even fully streamlined, riding style is still extremely important (read, I got beat by a less streamlined bike with a better rider.)
Third, electric bikes are here to stay. All of the crazy motorcycle guys in the campground were talking about them, and it was mostly in amazement. They had quite the discussion about how to classify electrics so you could race them against the gassers. And these are race guys, not efficiency nuts like us.
And finally, it is still impossible to park a streamlined bike without someone approaching to ask questions.

[sendler]

Originally Posted by bschloop

it is possible to get over 200mpg sitting up

We need much better observed fill up protocol. After and PRE RIDE. The click method that some riders are using is completely inaccurate for fills of .6-.7 gallons.

[jkv357]

Originally Posted by sendler

We need much better observed fill up protocol. After and PRE RIDE. The click method that some riders are using is completely inaccurate for fills of .6-.7 gallons.

I would expect that the same Official from the competition would fill all the bikes before and after competing.

That's the only way it's going to accurate, especially at the small amounts you mentioned. No way should the rider do his/her own fill-ups.

They should look at how they do it at the Supermilage Competitions. Those vehicles are going over 1000 mi on a gallon so every ounce is critical.

[bschloop]

I agree that more accurate metering is necessary. I wonder if we can get some sort of flow meter that will work for such small amounts. That way we can record actual flow the same way the electric bikes do

[Michael Moore]

^^^^ what jkv357 said. Holding a fuel efficiency competition with no real control over the amount of fuel people are using is senseless. You may as well just let people guess what their mileage was and use those numbers to decide who wins.

Controlling things with various vehicles all using different fuel tanks may be a bit of a chore.

With flow meters on each vehicle you'd have to make sure they are all calibrated to give the same numbers, and you'd also have to figure out how to mount/power them on the different vehicles.

What might work best would be to have everyone start with a dry tank. Have the officials put a measured amount (it wouldn't need to be the same amount if tank capacities vary) in every tank using accurate measuring devices. At the end of the course drain and measure the contents of each tank to see how much was used.

[sendler]

We are never going to have flow meters. We don't need flow meters. Motorcycles are easy to get really accurate fills if you try since you are looking right at the fuel, unlike in cars. Key word if you try. same orientation before and after at the same pump, fill until the surface tension of the fuel just washes over the fill plate or seam in the neck or whathaveyou of each bike the same way each time. And you can get accuracy to +- .003 gallons.

[jkv357]

Originally Posted by sendler

We are never going to have flow meters. We don't need flow meters. Motorcycles are easy to get really accurate fills if you try since you are looking right at the fuel, unlike in cars. Key word if you try. same orientation before and after at the same pump, fill until the surface tension of the fuel just washes over the fill plate or seam in the neck or whathaveyou of each bike the same way each time. And you can get accuracy to +- .003 gallons.

That's basically what I was thinking. Everyone would need to use the same pump and the person (race Official) filling would need to know exactly where it was filled to before competing.

Arriving with a full tank allows for some variables. If the cycle has a full tank of non-ethanol gas the mileage is going to be somewhat better than if it was using gas with ethanol, so competitors could gain a little bit of free mileage.

In Land Speed Racing (LSR) if you are running "gas" you need to arrive with an empty tank and run the spec gas at the track to be legal to compete in a gas class.