[blownb310]

I'm back from vacation now and here is my navigator Steve McKelvie's write up of the SMCC event last month. [Note: I was not able to copy the pictures from his pdf document, but there are lots of those earlier in this thread].

SMCC Economy Run/Rally

Last weekend, I traveled up to Montreal, Quebec to compete in the Sport Motor Car Club of Montreal’s Economy Run/Rally. I had the pleasure of being the navigator for Mike Kamm in his Nissan Sentra SE-R. Mike and I had been talking about competing in a rally for a while and this event worked out for the both of us.

I drove to Mike’s place on Friday afternoon and we traveled together up to Montreal. Jeff Dungen, vice president of SMCC had kindly offered to host some of the competitors in his apartment in downtown Montreal. We met some of the other competitors and went downtown to take in the events associated with the Canadian Grand Prix which was being held on the same weekend as the economy run/rally.

We had a great time checking out the cars, the food, and women. There was a particularly good display of Fiats and Alfa Romeos. I had a chance to have my first serving of poutine - a wonderful combination of French Fries, cheese curds, and gravy. I also discovered than in Montreal if you ask for everything on a hot dog then you get large amounts of cole slaw on it.

On Saturday morning, we got the cars prepared for the economy run/rally. Most of the work involved adding tape and other materials to improve the aerodynamics of the car or by removing some components from the cars.

The idea of combining an economy run with a rally was a good idea. It allows for a more real world idea of what kind of gas mileage is achievable. The required average speeds were in the range of typical TSD events at 85 – 90%of the posted speed limit. There were no pauses for Arret signs or slow curves. Also the time in the controls was very limited – if you came in on one minute, then you were out on the next minute. For example, if we crossed the timing line at 9:56:12 then our out time was 9:57:00. So overall, the event was kept moving at a fast pace. More than once Mike came back to the car with the time and I looked at the car and said: “We should have been out of here 40 seconds ago.”

In the end on raw fuel consumption we were just below the rating of Will Meredith’s Honda. Will got just over 58 mpg and we got just under 58 mpg. However, it was a rally as well as an economy run, so when they looked at the timing penalties, we had done a little better with the rallying aspects of the event, and as a result Mike & I were declared the Overall winners! Hoorah!! Cheers! etc.

The whole event was a great deal of fun and very interesting. I have been through Montreal many times, but I had only ever spent any real time there once before when I attended an Indy Car race there about 4 or 5 years ago. This time we had a local host, Jeff Dungen, who really made us feel at home and we all had a great time.

I feel that including fuel economy aspects in car rallying is a way to keep rallying relevant and to attract people into car rallying from a different direction. And if you want to try an Economy Run/Rally, then I certainly recommend making the trip up to Montreal if/when the event is held next year. It is an opportunity to compare your vehicle with others with respect to gas consumption – not just for specialized economy runners.

Steve McKelvie
Have Clock
Will Travel