[robchalmers]

firstly and mostly importantly - I survived (obviously....cos i'm writing this!)

so did the Polo

I managed a the downward leg, including a getting it wrong an having a detour. as I took the wrong direction out of the ferry port. 584 miles on 11.45 US gal. 51mpg(us) but it was on fumes. As I restarted at the fuel start the revs shot up as it self-carb'd the air in the fuel pipes!

I had to stop a couple of times due to the smelling gearbox oil - the garage that topped the oil up didn't torque off the drain plug (they flushed it) so It basically did the reaining weekend on what hadn't seaped out. oh and the exhaust fell off just afer Rouen.


Knowing the tank could to the distance and more I decided not to do the same on the way back up - especially as I need to get to Calais through the traffic (360,000 people watched the end of the race at the circuit - one that doesn't have the most modern traffic infrastructure!
I was pretty certain the Car wouldn't make it home through france because I was hearing all kinds of noises so I decided to give it an autobahn economy test/ultimate italian tune-up. I simply turned the radio up and cruised at 120-130kph waiting for the enevitable bang or squeal or crunch of something catastrophic lunching itself
but after just over 4 hours I pulled into Calais..... pretty decent run, and while drafting a Porsche 911GT3 RS (yep) I found the polo goes eerily silent at around 155kph.

the remaining 285miles took 4hr40min and but I only needed a £10(@147p pe litre) splash and dash to get home. but there is still quite a bit left in the tank!

challenge = complete

as soon as I have refuelled the car I'll be able to tell you what the 75mph average was pretty certain its over 45MPGus.