[blownb310]

Now for the event story.... and there's always a story. For once I as not the event coordinator and as such some things we [A.M.E.C] always did were simply done differently here at someone else's event. For instance, they did not start cars in one minute intervals, after you filled you could leave whenever you wanted. On your return, you could not go to the pump for your refill right away. We had to wait for the event organizer Steve to get back. Just little things. In any case the route was promised to be challenging and it was! More specifically the route instructions were a bit difficult to follow at times and some people missed turns. The directions were brief and lacked key details to help you go the right way. Let's just say that if your odometer didn't work, or was inacurrate, you probably had a tough time. And if you missed a turn, your odo was now all wrong too. Steve is a rally guy and this event had quite a bit of rally flavor.

Mount Greylock was exciting but very tricky. They have a 15 mph speed limit up there! The road is very narrow and has a series of ultra tight hair pin turns. It was difficult for a car like mine with front wheel fairings [you try not too steer at full lock]. It was also the first economy run event where I had to use engine braking to keep my brakes from overheating coming back down. This threw me for a loop as I use an ignition kill switch on the shifter and leave the key on. I didn't realize it until after the event but all the way down the [6 mile?] long hill, when I was in 4th gear with the spark shut off and thought I was using no fuel at all, I actually was pumping raw fuel through the engine the whole time. You see, if the key is on and the engine is turning, the computer doesn't know that I have disabled the spark. So with the crank agle sensor turning the injectors were firing as if it was running. I was wondering why I could smell gas all the way down the mountain!

So, with so many people who missed turns and went extra mileage, they got penalized because the mpg results were figured on the 105 mile event standard. So if you went 115 miles too bad! During the post event refills, I asked each driver how many miles they actually travelled and used them for my results. So they reflect the actual mpg not the penalized figures.

Please don't get the impression that I didn't enjoy this event, because I did! But I did learn a few things to prepare better for, for next time!