Quote:
Originally Posted by bestmapman
At this point in time, without Wayne in attendance, it would not be the World Championships.
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I attended the Insight challenge in Oklahoma a couple years back. I got to meet Wayne then. At the time, we had a disagreement about inter-site links, sigs, etc. I went down to talk it over, meet some FE folks, and perhaps come to some sort of compromise. On the plus side, I got to drive an Insight for the first time, learn a few techniques, and was offered lunch. I appreciate the time that folks (including Wayne) took that day to include me in the activity.
Long story short, we agreed to disagree about the Site issue, and left it at that. I soon left as CMPG as a member over the disagreement. No offense to anyone there, but the hybrid-heavy atmosphere and the lack of inter-site cooperation at the time was very frustrating.
He has, indeed, contributed quite a bit to promoting hypermiling, and is quite good at it; but, to say that you can't have the competition without him seems like a blind following, IMO.
WG gets press coverage -- plain and simple. My concern is that this type of competition will attract a negative connotation to hypermiling. It simply isn't a real-world implementation of technique. I strongly believe in including a cycle of highway speeds in either testing a vehicle or in competition. This would appeal to a wider group of people -- to reach out to more people looking to save fuel. I see that as a big part of my personal mission here.
Would you not agree that an integrated approach to multiple vehicle types, vehicle modifications, technique, and a higher-speed, challenging course, would yield a better outward acceptance? There are gasser and Diesel drivers out there that are very deserving of this kind of attention.
I'm in no way speaking on behalf of this site or its members. I am taking off my "moderator hat" and speaking as a someone who cares about this site and its members. I am here at EM because of the quality of conversation and membership, diversity of those members, their vehicles, and multiple (often new) approaches to saving fuel. This thread start seemed like a stark contrast to those ideals. I was frankly taken aback by it.
I applaud the camaraderie you have within your group, and the achievements at the competition. I just felt like it just didn't fit most of what I look for here at EcoModder; further, representation of this Site was absent -- which seemed to strike me as both odd and rather disappointing.
Those are my feelings on the topic. Also feel free to PM to discuss further. I hope you were able to hone your skills and share some information during the get-together.
Best Regards...
-Rick Harrell (RH77)