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Metro, thank you very much for sharing that information! I have seen several discussions on here regarding the superiority of modern automatic transmissions, but it is great to have numbers showing that people get better mileage with manuals in the real world!
Old Mech, that kind of sounds like the high-mileage competition with astronomical MPG calculations, where college kids drive motorized enclosed recumbent bikes. I do not intend to disrespect the research, hard work, and achievement there, but until we have entire cars weighing less than single components in our current ones, not to mention impossible aerodynamics, and unrealistically-slow speeds, it does not seem relevant.
A few weeks ago for my Energy in the Global Arena class, we were required to attend a lecture by Amory Lovins. He talked a lot, that was the point, but he discussed using modern fabricating techniques to craft car bodies straight out of carbon, and raved about how much energy it took, how much lighter the product was, and how much less energy it required to power it. It is exciting to think that projects like CarBEN could be far simpler.
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