As always, it was nice to meet Gasoline Fumes again this year. Here is a pic I took last year of our cars. Sendler was there spectating too, but I neglected to take pictures. Good chatting with them.
Changzuki and Team Centurion at 200+mpg! It was very hard to grasp just how efficient this car was until I heard the fill results. It really had to sink in. Many people would give a left arm just to ride in an XL1, how much better to be in an Urba Centurion X1/9! It was a pleasure to be the navigator for it, even though i was merely ballast and counted laps. It had a pretty decent power to weight ratio for 17hp and 1200lbs. Once it got going it really pulled it's weight around the track. I think he left it in a single gear around the whole course. We took turn 1 pinned to the very inside curve, while other much heavier cars struggled to take a much wider racing line. Keeping momentum was easy when you can corner on a dime, and we even passed a few people on the uphill section! Something i'll never forget! The car is so light and small it's on a different scale of driving experience. It made my 1,850lb Insight seem like a bus. Though I think we left a little on the table at the track, we even surpassed the 45mph target average speed. The sunroof was cracked open, and we had some drinks and stuff still in the car. Changzuki, doesn't know this, but I was willing to go all out it in the sport of extreme hypermiling. Push the car at every chance, even go bare foot to save weight. For instance, last summer I went two months without cracking a window above 35mph or even turning on the blower.
Ultarc and Team Mustang at 49.4mpg. Beating out 5 hybrids mind you. That 300hp engined BEAST would sing! Vroom Vroom! Did any of the spectators believe the 42mpg claim lettered on his car? nope. Boy would they be surprised!
Mloveland and Team Honda at 75mpg. A completely stripped VX in my favorite color. You wouldn't believe the gasp at the awards ceremony when his numbers were announced. It eclipsed every Hybrid car that entered, including Alfred States' 1st gen Insight.
Phil with team Truck at at 37.7mpg.
Brucepick doing 53mpg in a Honda accord. We were behind him in the centurion during the start. Bruce is an excellent driver and experienced at this track, i really admired the lines he took. Almost like watching orbital mechanics.
Joe Dwyer getting 68.8mpg in the VW diesel. What a surprise, his car was such an underdog that nobody noticed it at all. This is literally the only picture of his car out of hundreds that I searched through! He said he found out about the event through this site!
More Air Less Fuel in the Anders Special at 93.7mpg! I believe it weighed 3,600lbs? Incredible machine to see, and probably the safest vehicle by far. I couldn't find a picture of it, but it had an incredibly strong roll cage inside. I would feel safe getting t-boned in that car. I even got to sit in it! Entry and exit is really fun as Cam shows in this gif. Nascar style. I would've loved to navigate for it, but It was uncertain it would make the competition. I'm glad he made it. I exchanged a good many emails between him trying to coax him into entering. I'm glad he enjoyed the GGP!
Illuminati Motors at 198mpge. It was nice to meet Kevin Smith, he had a good sense of humor when explaining "the IL-umin-ati." 7 reminded most of CARBEN, in that it looked completely different depending on the angle you saw it. Forgot to bring my copy of "Ingenious" to get it signed! But handed him an Ecomodder business card and got an Illuminati card in return. I also overheard an interesting conversation between him and the "300mpg" Toyota Prius with the massive amount of lithium batteries it. Kevin-"It's nice when you completely neglect to account for the electricity you put in the car. I'm doing fine at infinite mpg then!"
Alfred states stripped (2-300lbs lighter?) Honda Insight with MIMA and all suspension parts removed at only 67.6mpg???
A bit of pre road rally madness. Good lucks and trying to figure out exactly what's going on.
Winners circle: The occasion certainly called for a group picture of who we could round up. (Ultarc and Navigator), (Me navigator of the Centurion), (Navigator and Mloveland) Holding up awards and Watkins Glen wine bottles. Followed by a picture of Team Illuminati. Changzuki and his friend left early and missed the awards ceremony dinner. They missed out on the bottle of wine for winners too. But surprise surprise it was announced Changzuki and Illuminati tied for first place and received $1,000 each! Not bad for a trip out to Watkins Glen, well worth the effort. I texted Changzuki the good news as he was driving home. I got a text back 15min later Changzuki-"Best news ever!"
Some final pictures before I left. Ultarc and Mloveland were doing some bellypan repairs to make "THE BEAST" roadable. I just remembered i had some Edison VLC posters, so i handed them out. As tradition I took some last pics before I left admiring Mlovelands Kammback. Good to meet you all! Best Ecomodder meet ever! Watkins Glen Green Grandprix 2014.
