2020 Green Grand Prix at Watkins Glen, NY

[svt98t]

The GGP is Thursday.
Only 25-30 entrants are allowed, and only from NY.
I've been fortunate enough to have made the cut. And as you can see, my car is completely ready, lol.
I'll be in the v6 class since the v8 class was eliminated.


-ryan s.

[Gasoline Fumes]

I would be there, but Bob told me WGI isn't letting spectators in.

[Vman455]

I was planning on coming until a few weeks ago; Illinois' numbers weren't (and aren't) good enough to travel to New York without quarantine, unfortunately, so I told Bob to give my spot to someone else. Maybe next time!

[brucepick]

My brother/navigator Steve and I are in! We’re on line now at the registration building at Gate 4A.
Are any other EcoModders here now?

[brucepick]

GGP 2020 is now in the books.

The GGP tradition of less than ideal conditions was continued this year. It rained the whole time. Foggy, too. The rules didn’t require headlights to be on, but I think every car used them. Mine are LED, so that investment paid off - again. I had to run the wipers on constant low speed; intermittent was not enough. I had to run the cabin fan and just a bit of heat, to keep the windshield from fogging. Well, the heat was for the driver and navigator.

Ryan (svt98t), we missed you! Did the car refuse to cooperate with the work you were doing on it in that photo?

Juha ('Fumes), we missed you! Even if Bob had found a way to get you in, you would have had to spend most of your time under some kind of roof. So you'd have had limited options for photo vantage points.

Steve scored 37.5 mpg in his gorgeous stock ‘11 ‘Vette. The EPA combined estimate is 19, so he basically doubled that number. Unmodified. He must know a thing or two about driving. Steve earned first in class.

I scored 78.0 mpg in my modified 2000 Insight with my brother Steve navigating - which in our case is basically coaching. The EPA estimate is 53, so I got a 47% increase over that. First in class.

One other car drove in the Modified Hybrid 3-cyl class, the red ‘03 Insight entered by Alfred State. They’ve won in some past years. One of the team members told me their hybrid battery was in very bad shape, which hurt their score. I should have suggested they disable it for the event, but I only thought of that after it was all over.

[Vman455]

Of course the year I can't come, the Alfred State Insight is there. Does it have the same mods (full wheel covers, deep airdam, etc.)?

[Xist]

Do V8s now run in the V6 class?

[brucepick]

Originally Posted by Vman455

Of course the year I can't come, the Alfred State Insight is there. Does it have the same mods (full wheel covers, deep airdam, etc.)?

Yes it does. Red paint, lots of decals, and the front bumper lip about 3/4” off the pavement. Angled side skirts very similar to what’s on some tractor trailers.

[brucepick]

Originally Posted by Xist

Do V8s now run in the V6 class?

There’s now a single class for “more than five cylinders”. However I’m pretty sure there were no six cyl cars there this year. And no 5 cyls, either.

From the hand-noted score sheet I saw on Thursday afternoon, the highest numbered car this year was #26. In past years, there were about 40. With the reduced field, it made sense to me, that the GGP reduced the number of classes. And it makes sense to try to "shape" them so there are a few cars in each class - rather than having some classes with only one car, and some others with six cars.

Also, it was nice driving on a non-crowded track.

[Ecky]

If I had brought my K Sight, and scored around 60mpg, how would I have done?