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04-20-2009, 03:50 PM
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#2 (permalink)
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Master EcoModder
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And to think US car manufacturers can't hardly push 35MPG's.
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04-20-2009, 05:06 PM
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#3 (permalink)
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Master EcoModder
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Go Laval! I didn't know they were participating in the Eco-Marathon. I gotta take a walk in the mech engineering dept someday and look that vehicle up.
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04-20-2009, 06:17 PM
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#4 (permalink)
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04-20-2009, 06:26 PM
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#5 (permalink)
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EcoModding Lurker
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What's the discrepancy between these and manufactured vehicles?
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04-20-2009, 06:55 PM
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#6 (permalink)
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Marketing Departments.
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04-20-2009, 07:04 PM
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#7 (permalink)
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Master EcoModder
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How long was the course that they traveled in the competition? To attain that high mpg over a shorter course they must have used one drop of fuel!
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04-20-2009, 07:07 PM
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#8 (permalink)
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I do think they have a problem like some of the rest of us do as in taking a single reading and running with it. And there is the "short fill" aspect of it too. But what else can be done?
If you put a gallon into the "2,768 mpg" car and put it out on the road and drove it til it quit, I doubt it would make it to the 2,768 mile mark.
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04-20-2009, 07:52 PM
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#9 (permalink)
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Master EcoModder
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I guess since all things are equal with the cars on the exact same course it's fair for everyone entered. The "2,768 mpg car" is exactly that...on that course. But, the spirit of the competition seems to breed some great ideas and good competition...better than wasting their skills on college pranks.
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04-20-2009, 07:59 PM
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#10 (permalink)
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Moderate your Moderation.
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I'd think, given the nature of the competition, that they don't "short fill" the tanks.
I'm sure they rather fill them up to begin with, let them go either until they run out, or until they reach a pre-determined distance, and then measure either the distance where they ran out, or the amount left when they reached the end of the "track".
In this way, you eliminate the "short fill" aspect altogether. If you're starting each contestant with, say, 2oz of fuel, and you can accurately measure a weight change down to 1/100 of an OZ, you can probably tare weigh the "tank" (probably, all of which are uniform within x-factor anyway) and then just weigh the amount of fuel after filling and after running. The difference would give the figure for the usage amount, and could be converted into usage/distance figures.
Rest assured, those 2-3000 MPG cars, they'd stall 50 feet from a gas station from empty tanks, but start running again as soon as you got close to the pump... from the fumes wafting in the air.
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