2019 Green Grand Prix at Watkins Glen, NY
 

Friday, April 5, 2019 is the date for the 15th annual Green Grand Prix, which will be held, as in all recent years, during the opening weekend at Watkins Glen International in Watkins Glen, NY.

Green Grand Prix home page
GGP Schedule and Registration link

I thoroughly recommend this event. Driving the world famous WGI track is a hoot, driving it in a well run mpg competition is even better.

I estimate that just about any EcoModder vehicle would be welcome and would have a shot at coming home with an award for their class. The GGP sees a wide range of vehicles. Entries are classed by fuel type (gas-diesel-electric), hybrid vs conventional, number of cylinders, and whether modified or not. Multiplying out all those options creates a large number of classes.

Ecomodder has fielded a team at the Green Grand Prix every year going back at least to 2011 - I still have some PMs from that year!

WHEN REGISTERING VIA THE GREEN GRAND PRIX SITE:
Be sure to mention "Ecomodder" on your registration.
If nothing else, write it in by hand when you send in the hard copy.

Please pm me with any questions, or post them here - I've driven in this great event eight times. I should have a few good answers.

Pretty sure I still have classes going then. Otherwise I'd definitely be interested in attending, if only to watch others compete. I haven't consistently broken 100 MPG in my Insight yet, nor do I have a boattail, so I don't consider myself worthy to compete. :D

I have classes too (and work), but I'm taking the two days off to drive out there from Illinois. You have no excuse! College students get free registration too.

Or, if you don't want to drive, I need a timer....

I'm redoing the decals on my car this afternoon so it will look like a "real" race car for this year's event, including a banner for my school. Gotta show those Alfred State guys up.

mpg_numbers_guy, I see your numbers. Nearly 80 mpg in two tanks this winter, and another that was "only" 70.05 mpg due to rough weather. If you drive in the GGP, you may very well beat me - and I'm fine with that! The weather will be a bit warmer in April, but it affects us all, more or less the same.

That is to say, you don't need more than what you have going now, to be a contender in the Green Grand Prix. Yes, there are photo galleries with images of some rather amazing looking GGP cars from past years - but often there are none of those. And even when there's an amazing car there, they''re rarely in the same class as you or me. Different number of cylinders or different fuel type, or they're non-production (home built or otherwise total project cars). I always enjoy seeing those cars and talking with the driver/builders. And the other entrants too. Lots of very interesting cars, and people too, at any Green Grand Prix.

So, if you can get the time free, please do come. You won't be sorry!

I drive about 300 miles from CT. I drive up on Thursday, so I use a hotel room for Thursday night and again Friday night. Drive home Saturday. The awards dinner goes till about 7:30 pm, so a person could get on the road promptly after that, and spend the night somewhere a couple hours closer to home.

I just submitted my registration for this year's event. I forgot to write in Ecomodder, but I'm going as a school team this year so I guess that takes precedence anyway.

I'm pretty sure the schools that send teams make arrangements with the GGP well in advance of the event, as do the businesses that enter cars.

Are you with one of the schools at the GGP? If you have 10-20 other students with you, plus teachers and a couple project cars being hauled up there on trailers, definitely... Otherwise, I think you should call or email Bob, and tell him you're an EcoModder!

Bob emailed me yesterday about registration, so I sent back a message asking for clarification on school entries:

"Thanks for the email! I actually emailed you this morning from my personal account; there's been some discussion in the Ecomodder GGP thread this year about whether I should register as a school entry or not. I am a full-time student; I decided to go back to school and get an Associate of Engineering Science degree. So, not faculty if that makes a difference.

I'll be happy to compete in whatever class I'm eligible (honestly, I don't really care about awards anyway; I'm in it for the experience!). My car is significantly modified, which was why I thought it might not be appropriate for the Prius Challenge."

And his reply:

"Thanks for the background info. It doesn’t make any difference if you are a student or faculty. No fee for both.
You are right. You can’t run in the Prius Challenge because your car is modified.
I didn’t catch that at first!"

Vman455, that's good news indeed.

More EVs wanted for this year's GGP:

Bob Gillespie emailed me yesterday. The Green Grand Prix is actively looking for more EVs to participate in this year's competition. If you drive an EV, or if you know someone who does and might be interested in competing, please contact Bob via the contact links at
Green Grand Prix - Home

I'm totally in this year.
My car is running well, but I'd like to tweek a few things before then.




You should. I ran my 97 Crown Vic, and I brought hardware home my first time out, placing 1st in the V-8 Modified group (24.3 mpg). Looking to sweep that again this year, lol.


-ryan s.

I am registered. My wife is going to be my navigator. I think we're going to make a weekend out of it.


-ryan s.

Excellent!
As of now, my wife and also my brother/navigator's wife are both planning on being there this year.

I plan on being there to assist Bob. Bring warm clothes.

If anyone else is bringing extra people, I need a navigator/timer again this year. (Strangely, none of my friends are keen to take an 11-hour road trip to spend less than 24 hours in New York).

I thought I posted here, but clearly not! I am in, so long as my PTO isn't canceled. In need of a navigator and maybe a floor for my sleeping bag lol

I'm still ready to roll. I might throw some new tires on before then. No Marauder wheels this year, lol. Those things weigh 52 lbs a piece. My summer wheels weigh 40 lbs. That's what I have on now because I smoked off my front winter tires last year with a bad alignment, and lost the right rear to a sidewall puncture. So I've been running summer tires all winter. Not so fun.


-ryan s.

Alright! Three weeks to go!

What's our headcount looking like??


-ryan s.

Update: Both our wives have decided to stay home.

Somewhat related - since our two wives aren't candidates to serve as navigators:
If you need - or might need - a navigator:
You should contact Bob Gillespie of the GGP. Bob has provided navigators for solo drivers in the past. The school teams bring more people than they need for driving and managing their cars, so he has a good pool of people to choose from.

Thought about going some more, but it just won't fit in with what I have going on in classes and all.

Post a few pics here from the event!

I'm going to have video from at least a lap or two.
And the AutoX, if they let me run again...

I've also been working on this driver mod recently. Down almost 20 lbs!


-ryan s.

Two weeks to go folks!!
Long range forecast as of now calls for 56* with a 20% chance of rain. I know it'll change 96 times before then, but it's nice to see it on the outlook!


-ryan s.

One week out! Per Bob's email a few days ago, I'm going navigator-less this year--I can save the weight of an extra person, which means my car will be ~450 lbs lighter this year than last. That should help on the back straight hill. I calculated my target speeds for each section of the track a few weeks ago; I'm hoping to better last year's 62.8 mpg, since I was averaging way over 45 mph.

Unfortunately, I will not be able to make it today. I apologize.
Have fun out there guys! Do EcoModder proud!!


-ryan s.

Watching from up north - good luck folks!!
-
~CrazyJerry~

Nice seeing you all today! For those who are wondering how we did--the weather did not cooperate. 32 degrees F, snowing/sleeting the whole time we were on track, and standing slush/water didn't help anyone's mileage. Three of us Ecomodders made it out, with (correct me if I'm wrong, guys!) the following results:

brucepick (1st gen Insight) - 63.4 mpg
UltArc (C6 Corvette) - 34.7 mpg
Vman455 (3rd gen Prius) - 59.7 mpg

I was happy to beat the Toyota sales rep in a 2019 Prius AWD, who got 54.5 mpg. Take that, Gen 4!

Lined up on track and ready to go:

https://ecomodder.com/forum/member-v...405-095835.jpg

After all was said and done:

https://ecomodder.com/forum/member-v...405-130344.jpg

This year was an interesting one, for sure.

We had 43 vehicles brave the elements this year. I helped do tech inspection this year.

I was really bummed that I wasn't going to make it this year AND then I saw the weather!!! I thought last year's snow was bad.

Good job to all the competitors! :thumbup:

Full results are now posted on the GGP website. Bruce and I are holding down the Mod Hybrid classes all by our lonesomes. Come on, people--I want some competition next year!

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thanks for the information.