376 MPG Blast From the Past

[cfg83]

Frank -

Originally Posted by Frank Lee

It's simple- the focus was horsepower not fe.

I short-circuited for 5 seconds. I thought you meant Ford Focus.

That said, my friend at work lusts after this Focus RS, which I guess proves your point on multiple levels.

CarloSW2

[Frank Lee]

cfg: That does look entertaining! I'll take mine in black or grey please. No, I won't trade in the Tempo on it.

[jamesqf]

Originally Posted by hu_man

I still can not figure it my Morris is almost 50 years old had 5 wires going to the engine, good heavy sheet metal and still got 44mpg at 55mph. And today with multi valves, aluminum, plastic, computers, engineers....on and on and we are still hovering around 30mpg on a good day.
Hugh

Compare apples to apples: your Morris (Minor, I assume?) weighed about 1700 lbs. Today's 30 mpg car weighs twice that. OTOH, my Insight weighs in at about 1850, and has averaged 71.2 mpg over the 6 years I've owned it. At 55-65 mph on the level it can (with a good road surface and no headwind) be running anywhere between 90-120 mpg or so.

[Frank Lee]

Wonder why '73 was the last year for the Shell ralley cars to be based on production cars?

That someone finally entered one that didn't even require ANY fuel in the gas tank to compete might have had something to do with it?

I'm surprised it was even allowed to compete. To me, that casts a shadow of doubt about the validity of the previous contests going back to '37 (?).

I'm surprised I haven't seen anyone, anywhere, at any time pointing the Opel fraud out.

Perhaps the Shell judges/organizers had to let the Opel run as the rule book of the time didn't prohibit what the Opel team did? And the judges/organizers were so embarrassed they decided a complete overhaul of the competition was needed ASAP? And they saw the competition cars moving completely away from anything that was even remotely streetable anyway, so then the ralley went to purpose-built competition cars, to heck with the facade of them being "real cars".

[Brillig]

Skepticism of outrageous claims is healthy. It is more plausible that this is an hoax than that this is reproducible science. This is on the face of it a neat trick, mixed with some misdirection, and some gimmicks which are useless in the real world, and still fascinates and befuddles, some 30 plus years after the fact. Kudos for the tricksters.

Trickster is not evil, he teaches a lesson, and is entertaining, even at this late date.
Fun thread.

[guudasitgets]

I like the chain drive

[cfg83]

Frank -

Originally Posted by Frank Lee

Exactly. I bet that lab heat exchanger thing is just for show- it's squiggely and looked "high tech" in '73 (or even now) and doesn't do a dang thing.

I bet once warmed up that engine needs NO fuel from the carb!

The engine only needed to last how many miles? Not many. Not enough for lube problems to show up.

I didn't get to see the whole video- did they start it? That would reveal if it's still a 4 cyl.

Then the MPG could be accurate, but they're not counting the MPQ, the Miles (of engine oil) Per Quart, right?!?!?!?

That's actually a "neat cheat". Sometimes I admire clever deviousness (or is that devious cleverness?!?!?).

CarloSW2

[Frank Lee]

Right!

I bet they were inspired by the antics of Smokey...

[MazdaMatt]

I like the 84mpg VW in the vid. Thanks for posting

[Frank Lee]

OK, this kinda explains the lack of a grille block...

I'm going to revise my Cd estimate to, oh,.... 1.

Also, I have come across mention of the tires being at 150 psi. FWIW.