Economy competition

[Gasoline Fumes]

Originally Posted by SDMCF

There is no limitation on what the crew wear, but it is a normal saloon car so that is a moot point.

Dress for sauna to save some weight!

[Gasoline Fumes]

If there was a more aerodynamic wheel used on another BMW, could you use it? Or do you have to use the original wheels?

Do you have floor mats? Those would be an easy way to lose some weight.

[SDMCF]

Some more useful & interesting options. Thanks all.

A block heater is an interesting one. The car already has mains voltage block and cabin heaters. Nice on winter mornings but useless for the competition as I won't have access to mains voltage. I guess I could rig up something to run from the car battery, but then the battery energy would have to be replaced, ultimately by burning fuel, so I'm not sure that would help. Am I missing something?

Folding back the exterior mirrors would be good, but the rules specifically prohibit that.

Reducing engine oil grade and volume is another interesting one. I like the idea so will check what my options are.

I will test if insulating the engine while parked helps. I expect it will.

Coasting is odd in this car. Generally good but not perfect. I can't put the car into neutral and coast with this auto box but on the plus side the transmission is automatically disconnected from the wheels when coasting. Engine revs drop to idle speed and the car rolls without engine braking. This is really good, but it only happens above 50 Km/h. When the speed drops to 50 the transmission reconnects to the wheels, and there is engine braking. Also this feature only works with the engine in full auto mode. If I manually change gears, the car coasts in the typical way without the freewheeling feature. Overall I think the improved coasting is a big advantage making it worth using the transmission in auto mode.

The competition is in southern Finland. Not flat but only short & gentle hills so ideal really. Always interesting when someone from elsewhere knows the country. How did that come about?

Getting a large van to lead the way is, as far as I can see, not prohibited but a bit too noticeable and probably not likely to be popular.

I'm sure there are other wheels that I could use but I wouldn't know which, if any, are more aerodynamic. Add that to the likely cost and I think I will pass on this one.

There are floor mats and they are surprisingly heavy so I can definitely remove them.

[Piotrsko]

Might suggest pizza pan hubcap mod for the wheels or equivalent. Supposedly odd aftermarket transmission fluids which are more efficient. Back in the day swapping Ford spec for chevy gave you very short life but amazing functionality

[redpoint5]

100 degrees today, which is notable in the PNW. I feel like a champion maintaining 76 degrees indoors with 2 window AC units which combined are currently pulling 1700 watts, which is much less than my whole house AC unit at 5,000 watts. The whole house unit wouldn't have maintained such low temps either.

Most of Earth's history has occurred at much higher temps. We're still exiting an ice age. Rapid change stresses living organisms, but that's why we special primates have developed technological adaptation.

[Gasoline Fumes]

Originally Posted by SDMCF

The competition is in southern Finland. Not flat but only short & gentle hills so ideal really. Always interesting when someone from elsewhere knows the country. How did that come about?

I'm half Finnish and I've been there to visit family.