experimentation on the companies dollar..

[ebacherville]

Today i had to make a 265 mile trip to go video tape a performance for my job..

So i get 51 cents per mile to go there and back so i decided to do a test..

two objects of the test were this:
1. See how good of mileage my areo-crx gets when driven like the rest of the crazy people on the road..

2 and to see how it handles the heat over long hauls at top speeds.. hottest day of the year today.

So on the way down I was in a 2 car convoy, i didn't draft them at all just keeping in sight of each other, the other driver was leading and he's kind of a lead foot, but I figured ill do as the romans do .. so we hauled butt at 75-80mph the entire way, yet still getting passed by others left and right.. guess he's not as much as a lead foot as the other crazies..

Well on the way down I noticed my temp creeping up slowly as the day got hotter and hotter.. soon it was nearing hotter temps than usual temps.. I took precautions , rolled the windows down and cranked the heater to max.. so here i am hauling butt at 75-80mph, windows down, hotter than hell.. doing almost every no no in the book for a hypermiler..

My mielage for the trip .. 47 mpg, proves that even when you break all the rules areo mods can make up for bad habits.... however if i were hyper mileing and going a sane speed I would have pulled mid 50's for mpg.. next time i go on the same trip ill hyper mile the entire trip and well see what we get ..

Now as for the heat issue.. well I need to make a bigger opening in the front nose of the car, its fine at slower 55mph speeds but at 80 its not quiet enough.. but then again I don't have a bottom on my nose could be that the higher speeds caused some sort of draft under the car sucking some air then entered the nose under the car.. however running the heater inside made it drop to normal operating temp quiet easily.. so I'm just on the fringe at these higher speeds..

Now the funny thing was as Im driving down the road at 80mph a big 4 door truck rolls up next to me one guy is using his camera phone to take pics, they pass me, then slow down and I pass them, then they come up next to me , the windows roll down and they yell accross the lane , what kind of mileage do you get with that thing ... I yell back my 53mpg figure from my last tank, they give me a big thumbs up and floor it and take off..

Saw 2 other cars with camera phones and one with a full fledged minidv camera, and many many many weird looks..

I did notice one of the best vehicle's to draft has got to be a big RV, there low to the ground and high and wide.. I spotted that when i came up on one at 75-80mph.. i was behind this RV by about 2-3 seconds and i was barely touching the gas and speeding up from there draft.. .. sadly this only lasted about 20 seconds and my coworkers passed them and I followed.

This was the first time on the interstate with the areo mods so it was kind of fun experimenting with company money... kind of.. and even after my gas expense for the trip ($22) ill pocked over $125

So adjusting the nut behind the wheel has to be the absolute best way to gain MPG, and areomods can make crazy drivers with no concern over MPG's get more.. also i must not that the areo mods made semi blast far less noticable on the interstate than before any of the mods.. the car handled really well even at these higher speeds.. no lift off action or anything.

[SVOboy]

Sounds like a nice trip! Take some of that profit and redo it at 60mph (or whatever won't cause an accident, sounds like a wild road. Or just take a different road) and see what mileage you get!

[basjoos]

That's the nice thing about having a very low Cd, to be able to drive at 80mph and not feel the wind load pushing back at you. So you still get excellent mileage even when you drive fast. At least when the terrain is flat, where speed kills your mileage is when you start having to climb hills. In those situations, DWL is your friend.