How many of us here come from a racing backround?

[Bicycle Bob]

I was initially fascinated by Hot Rods and then sports cars, but only went to a few races and made a habit of fast cornering. I'm more intriqued that there is no limit to mileage, and strong social reasons to develop it. I still enjoy a racing flavour with my data supply, though.

[dremd]

Guilty.
Still have a few toys; just have reduced their usage by 90%.

[gone-ot]

...yes, I have to agree. I, too, have digressed from youthful days of "...getting THERE in a hurry on a tank of gas." to a more sedate "...getting THERE and BACK on less than a tank of gas."

[blownb310]

I'm sure that last summer's record gas prices "helped" a few of us to get into this new way of life. My car club's economy run also sparked my interest. Then after finding this site and buying a scan gauge [which constantly challenges me to do better] I became hooked.

[NiHaoMike]

I don't have interest in making a car go fast, but I do have interest in making a bicycle go fast. Here's one of the most interesting bikes I've seen:
Endless-sphere.com • View topic - P R O J E C T "Y" KILLABICYCLE World record 17 june 2009

I think it's because it's much cheaper to make a fast bike than a fast car and it takes much less energy. I actually plan to build a high performance hybrid bicycle that can help Texas A&M's bicycle racing team win a race. On the other hand, I look for MPG in cars.

[superchow]

I realized quickly that going beyond the speed limit was too easy. (And potentially expensive - in many ways.)

Now I limit myself to reaching the speed limit and keeping the car there whenever possible, i.e. highest legal average speed. Figuring out alternative routes that are windier where people would normally say "you can only go 30 there" and try to keep the car in cruise control.

I soon realized that not slowing and speeding back up was very kind to gas mileage. Conservation of momentum. Which incidentally are similar goals on a race track, no? Besides, it's always nice to catch up to a more powerful car in "the twisties". Puts the driving skills back in the driver's hands.

When we got 35 mpg in an unmodified 1993 3.3L Oldsmobile driving across the state I was hooked. Being a student strapped for cash also helped...

[blueflame]

[drimportracing]

It was only about 5 years ago I quit throwing a lot of money away on making perfectly good cars faster and less dependable.

My daily driver race car, a very quick, 99 Civic Si was stolen in late 2004, so I replaced it with a new 2006 Dodge Magnum SXT (17/25mpg) then last year when gas went up to $4.00 I hypermiled my first tank with my Geo Metro convertible (I've had three metros in the last five years for pizza delivery) and I haven't looked back since. I went from 32mpg to an average of 43mpg in the last year hypermiling/delivering.

I've let a friend take over payments on the Magnum and he let's me "borrow it" when I want it for dates and stuff. It's been at my house this past week and I drove it 5 miles total.

I now find as much satisfaction in improving my mileage in the Geo as I used to in warming up tires behind the tree. There isn't the foot shaking adrenalin at the end of the strip kind of excitement that I used to enjoy but I actually save money with hypermiling and I'm not worried about someone stealing my Geo either. Though people have asked to buy it more than a few times. - Dale

[superchow]

For me there's always the race to the limit - speed limit that is. Throws some people really off when I take off (from holding the hand brake, not the brake pedal) and then "stop" at the speed limit. They of course are Mr./Mrs. Important for whom the speed limit is optional and just a general guideline...

[ATaylorRacing]

I started drag racing in 1983 at the ripe old age of 32. Since then I have 35 NHRA/IHRA championships. Back when I started I had ordered a 110 hp HO Horizon....84 were built until the package was dropped since the cars top speed was greater than the speed rating of the tires. The drivetrain was the GLH package, but in the plain jane Horizon. Bone stock that car ran high 15s and was outrunning the emissions laden Vettes and Mustangs easily...I was hooked. I still own that 84 car and will drag race it tomorrow at Indy....now with over 270,000 miles. That car was getting only 19 mpg so we changed back to the stock gear set and now it is back up to 23....total wt is only 1810 lbs and is street driven.

The other car I drag is a 12 second Neon SRT4....every time I did something to it for more power it got better MPG!

The 96 Geo Metro 3 banger was bought July 2008 because of the high gas prices. I use it as a daily driver and delivery "truck"....(I sell rims and tires).....it got 46 mpg when I drove it from Columbus OH to my home in Kokomo IN...200+ miles. It shook at idle so a simple tuneup made it get over 50. Since then I have taken nearly 100 lbs out of it and I can carry 8 rims with tires mounted at one time...5 in the back seat, 2 where the passenger seat used to be, and one in the hatch. The biggest sizes I fit inside it are 4 275x40x17 and 4 245x45x17 mounted on 17x9 and 17x10.5 rims. I have also made money bracket racing it!!! The first pass down the track was a crappy 20.23 at 64 mph while shifting at 5000 rpm. The remaining passes were spent shifting at 5500 and the ets improved to 19.9s at 65.....12.7s at 57 in the 1/8th. I wonn 5 rounds the time I raced it for $250....2 more rounds would have been $1000. It gets much better FE than the dumb Smart car and uses regular instead of premium....not to mention all the interior space!

Between the SRT4 and the Geo I have put over 38,000 miles on them delivering rims/tires and daily driving since Feb of 08. The Neon gets over 40 mpg while the Geo gets 57 at the best.