A.M.E.C. Fall Economy Run IV November 1, 2009

[pgfpro]

Looks like everyone had a great time!!!

Glad to see that the weather held out for all of you.

[blownb310]

OK, now for the results by class. The length of today's course was verified by two GPS units at 107.5 miles. These results were calculated from that distance.

Gas Class

1. Chang Ho Kim - 1989 Honda CRX - 95.98 mpg
2. Will Meredith 1998 - Honda Civic EX - 61.43 mpg
3. Mike Kamm - 1993 Nissan Sentra SE-R - 60.73 mpg
4. Richard Vedder - 2000 Ford ZX2 S/R - 51.20 mpg
5. Jeffrey Dungen - 1992 Toyota Levin GT-Apex - 50.95 mpg
6. Robert Kerly - 1998 Mercury Tracer - 41.51 mpg
7. Ernie Yue - 2001 Ford Focus - 40.88 mpg
8. Dan Wren - 1986 BMW 325ES - 40.41
9. Steve McKelvie - 2003 Mercedes-Benz SLK230 - 39.96 mpg
10. Tom Compoli - 1981 VW Rabbit - 34.90

Diesels and Hybrids

1. Robert Smalls - 2000 Honda Insight - 86.73 mpg [See note below]
2. Martin Deschenes - 2000 VW Jetta TDI - 74.65 mpg
3. Hobbit - 2004 Toyota Prius - 63.9 mpg [See note below]

Historic Class

1. Bruce Turk - 1958 Saab 93B - 36.32 mpg [See note below]

Notes:

This was Bruce Turk's first economy run event ever. He basically cruised the entire course at between 40-45 mph with his little 2-stroke pwered Saab. Original fuel economy numbers for the day on that car were 29-31 mpg. Bruce was happy with his 36.32 mpg. However, with his tank topped fully from this event, he drove the 114 miles back to his home at a [GPS calculated] average speed of 59.8 mph. He filled up again and checked his mileage. He was very surprised at what he found. He achieved 45.6 mpg! To me it makes sense, as we all know that all 2 cycle engines definitely have a sweet spot. Unfortunately for Bruce, he didn't learn what it was until after the event!

As we have learned from holding these events, there are times when the usual top up refill calculation process can sometimes be unreliable and/or inaccurate. Ben Jones' CRX had this problem in Economy Run III. In that case we revert back to what the in car mpg display unit says, and then subtract 2% [the usual error with facory units]. With that said, Robert Smalls' Insight had an unreasonably low mpg outcome at 63.61 mpg. His factory in car unit showed 88.5 mpg. This is a large discrepancy, so we discussed during the awards and all agreed we should revert back to his display figure, minus 2%.

With their rubber fuel tank bladders, the Prius' don't fill properly either. So Hobbit's initial reading of 55.41 has also been corrected to 63.90 in the same fashion as Robert's.

[blownb310]

This is Chan Tchen and Jeffrey Dungen in Jeff's 1992 Toyota Levin GT-Apex. Jeff's on the right, because this is a right hand drive car. This is the JDM spec "Corolla" I spoke about earlier in this thread.


The Levin's 2.0 liter engine sports 5 valves per cylinder, individual throttle bodies, and is rated at 170 h.p. We were all very impressed to see it return 50.95 mpg! You've got to love Toyotas.


Because of the lack of a motorcycle class at this event, Ernie Yue brought out his 2001 Ford Focus automatic and got 40.88 mpg. He ice races this car in the winter.


Tom Compoli brought out his VW Rabbit winter ice racing car. Tommy's carbureted Rabbit returned 34.90 mpg. Richard Vedder's 2.0 liter ZX2 S/R netted 51.20 mpg.


This is my 1993 Nissan Sentra SE-R. This is Nissan's 2.0 liter "hot rod" Sentra that I use for winter rallies and ice racing. I've never hypermiled it before and was really delighted with it's 60.73 mpg debut today. The only mods are 2" drop springs, partial lower grill block, taped wheels, with lots of EOC and P&G.


And last but certainly not least, we owe a big thank you to our event co-organizer, Mark Long. Mark is the brains behind the operation. He writes the Excel spreadsheets and keeps track of all raw data. He brings his 110V power inverter and powers up his color printer and other things with it. Quite a nice operation. Thanks Mark!

[MetroMPG]

Mike (and everyone who particpated): congratulations on another successful event! Nice to see Mother Nature cooperated.

How was the go kart race?? That was a very tempting add-on.

When I've got a few more mods on the old Flea, I'll come and play again.

[blownb310]

Originally Posted by MetroMPG

Mike (and everyone who particpated): congratulations on another successful event! Nice to see Mother Nature cooperated.

How was the go kart race?? That was a very tempting add-on.

When I've got a few more mods on the old Flea, I'll come and play again.

Thanks Darrin

The kart races were fun but only five of us participated this year [the racers in the bunch]. Glad to hear that you'd have been interested in them too.

At the awards and lucheon, we were already talking about the next event at the Green Grand Prix next year. Hope you guys can make it.

Cheers,

Mike

[MetroMPG]

Were any AMEC members at GGP this year? I've definitely got it on my calendar for next year.

[blownb310]

Originally Posted by MetroMPG

Were any AMEC members at GGP this year? I've definitely got it on my calendar for next year.

No. I was the only one that had planned to go and I ended up missing it. I love the Finger Lakes region and hope we get some nice weather for it in the spring.

[Wonderboy]

'nuff said. Thanks a million to Mike, Mark, and Jonathan for coordinating this event. I know I'm not just speaking for myself when I say I appreciate all of your work in putting these events together, and I look forward to next year's run(s).

[blownb310]

Excellent pictures Will, thanks for posting them!

I don't quite understand the picture of the back of Martin's green Jetta? What were you showing there?

[Wonderboy]

In addition to Martin's innovative idea to use sticky food wrap to cover up the cowl and wipers (that I didn't actually get a good photo of), he decided to try to make an aerodynamic "trip wire" as he called it that is featured on the Volt, like this:


The point was to make a little dip just before that extreme edge the air has to deal with to add an effect similar to the effect of dimples in a golf ball...it just wasn't as pretty as it is in the Volt.