Natchez Trace Eco run: Memorial Day Weekend 2014
 

****Edit*** Result posted on page three. Winner, DonkeyCRX at 106.18 mpg.

Memorial day weekend.

Not a formally organized event. I'm just planning on driving it, and am inviting others to join.

Date: 5/26/2013
Meeting place: Tupelo Auto museum.
Time: Meet 'around' 8am, fill up (2 click method) and leave by 9am.
Route: Down main street and down the trace to french camp.
Duration: 4.5 hours driving, plus a half hour break midway. It can be done in 3 driving over the speed limit.

Fill up #2, meet at the gas station within 5 hours. Use same pump, same direction, same method (2 click).

Elevation map of the route.
http://ecomodder.com/forum/member-xn...-elevation.jpg

What is "the trace"? Natchez Trace National Scenic Trail (U.S. National Park Service)
Its good route that offers:
-Light traffic
-Scenic Route
-Low speeds
-Central location
-Lack of local police

http://ecomodder.com/forum/member-xn...-trace-map.jpg
http://ecomodder.com/forum/member-xn...6-image-6.jpeg
http://ecomodder.com/forum/member-xn...5-image-2.jpeg
http://ecomodder.com/forum/member-xn...4-image-1.jpeg
http://tupelomainstreet.com/images/p...le_Museum1.jpg
http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8144/7...0e7bc2ba_o.jpg

The Trace sounds a great location for an Eco Run. Very scenic and the speed limit is low enough that fuel efficiency speeds will have a very small impact on traffic flow.

The part I rode my bicycle on was hilly, Id guess that would win an MPG challenge.

closed till 2015
 

It was on top of the page after opening the link.

The trail is like a hiking path, the parkway is the main road. We should be good on the weekend, since construction is during the week.

I rode my bike on the Natchez Trace parkway this last week from Tupelo, Mississippi, south. I think the hills there are not so big that you would have to break much to avoid over speeding while coasting down, though I did hit 50 mph on the bicycle.. Early Sunday morning there was absolutely no cars. Speed limit is posted at 50 mph.

Funny, I did just north of Tupelo northbound on Saturday. The hills there are larger, especially towards Nashville. EOC @ 50 was 80 by the end. I need to work on my driving, even at 50, I was only able to hit 65mpg (some Nashville traffic in there).

It was empty on that end too. In the 150 miles each way, saw an average of 10 cars.

The other good thing about this route is the short distances to the next rest area, where breaks, meals and checkpoints could be done with plenty of parking and facilities.

Ha, you would have passed me if you drove south! I rode 150 miles, top speed 50 mph. Winter may be a good time for a meet up, any one interested meet up next December 27-28 with an eco-modder challenge?

Bump, going to do this memorial day weekend. Not a true organized event, mainly just inviting people to drive it with me. We can fill up and the same time and calculate mileage though.

Anyone who attends is welcome to my home afterwards or free some pizza and a beer.

Which day, section of the trace, and time is open.

Title updated with date.

Hello Xntx
 

I'm glad I saw your post. I would be very interested in doing an Eco run with you on Memorial Day. I have never done one before, but think it would be a lot of fun.

I will be looking for your updates on this event

Thanks

Awesome, some serious competition!

Need to hammer out:
-Starting /ending location (thinking Tupelo, meet up at the auto museum)
-Direction to head
-Distance to cover
-Which day
-What time to meet at

I'm open to suggestions. My wife/kids will be gone, and I'm off all weekend, so I have no restrictions.

I'll cross post to the Tdi and prius sites shortly

Posted to;
Tdi forum
Insight Forum
Prius chat

Xntrx
 

I tried to reply to your PM, but my internet connection is very weak out here in the country, so I will give my ideas here.

I am available any of the 3 days of the holiday weekend. I like the idea of meeting at the Auto Museum.

Since most people have Scan Gauges or MPGuino's we could start with one fill up and go south maybe 30 or 50 miles, compare MPG and head back and do the same. Then maybe go north and do the same

At the end we could fill up and calculate the best MPG for one over all bragging rights for the day.

I'm all for having fun and making it easy.

I have a Mpguino, on the shelf. Would prefer the fill up, re-fill method. Here is the proposed route.. I'm going to go ahead and drive it within the next few days to confirm the route and filling locations.
Around 170 miles round trip, but scenic and peaceful at both ends.
Lets just go for Memorial day itself, since its an easy day for everyone to remember.

Just did the run, and laid down a 73.6, one of my best. 50mph speed limits and rolling hills. Will take about 4 hours max.

Memorial day is fine with me and a fill up at each stop is OK also.

I really looking forward to this experience.

Thanks for setting it up!

My brother wants to be my "navigator", I told him only if he loses 100 lbs before Memorial day. Just kidding. I hope its OK to bring him.

I took a look at the route. It looks great to me.

Congratulations on your excellent MPG!

No problem.

If he won't lose the weight, I'll take a few ding dongs for the team.

I edited the opening post with all info, and some pictures.

Subscribed:
Wish I could make it.

I would like to make this an annual event, maybe next year?

The temperature is going to be pushing 90, in the deep south. Could be less of a mpg challenge, and more or a battle between a/c and heat exhaustion. Maybe this should be a good friday event next year.

Of course, 90 degree temps will also help our MPG. Personally, I'm glad it will be hot and clear.

This is this upcoming Monday. Anyone else planning on comming?

I'm still planning on being there.

Its in a few hours, see you soon!

Results!
 

Perfect conditions and route for maximum MPG.

Before anyone starts crying about the numbers, look at the temps, elevation change, and average speed. All are ideal for maximum MPG #'s. The fill method was the "2 click" method. This is, everyone uses the same pump, the same direction at the start and end. They fill using the pump lock, until the pump shuts off twice. This eliminates the human factor from the fill up. This was also a long event, so pump error is lessened.

Without further adieu,
http://ecomodder.com/forum/member-xn...ce-results.jpg

It was a mini-civic vx car meet.

Thank you both for coming. It was great meeting you guys and finally having someone to talk mpg with (that didn't give me the "look").

Aaron

Impressive numbers!

Thanks! The least modified car still had about half of the FAQ on it.

What I find most impressive is that all of the cars could meet the x-prize mainstream tests, and were usable. This meaning, street legal, able to clear a sleeping policeman (top gear test), had usable doors (not taped shut), had a/c, could have a back seat, had all their safety equipment, weren't pedestrian hazards, and could all reach triple digit speeds if needed. I'll owe you the million for achieving it donkey.

Pictures from Natchez Trace event
 

I would like to thank Xntrx for planning this event. We all had a good time and the setting was fantastic!

Here are some pictures of the cars that participated.






http://i855.photobucket.com/albums/a...ps5491d139.jpg



http://i855.photobucket.com/albums/a...psce47cc56.jpg

Also, here are some additional data points on the course.

Start Altitude 278 feet
End Altitude 407 feet

Total ascent 6989

Total Descent 6860

We ran the 80 mile course both ways for the total of 159.8.

We got to use every hypermiling skill we ever learned hundreds' of times in 4 hours

Thanks
 

Thanks for a great event. I had a great time
"Dave"

Thanks Xntrx. Just take the million dollar prize from this year and add it to the pot for next years event. HA!

Thank for the pics. A trio of very interesting looking VX's.

---

xntrx: bug me next year if you put this on again and I'll send down some EM decals for the members who participate. (I apologize - I thought of it for this year's run and then promptly forgot. )

Well just take a formal congrats then for hitting well over 100 mpg. I'm upset at myself for wasting the less than 4 table spoons for gas it would've taken to join you in hitting 100+. I just know I could've made a slight adjustment somewhere... We're a "special" bunch aren't we?

You are so right Xntrx. I'm already thinking of ways to improve next year. There is so much "meat left on the bone" for improvement. I hope we inspire others to come show us how it really is done next year!

As we discussed today, we are all car guys and love any kind of completion that has to do with cars.

What's cool is the barriers to entry are so low that almost anyone can enjoy ecomodding and save money in the process.

WOW!! Good job gents!

Very cool and congrats on what looked like a great event!

The photos remind me of my time on the Trace back in 2009 when I was on a road trip from Montreal to New Orleans: New Orleans No Interstates (Day 7)

Perfect route to achieve such high numbers! Looking forward to hearing about your future events.

In Tupelo back in 2009 when I was balancing economy and fun:

http://dungen.ca/jeff/noni/images/img7e.jpg

Curiously, Mike Kamm also organised an Economy Run that used some of the routes from that same road trip! AMEC Economy Run IV

http://dungen.ca/jeff/levin/images/imgER05.jpg

And the Levin will be back again at SMCC Economy Run V

Thanks for your great comments and pictures, nerdboy. We hope to get many more hypermilers next year.

And your grey VX looks awesome. I love the look of both the grill and the kamm. Hadn't seen it before. Of course the donkey's kamm is amazing. Good looking cars!

Nice event, great results! Any video, by chance? Love to see the action-packed film! :)

Since there were so many aeromodded variants of the Civic VX present, if there had been the time and interest it would have been interesting to have swapped drivers and run the cars with different drivers over a shorter course to see what part of the mileage improvements was due to the driver and what part due to the aero mods. This would have been even more interesting if there had been a stock VX to throw into the mix. This way you could have noticed any differences in the coasting performance of the different cars with their various mix of aero mods as you switched from one car to the next.

One thing I noticed as I kept adding aero mods to my car was that the coasting performance kept improving and down hills where I slowly lost speed while coasting down them in the stock vehicle gradually changed into down hills where I now gained speed while coasting down them as I kept adding aeromods.