The Problem With MPG...

[Big Dave]

…as a parameter of performance is that it is not transparent. Drag racers get satisfaction with a matter of seconds. Other racers have easily measured speed parameters. Even tractor pullers get a straightforward and commonly available means of testing themselves.

Back in the 50s and 60s there was the “Mobil Economy Run” strictly run for manufacturers. Those old cars were unbelievable gas hogs (the best got about 21 MPG – most ran in the 12-14 MPG range).

What are needed are economy contests. You could do them over public roads or have them at speedways. There are a lot more speedways today than there were in the days of the Mobil Economy Run. I would not think scheduling would be much of a problem – the Indianapolis Motor Speedway gets used two or three times a year, and Daytona twice. Maybe a way to start is local races on lesser venues.

Racing organizations are quite adept at measuring speed distance and the amount of fuel used. Because they can measure speed, distance, and fuel consumption very accurately, the contests need not be LeMans marathons. Fifty miles per contestant would be the greatest of plenty.

Imagine this: Let’s say 100 contestants show up at Talladega to compete in maybe ten classes. The contestants each follow individual pace cars. The pace cars have radar-operated lights to keep the contestants from drafting them too closely and if the contestant drops back beyond a tolerance range he is penalized for driving too slowly. The pace cars would maintain spacing from each other, so you could have as many as ten pace car/contestant combinations on a big track like Talladega at a time. Have them run 50 miles at 70 MPH and you could probably have the whole thing resolved in a day. TV will not cover it – it would be like watching a paint drying contest, but the manufacturers could make serious commercial hay from MPG dominance.

The “Super Bowl” of this would be a coast-to-coast run on civilian highways. A contestant has X amount of time to cover each leg and can only be fueled up at sanctioned stations. Any official would be in each vehicle to assure that no monkey business takes place.

Maybe not mass entertainment – not much chance of crashes at highway speeds on a speedway – but it would advance the technology and awareness of fuel economy.

[Ryland]

I would think it would be more fun to have it on public roads, kind of like that 100mpg challenge, you have to go from point "A" to point "B", you have this amount of time, you are then proving the point that you can get good mileage in the real world, not on a flat track without stop lights, that is why even when I was younger and entering in high mileage vehicle competitions, I wanted to build one that was street leagle, the fact that it was strictly a closed course made it feel like it was just a sport, I wanted to show up at the event without the vehicle on a trailer, just drive it there, compete and drive it home.

[LostCause]

Auto X Prize. A coast to coast economy race w/ a $10 million purse. It's about time.

The problem with MPG contests is that people have to care. In the 90's, I bet few people would have paid attention. For the common man, when you're flush with cash and gas is cheap, who cares about MPG?

The only reason you see them today is the popularity of global warming, rising oil prices, and Middle-Eastern instability. In a nation where gluttony is lauded, it takes outside measures to encourage thriftness. It's a cultural thing.

- Lost Cause

[Ryland]

I've seen a drop in entry's to our local MPG challenge compared to 10 years ago, of course it's for high school age kids, and their isn't any cash prize.

[Big Dave]

It is an axiom of horse breeding that racing improves the breed. Such has been the wisdom of the auto industry as well.

The Darwinian discipline of racing quickly separates the good ideas from the nutty ideas. The good ideas prosper (as a rule) and the nutty ideas finish last.

We gotta find a way to make MPG racing work and eshew the condescending attitude some people here have.

[MetroMPG]

I thought this was going to be a thread about "The Problem with MPG", as in, "why MPG is a lousy metric to use in the discussion of fuel economy". (Which it undoubtedly is.)

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Before you even come up with a format to make "MPG racing" work, you'll have to come up with a pre-emptive explanation for why you are "wasting gas" to save gas.

That's the #1, knee-jerk objection that the non-FE oriented motorhead will lob at you before you even finish your first sentence describing what it is you want to do.

[elhigh]

Originally Posted by MetroMPG

Before you even come up with a format to make "MPG racing" work, you'll have to come up with a pre-emptive explanation for why you are "wasting gas" to save gas.

That's the #1, knee-jerk objection that the non-FE oriented motorhead will lob at you before you even finish your first sentence describing what it is you want to do.

It's a cliched question, and it gets a cliche answer: "You can't make an omelet without breaking a few eggs."

Ask the manufacturers and they'll tell you, yeah, they do learn stuff from the racing programs. And some of that finds its way into road cars. But the racing programs are loss leaders, so that's a direct analog to exactly what we're discussing here: burn gas to learn how to burn less gas. The return on investment should be pretty good, if running one car from coast to coast on 100 gallons of fuel (easily doable by some of you guys, with nearly enough fuel left over to turn around and drive back) can improve 1000 other cars' fuel efficiency by 10%, then they all burn 100's of gallons less every year for the remainder of their useful lives.

Sounds like a fun win-win to me.