SMCC montreal economy run june 8th 2013

[sendler]

Time/ Speed/ Distance rallies are still being used to get these fuel economy events sanctioned but are impossible for a motorcycle to navigate.

[blownb310]

Originally Posted by sendler

Time/ Speed/ Distance rallies are still being used to get these fuel economy events sanctioned but are impossible for a motorcycle to navigate.

Not all economy run events are tsd based. The four I organized with A.M.E.C. used a simple course and motorcycles participated without difficulty. But out of four events, only two bikes ever showed up. It was pretty much all cars. The bike guys are usually more performance minded and don't usually care about ecomony. They had an all motorcycle economy run during Americade in 2009 as well. Lastly, the BMW motorcycle shop I work at put on the Tri-State Fuel Economy Championship a couple of years ago. Tons of bikes showed up for that one, but mostly only BMW's.

OK, back on topic.

[sendler]

Originally Posted by blownb310

Not all economy run events are tsd based.

I am hoping that eventually organisations such as SCCA will recognize fuel economy competition as a sport in itself and develop guide lines for events that are free from purposely tricky TSD navigating.

[HyperMileQC]

Could'nt take pictures of the charging stations in Sainte-Thérèse Train Station last week, so I took them two day ago. So like promised, here some pictures :


These are individual charging stations, but they can charge in 240V mode.


Hope that helps.

[blownb310]

That helps very much, thank you Denis!

Is that your bike? It looks interesting. Is that aero modded too?

[HyperMileQC]

No problem .

Yes its my bike and it has a boattail!

The same coroplast used to mod the Echo-Troll!

[nerdboy]

Originally Posted by blownb310

If I were to show up in a Chevy Volt, what class could I be in and how might I be scored? They can go 40 or so miles on the battery and then the gas engine starts after that.

We'd put the Volt in a class with similar vehicles, for instance plug-in hybrids. You might be the only one. At the end of the day it's all about creating a table of results for comparison purposes - no prize money to fight over!

It will be interesting to score the electrics too. I suppose we'll add an extra column to represent energy burned, something like what the FIA uses for the Rallye Vert.

I'd be very interested to see how far you can get on the Volt's battery before having to burn dead dinosaurs!

[nerdboy]

Originally Posted by sendler

I am hoping that eventually organisations such as SCCA will recognize fuel economy competition as a sport in itself and develop guide lines for events that are free from purposely tricky TSD navigating.

Unfortunately our insurance doesn't cover the participation of motorcycles because people have shown interest in the past.

For this event, it would be possible to run solo on a bike. You could punch the route into a GPS before the event (it hasn't been a secret since 2010) and timing is easy since you have an elapsed time to complete each section. But alas, insurance!

[echo-francis]

if you have nowhere to sleep, I have the place for about 3 tents in my backyard. and I give you my electricity to plug your cars

[blownb310]

Originally Posted by nerdboy

I'd be very interested to see how far you can get on the Volt's battery before having to burn dead dinosaurs!

Thank you Jeff. I haven't bought a Volt yet, but thanks to the courtesy of Mangino Chevrolet [in Amsterdam, NY] I had one to test drive for three days last weekend.



According to General Motors, the Volt's all-electric range with fully charged batteries varies from 25 to 50 miles depending on terrain, driving technique, and temperature. The official EPA rating is 36 miles. I made it 49 miles before the range extending 1.4 L gas engine seamlessly started [at speed you can't even feel it start.]

Here is my report card from the in dash display of the 49 mile drive.



I did not need to use any heating or cooling, hence the 100% Climate setting score. I read somewhere online that the pulse and glide [in neutral] technique works well on most EV's too. So I used that technique. But after the drive I read the in dash tutorial and it says that there is no advantage to doing that with the Volt. There is a very light regen that doesn't slow the car virtually at all that you're missing out on if you coast in neutral. I left some more range on the table as well because I did not realize until after I returned the car that there is a switch that allows you to turn off the daytime running lights. Also the tires were only at 34 psi. So I left a lot of range on the table, but that's part of the learning process.