SMCC Montreal Economy Run - June 9th, 2012

[MetroMPG]

Rally related welcome: say hi to Smart owner "smart tech" in his intro thread: http://ecomodder.com/forum/showthrea...hey-22237.html

He navigated this year and wants to drive his modded '08 Smart ForTwo diesel next event. Several projects in the works!

[MetroMPG]

Originally Posted by blownb310

Their computer monitor probably shows them the pattern of my border crossing once each year, and always in early June.

... and with increasingly efficient automobiles.

If you ever try to cross in your F-150, it'll raise a big red flag. Be prepared for the body cavity search!

[HyperMileQC]

Originally Posted by nerdboy

That's the one unfortunate thing about the conditions of a few of the roads in this rally. I hope you were looking for an excuse to rework some mods.

Sure, we had great fun at the rally and we're planning to go in 2013 to.
But beware, because the ducknosed Echo will maybe be 7 foot longer at that moment...

[blownb310]

Originally Posted by HyperMileQC

Sure, we had great fun at the rally and we're planning to go in 2013 to.
But beware, because the ducknose will maybe be 7 foot longer at that moment...

Excellent!!!!

Mike

[MetroMPG]

Ha! If I were you, I would think about moving the duck bill coroplast to the rear of the car (rear window / kammback). Less likely to scrape! (OK, it might still scrape, but then the driver has done something really wrong! )

[itjstagame]

Dang, just saw this thread now.

Originally Posted by MetroMPG

...
Scoring better than 3 L / 100 km (78 mpg US) is absolutely achieveable on this course (with good weather, a fairly clean run & with the right vehicle).

The time/speed/distance element and the route choice really makes this a "driving enthusiast's" economy rally. Interesting combination! To keep from getting penalized, you have to push the car. It's a much more aggressive pace than the others I've gone to (Green Grand Prix & A.M.E.C.), and long sections are super twisty. I've never driven the car that hard before this weekend, and probably won't again until next time.

As mentioned, I drove and Will navigated in the U.F.O. (aka: Nerd Ferrari) with the hybrid system disabled. I'm happy to report that Will is equally as bad at navigating as I was when I sat in the right seat for him 2 years ago! We incurred the same number of penalties this year as we did last time: 4 minutes total = 8% hit for corrected fuel consumption....

I agree completely, as my first time to the course it was a shock on the twisty and road worked section. With an older, fully loaded car I had to take more time there and drop worrying about time or economy. In the future though I know where I can focus on economy to the extreme and where I need to plan ahead to take my time. I think 'almost' normal mpg is possible on the course, but getting 78mpg out of a normal 98mpg is already pretty good I think for the time restrictions.

It does really stink to get penalized for being stuck behind slow drivers on roads that are next to impossible to pass on, but there are only a couple sections that that happens on. I hate that the penalty doesn't just apply to the mpg for only that section (I know logistically impossible to 'know' and do it that way), but it'd be nice to 'not worry' as much about 1 blown section. But then again I guess this isn't that big of an issue since 2 driver's managed zero penalties.

As for my issues it was getting used to kilometers, I missed the very first turn, back tracked, thought I was lost, so went back to the gas station starting point. By the time I left the second time, I was 8 minutes after my starting time :-).

As for not driving the car that hard, unfortunately I had at least 3 times that I was in 3rd gear at 10mph hoping I could climb the hill and that happens at least once on any trip I take anywhere with the family in the car :-). I may have had the largest engine there but it certainly doesn't have much power... But then I was also only one of 4-5? cars there that had a back seat.

Originally Posted by MetroMPG

...
But, Miiiiiiiiiiiike......

Add a short boat tail to that, along with the usual complement of other aero mods plus LRR tires, and you've seriously got yourself an Insight killer. (And a really cool looking Metro.)

We already know you can weld!!

I hadn't seen that and it's extremely slick, but tandem is always fun too: Blue 1989 Geo Metro has been "green" since 1993

[blownb310]

Welcome to this thread Chris.



Chris and his entire family of five [including a new born!] were in the Saturn wagon. Imagine negotiating the rough sections with a car load like that!? And they finished the event. Now that deserves a round of applause.

[MetroMPG]

Aha! I saw the Saturn just before the start. Sorry I didn't get to talk to you in person.

Agreed: congrats are due.

[nerdboy]

Chris and his entire family of five [including a new born!] were in the Saturn wagon. Imagine negotiating the rough sections with a car load like that!? And they finished the event. Now that deserves a round of applause.

Yes, I had the pleasure of following Chris and family from the detour until their missed turn on Cabane Ronde (but I flashed them and it didn't take long for them to realize the mistake). It was fun pulsing and coasting behind them and watching them keep the little ones entertained while also navigating and hypermiling. We're really glad you came out Chris and hope that everyone had fun!

Originally Posted by itjstagame

It does really stink to get penalized for being stuck behind slow drivers on roads that are next to impossible to pass on, but there are only a couple sections that that happens on. I hate that the penalty doesn't just apply to the mpg for only that section (I know logistically impossible to 'know' and do it that way), but it'd be nice to 'not worry' as much about 1 blown section. But then again I guess this isn't that big of an issue since 2 driver's managed zero penalties.

At each checkpoint, the cars are separated by 1 minute intervals. Of course, if the cars ignore their "out time", that doesn't help, and I suspect that's what happened. The white WRX control said they received 7 cars on the same minute the second time around (after the really bumpy road). Something clearly went wrong there!

In a typical rally, the most experienced teams go out first. Here though, it's hard to know which teams will make the best effort to respect the timing. They should go out first.

You can be very pleased with your performance Chris. Last year I achieved about the same raw fuel economy as you, and I didn't have as much traffic to deal with, nor the weight and distraction of any passengers. I think if you did the route again, you'd probably do especially well in both the L/100km/tonne and improvement over EPA/TC categories. Next year perhaps?

[itjstagame]

Darin, yes, I didn't realize until now that you were MetroMPG in your Insight.

My Saturn was a bit hidden since I was in the gas station lot at the start and I wasn't able to stay for the after race events.

Yes, I think my %EPA/TC was quite high even still and I assume that was using the 'with penalties' fuel economy? This car wasn't rated for all that much originally, only 23 city and 33 high way, so 42 over that route was good for me.

That turn I missed at the end really bother's me because it's only the 3rd turn we'd missed and we really had our system down by then. I think it was just because there was no EOS for section 9 (guess he already left), but I would swear that turn was at 1.9km and not 2.3km. My odo hadn't been off by that far except only once before and with the barn up ahead I thought there was a turn just after it.

I wasn't sure if I was a bother when you were following me or not, but the last 2 sections were very flat and nice and I definitely took advantage. During section 10, after you passed me, my scan gauge was averaging around 60mpg with 80-90km -> 60km eoc p+g. I'm very pleased with my car because I am not that good with <45mph roads, my typical commute is 55mph highway and sometimes I have 45mph country roads (kind of like sections 9 and 10). The only other route I take with mixed 35-45mph hilly roads I usually am around 40mpg.

It is probably the hilly sections that killed me because I would struggle up some and have to completely ride the brake (even with engine braking) and not get full advantage of the potential energy as I could have (because I had more potential energy/momentum than the turns/road course would allow, probably due to my loaded car :-D).

As for my comment about the time penalties, I only met one other car when we were both stuck behind a non-contestant going 40kmh in a section marked for 80kmh. It had nothing to do with out times or cars ignoring them. I only mentioned it because it was the area around section 6 or 7 where its pretty much always blind corners and there was no good way to pass.

As for the actual out times, the only comment I have, is that almost every time I received my out time it was for a time that had already passed. I'm not sure how other people did it, or if some how I need to be faster getting out of the car or what, because I was stopping as close to the time cars as I could and running to and from them sometimes, but typically I would get to a time car, he would take the time that I passed him, while in the car, and add 1 minute, where if he had added 1 minute to the current time instead then I'd have had time to get to my car and prep to leave. Its no big deal, just an added challenge that I am prepared for next time. I always had to jump in the car, go, buckle and reset odo while driving.