Throwing Down the Gauntlet!
 

I have been following the Top Gear Project Sipster thread.

In some ways it makes me a bit mad/motivated. ;):mad::D:thumbup: (mixed emoticons!)

They have a real camera crew, editors, graphics, and $7000.

What could Ecomodder do with a home camcorder, us, and nearly NO budget?!

Seriously, we have guys building Electric Swifts, Hybrid Metros, Aero-Civics, brewing their own bio-diesel and building their own motor controllers.

We should throw down the gauntlet and beat Detroit, Japan, and Top Gear with the "Ecomodder Car".

In the past, I have already raged against the X-Prize. And I guess I am raging against this too.

Why wait years for New Eco-Friendly cars to be manufactured when we can build them ourselves right now!? And do them better to boot!

The best compliment I ever got about my Electro-Metro was: "If a knuckle-head like you can build one of these, why can't Detroit!?"

Indeed!

Let's get out in our driveways, build, and start kicking some @$$!

[/end rant]

[/begin Piwoslaw's rant]
We're doing it for ourselves, they're doing it for an audience. We need extra mpg's for what little money we have, they need fireworks to get people's attention.
Eco'ing is a fad now, everyone is talking about it, so it's the best time to put on an eco-show.
If you really wanted to put $7000 to good use, you would ecomod your neighbor's car for $500 and then pay him to drive it.
I'll stop before I get too far...
[/end Piwoslaw's rant]

I think it's a brilliant idea, honestly. We have engineers, aerospace designers, graphic artists, back yard gurus and every other component necessary (including our own private funding) necessary to really lay down some copyrights and design our own complete vehicle, or vehicles which could in theory "best the next best thing."

The major auto makers ought to be asking us for ideas, and no doubt there are people registered or not reading the forums stealing ideas already to make production model vehicles back on our backyard ideas.

I'm all for the idea, I'd put my bottom dollar that if maybe 15-20 individuals from each state got together we could all design and build some of the most eco-friendly and good looking cars. Once 50 car prototypes are complete, meet up in one central location, and get the attention of every big name in the business. Narrow it down based on the general public's opinion on what the best features and vehicles are and build 4 or 5 100+ mpg machines that everyone would buy.

Believe me when I say, it is entire possible for this forum to pull it off, people just have to put their money where their mouth is and stick with it. That is the hardest part, getting people to remain optimistic about the whole project even under direct scrutiny from outsiders.

I would say we SHOULD do some sort of official EM car, aside from my car and darin's cars, but at the same time, I wonder what we'd DO with it.

Buy a car, test it, get some bad mileage numbers, and then go to town? Might be fun to have. Maybe we can challenge top gear to a competition to see who can get the best mileage. :D

We also already have a lot of A-B-A testing data, the closest you can get to $multimillion research labs and windtunnels with "NO budget".
PLUS, I believe there aren't any big oil lobbyists among us, so we really want to do things right.

But isn't that what you already get at hypermiling races and other eco-nerd get-togethers?

Problem here is the art of getting good FE out of a car is not just structural / automobile science and aero common sense / specialized knowledge. Hand even an aerocivic to a moron with lead in his foot and skull, and probably he will be able to turn in sh*tty FE figures out of it!

It is the combination of the modded hardware and software (techniques / driving style etc) that yields the results, and there is no set way of imparting the software to anybody, except through internal acceptance and commitment from the initiate.

So maybe the storm that is brewing could as well peter out. Sorry for raining down on the parade :(

More rain: the automakers are all well aware of all the eco tricks. We won't be teaching them a thing. It is politics/cost/other things that keep this stuff out of their lineup.

The one time I deliberately tried to drive it "normal aggressively" (75-80 mph, max accel, high revs, brake at the last moment, etc.) on my normal driving rounds, I managed to get the mpg's down into the low 50's.

"Rain man Frank" :) True, of course.

bennelson: I have to admit I was a bit envious of Top Gear's budget. Wouldn't it be fun to have that kind of cash to spend on mods! (How much $ would it take to have a body shop do a pro version of the AeroCivic?)

I think it's clear most of us are already beating the manufacturers. As soon as you stick a partial grille block on... ta-da! ... the car is now more efficient than when it left the factory, regardless of how it's driven.

Too bad the compiler doesn't have a '--force' option.