Tri-State Fuel Economy Championship 9-18-11 [MA]
 

Tri-State Fuel Economy Championship 9-18-11
[MA, NY, VT]

"Bikes vs Cars" will be the theme of this new event put on by Steve Mauk of Max BMW Motorcycles of NY. Steve will organize the motorcyclists and I will be rounding up the cars that will face off in this competition.

What: Fuel mileage contest through the Berkshire Mountains of MA. The route will be on scenic and challenging roads and will run 103miles in distance. The route will include the climb and decent of Mount Greylock, the highest point in the state. Your “economic” driving ability will be tested. There will be a time limit to complete the run. Any street legal vehicle is allowed to participate. This event will run rain or shine.

Where: The start and finish will be from Carpinello Service Center/Sunoco, 364 Main St. Williamstown, MA 01267.

When: Sunday, September 18th, 2011. Arrival time will be 8:00-8:15 am, first car off at 9:00am. They have gas and diesel and have a large enough parking lot that we won’t be in the way.

Cost: Free! This is a fun event for like minded enthusiasts [like us]. :)

Organizer Steve Mauk will present awards to class winners.

Classes:

1. Best overall mpg for gas cars.

2. Best overall mpg for diesel and hybrid cars

3. Best MPG for bikes under 700cc.

4. Best MPG for bikes over 700cc.

Awards: This event will conclude about noon, and our plan is to proceed to the Freight Yard Restaurant & Pub located at 1 Furnace St. #3, North Adams, MA 01247 for lunch and awards.

To register for this event: simply send me an email to mikek (at] icerace (dot] com with your name, make/model/year vehicle, and your location. Or simply reply to this thread with the same details. I keep an email list of all registered drivers and will send the route instructions to them directly.

Thanks, Mike

Note: I will add more details as I get them. Additional classes may be added.

Count me in:thumbup:.

Sounds great!

D**n! The 9/18 date conflicts with a camping trip that we set up just yesterday evening.

Any chance of running it one week earlier or later??

With gas and diesel cars having a wide range of mpg capability, I'd suggest scoring by % increase over the EPA combined number for each car. If anyone shows up driving a Geo Metro or a 1st Gen Insight, nearly any other vehicle might as well pack it in. I admit, correctly chasing down and verifying the EPA number for each car can be time consuming. You can demand that entrants provide a print of the car's page on the EPA site and mark the info on the page that defines their car (tranny type, engine model, whatever).

Classing bikes by cc might be best, if there are no EPA estimates to go by.

Couple questions.

What is the fuel usage procedure? Fill before and after?

Is the route going to be posted beforehand or is it basically just up and down the mountain?

Most important of all,... can we get ice cream there:D?

Sorry to hear you can't make it Bruce. During such a beautiful time of year we all have so many other things we could be doing on weekends.
These events are low key and mostly for fun and socializing. Steve's plan is to keep the classes simple and mirror how A.M.E.C. ran their four previous Economy Run events. We're hoping to attract some of the "big dog" cars like those you mentioned. We car guys need people like Chang with his CRX HF and Darin with his Firefly to give the bikes a challenge.

Hello Jethro,

Yes, the fill before and after procedure will be used. On the bikes and older cars, it will be to the rim for best accuracy. For people who are worried about overfilling and possible evap system problems, we can employ the slow fill and one click method. If using the one click method, they must specify it before the morning fill up and not show up with a full tank. In other words, no overfilling at another nearby station before the event and then using the one click shut-off at the refill after the event to artificially inflate their mpg result. Just as in the A.M.E.C. events, I will be the fill and refill guy at this event.

Steve has typed up the route instructions and I will get them scanned. I have an Economy Run email list and will send them out to the list. If your not already on my list and would like to be, simply send me a note to mikek (at] icerace (dot] com.

Mike

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v4...DSC05956-1.jpg
Curiously, I haven't heard a word from the seasoned veterans of economy runs here. Will, Darin, Martin, will you guys join us?

I looked up the history of cars vs bikes in A.M.E.C. Economy Run competitions. Unfortunately there have only been two motorcycle riders that have entered, but here's how they fared against the cars.

Economy Run I

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v4...10/Cnv0091.jpg

Ernie Yue entered his 2008 Kawasaki Ninja 250 in our Aug 10th, 2008 Economy Run I event. He weighed in at 580 lbs. and outperformed all of the cars with 73.06 mpg. The best car at that event was Dave Burnham's 1991 Jetta Diesel that came in at 56.36 mpg.

Economy Run III

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v4...0/IMG_1640.jpg

Shift518.com's Vlad Saakyan entered his 2003 Suzuki Svs650 and was able to get 62.28 mpg from it. However, he was up against some mighty stiff competition from our all time high mpg driver, Chang Ho Kim in his 1989 Honda CRX HF, who scored an amazing 118.18 mpg!

So as it stands, it is a tie:

Cars = 1

Bikes= 1

Well, I'm shooting for the 70's, so hopefully the bikes will at least have some kind of challenge. More aero to do and some mechanical things to work out still. Looking forward to seeing everyone there.

70's for a gas car would be excellent! For those interested, Ken's album can be seen here: http://ecomodder.com/forum/member-je...ect-jetta.html