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Dave 48 Profile
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Re: AMEC Economy Run events thread


Looks like fun Mike thanks for the report, and its great to see the Geo worked out well!
Dave B
6/11/2012, 6:36 am Link to this post Send Email to Dave 48   Send PM to Dave 48
 
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Re: AMEC Economy Run events thread


Yes, thanks for the results Mike.

The family was great for the event, but by the end of it everyone needed to eat and needed a break, and when I saw I'd used over 10L of fuel, I just figured, whatever I'll check the results online. Sorry I didn't have a chance to hang out at all, but I am glad I came and participated.

I certainly did not expect the roads to be what they were. There were at least 2 entire sections that my goal was to avoid pointy rocks and not try to bottom out. There was one section of nicely packed dirt that I rally'ed it up a bit too :-), but I mean those mixed gravel/broken pavement/randomly large rocks sections near the middle-end. Oh well.

Oh well, to start off, I didn't get to a pump until 4 mins before my leave time. Then I could not get it to take my pay, so had to go inside. I left 2 mins after my start time. I knew the course was in km, but had never driven based on km, so I was like, .5 km, that must be a ways up. So I went straight past the first turn. Then I back tracked, took it and my navigator kept telling me there was somekind of right I needed to take, so not recognizing anything and not wanting to throw the entire day I went back to the gas station and started over ! The 2nd time leaving I left 8 mins after my start time, plus all the extra fuel used going back and forth at those few lights. That left me a little shook up for the first section, with only mild gliding.

And then at the end of that section, I passed the control car, went a little ways passed him (since engine was off and I had momentum), well by the time I got to his car, he gave me my time, added 1 minute to THAT time and told me I should have left 3 minutes ago. I have no idea why I thought engine off at a control stop that I would be able to take it easy to get my out time and leave. Needless to say that made me 3-4 mins late on the 2nd section and every other control stop I ran back and forth to the control car.

I have no idea how some people managed no penalty, I mean even parking right near the control car and running back and forth there was only ONE time that I didn't have to leave immediately upon getting back in to my car. I'm not complaining, I just will know better for next year, but do think its kind of strange to give the driver an out time that has passed, but the only things I have to compare it too are TSDs I ran while at RPI and maybe I did it wrong by using the current time as an out-time back then.

The only other issue I ran in to, as I said, were the couple poor road sections, I was kind of surprised that the worst sections were at a speed ratio of 87% and the last 2 sections of flat, smooth countryside had a speed ratio of 74-77%. And there were a couple times that a road was clearly 50km/h but the course told me to go 80km/h and at the speed ratio I knew I was just getting penalties.

The only last issue I had, which you probably missed, but there was a Sunday driver right around section 6/7/8. It was right around the particular narrow road section that was always either 60-70% grade straight up, or down at a right turn angle (I know a lot of the course had this kind of stuff, but this was a particular section with about 20 mins straight of it that every turn was pretty much blind), well they wanted to go 40km/h (which is reasonable for the road) but I had to go 80km/h. There was one other rally car in front of me that go stuck (duck nose) and was able to pass on a blind corner, but with the family I just couldn't. I eventually passed them and then at the start of the next section some how they were in front of me again! emoticon


Anyway, I hope that doesn't seem like complaining because the whole family had fun. After a couple sections of getting used to navigating and the always being late thing, we got in a groove (until the terrible road sections, where everyone was stressed about bottoming out), and by the last 3 sections we were doing excellent and even had time to sight see while EOC and everything else. The last 2 sections of 70-100km/h farmland/smooth countryside is (for some reason) what I was picturing a lot of the course would be like, my scan gauge said I was averaging 60mpg on those sections. Those sections gave tons of time and they were smooth as could be.

My actual MPG for the course was 42.34mpg or 5.55/100km, with missed turns, etc I guess, I don't know, but I know for a fact I went 126.6 miles and used 11.3L. Anyway, I knew I wouldn't be a contender, but I am still extremely happy overall, considering the above conditions and first time driver/navigator and family in the car, not to mention, even on 'smooth' roads there were at least 3 times I was in 3rd gear going 10mph up a hill, full out, hoping I'd get to the top :-). And considering average course speed was about 30mph (took 4 hours) and my city epa is 23mpg, I am very happy. I am surprised a couple smart cars beat me, for some reason I thought they were only rated at like 35mpg and was really looking forward to beating them with the car-full in my 15 y/o beater, oh well, 6mpg off of them isn't too bad.

I hope it wasn't too weird that I showed up as last car and then disappeared, but even as is, I didn't get back to home (we ended up not staying in Canada) until almost 11pm. Average on the way home was 39mpg on thruway, because I was blasting A/C to make family happy.

See you at the next one, maybe with at least a few less kids :-).

Last edited by itjstagame, 6/11/2012, 8:10 am
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Re: SMCC Economy Run - Montreal - 6/9/12


Mike, one other question, I just noticed that the gold, silver, bronze is spread across the entire chart across all categories (gas/diesel/etc), did the categories not really matter?

Also was there a spot to weigh for the weight of the car, I didn't realize it would actually be used for a medal category, I just put stock, empty/unladen weight for my vehicle. Not that I'd probably be a contender still with my penalties...

Of course the only other economy run was AMEC Eco Run (#2 I think) and thought it was strange that there was no scales and no designated 'official' gas tank filler :-).

Good job to you, can't wait to see what kind of mods you add to the metro before MA. I also hope that's a faster course so mine and Ken's aero mods will show up in some way...
6/11/2012, 8:42 am Link to this post Send Email to itjstagame   Send PM to itjstagame
 
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Re: AMEC Economy Run events thread


On our first economy run we did have scales and weighed every car (truck).
I guess, we decided to not use the tons per gal measurement.
Fill ups are prettu much on the honor system with random checking.
Our events are for fun, so we don't get too fussy.

Any way, glad you ha fun and the family enjoyed it.

Last edited by zx2 2000, 6/11/2012, 9:17 am


---
Richard C. "Dick" Vedder
AMEC Chief Steward
6/11/2012, 9:16 am Link to this post Send Email to zx2 2000   Send PM to zx2 2000
 
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Re: AMEC Economy Run events thread


quote:

itjstagame wrote: Of course the only other economy run was AMEC Eco Run (#2 I think) and thought it was strange that there was no scales and no designated 'official' gas tank filler :-).

Richard, Chris had two separate thoughts in this sentence. Regarding weighing and having an official fill/refill person, he was referring to this past weekend's SMCC event, not our events. He was just saying that the only other event he participated in was our Economy Run 2, so he was expecting th event to be run the same way.

Chris, you did not miss any scales. Jeff [of SMCC] had a spot on the entry form where we were asked to list the factory weight of our cars. He used that for calculation of the par/per tonne category. No, they did not weigh the cars. In retrospect, yes it would have been best to list the weight of your car as it participated. I don't pay much attention to the ton/mile aspect of these events. I'm more interested in the raw mpg numbers.
quote:

itjstagame wrote:Good job to you, can't wait to see what kind of mods you add to the metro before MA. I also hope that's a faster course so mine and Ken's aero mods will show up in some way...

Thanks Chris. I knew what the course was like because I've run in every one of them. Like you described, it is extremely challenging and our best mpg numbers will never be seen with the SMCC's road rallye/economy run format.

And regarding your pm, yes I do still have the course instructions for the two AMEC event courses we've used in the past. They were indeed higher speed courses and would give the big numbers we all like to see. In fact we had an informal gathering last October to run the old Fonda-Speculator-Fonda route. We could/may do it again if enough interest is there. But it would be best to do it in August/Sept though, as October was already cool enough to cost us some mileage.
6/11/2012, 10:31 am Link to this post Send Email to Mike Kamm   Send PM to Mike Kamm
 
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And the winner was..........


quote:

Mike Kamm wrote:
Competition in the gas class will be very tough this year. Darin Cosgrove of Ecomodder, will be entering his 2000 Honda Insight in the gasoline class.

Image
It is a very efficient gas class car with it's lean burn engine, light curb weight, and superior aerodynamics. Darin has achieved 85 mpg with it. This rally is challenging though, and top mpg numbers are not achievable when you're rushing up steep hills to stay on time.

I called this one right didn't I? Some of you might remember Darin when he came to our Economy Run III event in 2009 with his Pontiac Firefly and got 106.12 mpg with it!

From the ecomodder thread, here were some comments from Darin about his ride home:

"I've never driven the car that hard before this weekend, and probably won't again until next time.

Driving styles, for comparison: 76 mpg US (3.1 L/100 km) in spirited rally driving in the event; 98 mpg US (2.4 L/100 km) on the return from Montreal this afternoon, driving the speed limit on the scenic, flat route (ideal for lean burn!) on a perfect weather day (the usual head wind was AWOL)."
6/11/2012, 12:27 pm Link to this post Send Email to Mike Kamm   Send PM to Mike Kamm
 
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Re: AMEC Economy Run events thread


Image
Ken's comments about competing in "FrankenJetta."

"I had an awesome time all around on this rally. It really is great being able to talk about mods, statistics, and plans for the vehicle in real time and have the people you are talking with actually be interested in what your talking about.

The Jetta, however, found things a bit more difficult. So far things are looking a bit off, mechanically. Over the weekend I used a gallon of antifreeze, two quarts of oil, lost both my front smoothies [wheel covers], blew the right front strut, and lost 3 (so far) screws on the belly pan.

Coming back into America, had a crew of 3 inspectors and a something?-sniffing dog go over my car for 15 minutes.

Jeff, thanks for being a great host/tour guide. I really had a great time and look forward to seeing everyone again."





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All photos courtesy of Jeff Dungen


Image

Check out Francis Reid's Toyota Echo. I love wild aero mods!

Image

They called this car the Duck Nose Echo.

Image

Underneath view. He had a full belly pan and side skirts like I had on my SE-R last year. This thing was cool!

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Team Smart Quebec!


Image

The turnout from Tean Smart Quebec was very impressive with no less than 8 entries. Four were gas powered and the other four were with the .8 liter diesels. The best one was a diesel driven by Frederic Bedard, at a great 73.50 mpg.

Image
Organizer Jeff Dungen's rare RHD Toyota Levin Apex GT had it's best outing ever at 50.15 mpg. This is with a high performance 20 valve 1.6 liter engine with individual throttle bodies!
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Busted: 7 Things That Won’t Improve Your Gas Mileage


This is a great article by GreenCarReports on gas mileage myths:
http://www.greencarreports.com/news/1077286_busted-7-things-that-wont-improve-your-gas-mileage

I have found all of their observations to be true in my experiences.

Mike
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