A new Honda Insight record is being attempted this week in Oklahoma -- by the usual suspects.
http://hybridcars.about.com/od/news/a/MPGAttempt.htm

A lap tally of the daily results can be found here:
http://www.cleanmpg.com/forums/showp...92&postcount=1

 

They are having a problem. It appears they are getting better mileage than they expected and will have to do more laps. They want to end this weekend so they may have to do more shifts during the day.

 

Getting better mileage is a good "problem" to have!

I made it in about 5:00 am this morning and I'm sorry in advance for not being able to keep everybody's name straight. They are getting started around 8:30 today. Gotta run......

 

Does anybody know how to cross reference given names to screen names?

The only ones I know are:

Chuck= Delta Flyer
Wayne= Xcel
and Dan = Krousdb

edit:

Louis = sno779

 

randall = highwater
justin = just522
Bill = Billy6

 

Thanks Tom!

 

I was back for the Insight marathon relay team, but my official duties were the "pit crew" and reporting, not the driving. Kind of glad, as I know the pulse and glide, but not at the level of the team driving. Had fears of doing to them what A-Rod has done so far in the playoffs.

Did a couple of runs on the course, once with coaching, and another on my own Sunday when the winds were bad. Had 1.2L (196mpg) segments, but it was in the easier parts. Briefly experienced 200mpg.

They have already gone farther on a 14-gallon tank than anybody else - 1543miles? They may go 2200 miles or so and get 170mpg when it's all said and done.

 

I was in the same boat as Chuck, too chicken to drive. It was fun meeting everybody and observing but I didn't want any part of the record attempt. Those guys are really pushing it. Way out of my league.

 

This would be a good experience to witness, because the trivial things being done to push a 200mpg segment and a tank of around 170mpg can be useful for everyday driving. Obvious things are proper tire inflation, coasting instead of charging to intersections, keep junk out of the car, keep accelerations to a minimum, etc....

For those of you paying attention to a routing work commute, the way you accelerate onto the freeway can impact your the mpg for the trip very significantly. On the marathon, the acceleration for the pulse and glide was down to:

• start engine at 18km, put in 2nd gear
• accelerate with little to no assist in 2nd gear to 28-30km
• shift to 3rd
• cut engine and glide by 45km
• this will vary going up hills or in the wind...

Wind and cooler temperatures affected the fuel economy.


The typical driver does not bother with such, but if they did, they could get significantly better milage and not necessarily take longer to arrive.

 

Today they pushed past 2000 miles....and they still have more gas in the tank!