2011 Green Grand Prix results

[Hybrid-Battery-Repair]

There were five Insights in the 2011 Green Grand Prix at Watkins Glen on April 15th 2011.

There were two races: 44 miles and 88 miles and two classes for Insights: stock and modified. This year the race was on the actual racecourse. This was a bigger challenge than previous years because the track is quite hilly and there is a minimum average lap speed of 45mph.

44 mile race:
Lynn Smith: 63.6 mpg
Alfred State (Kent Johnson): 89.6 mpg (modified)

88 mile race:
C. Michael Lewis: 69.7 mpg
Hybrid-Battery.com (Ron Hansen): 69.0 mpg
RobertSmalls: 87.1 mpg (modified)

The Alfred State car had no passenger mirror, most of the grill sealed over, no front license plate or bracket, no interior other than the driver's seat (not even door panels), spare tires as front tires (which may not be the same diameter and may skew the computer readings) and he was running with no passenger.

RobertSmalls can reply here with his modifications.

Michael Lewis has a stock 2000 Insight with a brand new battery (from Honda - darn) and he finally has the correct tires this year and removed the spoiler. Last year, he drove the race pulling a trailer containing an electric racer.

Lynn Smith has a bone-stock Insight. I don't know much about it.

Ron Hansen (me) has a MIMA. I wound up not using it at all because the downhill segments generated about 1/3 of a charge and the uphill used it all up and sometimes required downshifting. That would be fine, but it was 35 laps. Otherwise my car is stock with a 2 year old battery rebuild and a failing clutch and synchros.


The race was a blast! More of the members here should try it next year.

Here are some photos:





The red thing hanging from my license plate is a transponder that is used by the track to record timings for each car.

RobertSmalls, please add your photos and tell us about your mods.

[Blue-Civic-Hybrid]

That is awesome, what is that red car in the pic above? It's looks like a kit car modeled after the 356B Porsche.

I hope they have a race like that here on the West coast...

[Eli]

Awesome. Thanks for sharing.

I would love to participate in something like that.

[02insight]

so is it like a race to see who finishes first, where you have to go fast. or is it basically drive atleast 45mph and and who gets the highest mpg wins, regardless of when you finish?

[RobertSmalls]

Originally Posted by Hybrid-Battery-Repair

The Alfred State car had no passenger mirror, most of the grill sealed over, no front license plate or bracket, no interior other than the driver's seat (not even door panels), spare tires as front tires (which may not be the same diameter and may skew the computer readings) and he was running with no passenger.

Yep, his gauge cluster would over-report MPG by 10.4%. I hope this was taken into account in the official scoring.

The team at Alfred State did most of the aeromods that I posted about at EcoModder, so their car's exterior is a well-polished, well-painted version of mine. However, they weighed around 500lbs less, as they had no navigator, no airbags, no spare tire, no luggage, and no license plate.

Additional mods include a hot air intake (reading ~100°F on the track, 115°F on the interstate ride home), MIMA, instrumentation, kill switch, and smooth wheel covers. I also have a grid charger and a DC/DC converter toggle switch which didn't come in to play during this event. My deep cycle 12V battery just isn't that impressive, so I didn't want to stress it.

Ron, I used MIMA just a little on the track, but my fuel injector toggle switch was indispensable. I turned off my engine at the start/finish line, did a brief blip of regen before hitting turn one, coasted to the bottom of turn two, then used a little assist to get up the hill to the back straight. It was stoichiometric burning up the long back straight, then engine off coasting around two turns, then lean burn back to the start/finish line. In warmer weather, and without a navigator, I might have been able to lean burn up the back straight as well.

I had a blast. Anyone who is thinking about it should at least show up as a spectator next year. There's also Hybridfest in Madison this summer, which should be a good time as well.

[Eli]

I'm intrigued by your mods, Robert.

Got any pics of your car?

[MN Driver]

Looks like fun, great job guys that track and its elevation changes looks a bit crazy to deal with but cool to see the numbers are pretty nice considering the conditions.

It seems to me that the car with spare tires and gutted interior would be considered modified far more than RobertSmalls car. If there was a car I'd be in, it would be the gutted car with a clutch switch versus any other. I'll take track pressured RE92's over the donuts though, I can demonstrate how an RE92 can have substantially the same surface area on the rears than a donut, not sure I want to post that here though but I think I showed RobertSmalls already.

[timny1984]

I wish i knew this was happening! I was cleaning the house cause I had nothing better to do. Next year I'll be there.

What was the weather like that day? i don't think it was raining or to cold but i can't remember. Were all the insights MT? Looks like a great time just to compete on the same course same conditions as everyone else. I'd like to see how my numbers would compare.

I know i'll be enjoying my 30-45mph tail wind on my 58 mile ride home from work today. to bad i'm in the HCH and not the Insight. Where there any HCH's at the race? And what were the rules about drafting another racer? Seems like there would be some drafting advantage even if you weren't trying to.


Tim

[Hybrid-Battery-Repair]

Originally Posted by Blue-Civic-Hybrid

That is awesome, what is that red car in the pic above? It's looks like a kit car modeled after the 356B Porsche.

It's a 1965 Porsche 356 that has been modded to diesel/bio. It got 42.8mpg

[Hybrid-Battery-Repair]

Originally Posted by Blue-Civic-Hybrid

I hope they have a race like that here on the West coast...

They have a road race in San Francisco in the fall. Green Drive Expo. Good luck winning though - Bill Kinney managed 181mpg last year.

MPG Challenge takes a slow run through Richmond – Richmond Confidential : Richmond, California News, Information, Art and Events.