Hi all; I am a member of the 6 man team attempting the most distance on a tank of gas. It is taking longer than anticipated, because we just can't seem to run it out of gas! So far we have averaged exactly 170 mpg over 1935 miles. And it looks like there is still about 420 miles we can cover!
The course is 38.8 miles (62.3 Kilometers) long, in the area of Tonkawa, Marland, & Ponca City, OK. We are using KPH rather than MPG on the speedo, and L per 100 k on the odometer, in order to observe higher measures than 150 mpg. The course is largely flat, with hilly terrain in many spots. There's not much traffic, and the weather has been beautiful but often quite windy. We've done complete laps at 196 mpg, and some at only 145 mpg.
Our technique has simply been to accelerate to about 31 mph, then shut the engine off and glide to about 11 mph, then do it again. It's quite boring driving, but MANY subtleties can be employed by an astute pilot to maximize the mpg.
The 5 speed Insight is Blue, and we left the other seat in, mirrors on, etc, in an attempt to be "unmodified" and give the record attempt more meaning. The guys are doing a fantastic job, and should be finished by Tue night or Wed morning...............
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2005 Red 5 spd, color video cam w/5' monitor instead of outside mirrors, no rear wiper, tint, clear-coated & highly polished, car shows on weekends, LMPG 89.5
Some interesting details: One team member was passed by a farm tractor... The Insight says "experimental" on the back in large letters, and has a bright orange caution triangle.... Many local town people are curious as to what is going on, but all have been very friendly....We are NOT using any electic assist, and no lean burn. But each "pulse" we need to have a few seconds on charge (green bars), otherwise the state of charge get too low..... the name of this game is momentum, and we go to great lengths to not let other cars get in the way, or to use any braking....obviously this is not a practical way to drive; it's just to show what the car can do.
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2005 Red 5 spd, color video cam w/5' monitor instead of outside mirrors, no rear wiper, tint, clear-coated & highly polished, car shows on weekends, LMPG 89.5
Location: Lewisville, Texas USA Drive 2000 5-speed Insight
Posts: 789
I visited for 1.5 days this weekend. I'm not on the driving team, but got up close on the effort. Was coached on the circuit and on part of it did 1.2L (198mpg) with a brief flirt past 200 at 1.1L. Did part of it again the next day alone and got 1.2L, but Sunday's winds were terrible. At one time there was a possibility I'd do a run for them, but I'd need to take at least a couple more practice runs to get it down....I've got the general idea on how to acceleration, but not the real fine points and how to modify it for the longer hills and other conditions.
On the acceleration part, it seems like the "sweet spot" on the metric instant liter consumption is 6 liters - no acceleration at 4 - 8 liters ruins the segment.
On the subsequent re-fill, so far they have only been able to put in 12.9 gallons, which if correct would be 174.72 mpg.
Once the low fuel warning light came on, they drove another 10.5 hours until it quit!
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2005 Red 5 spd, color video cam w/5' monitor instead of outside mirrors, no rear wiper, tint, clear-coated & highly polished, car shows on weekends, LMPG 89.5
....That's correct, Rick. A slow to moderate accel in 2nd gear (just so NOT to use assist) followed by a quick shift to 3rd. We wanted to see some green charging bars, and keep them for 10-15 seconds, before shutting it down and coasting again.
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2005 Red 5 spd, color video cam w/5' monitor instead of outside mirrors, no rear wiper, tint, clear-coated & highly polished, car shows on weekends, LMPG 89.5
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Record MPG update
