Tri-State Fuel Economy Championship 9-18-11
 

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

https://www.fuelly.com/attachments/fo...a86c912b72.jpg

"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, continuing through portions of VT, and NY. The route will be on scenic and challenging roads and will run 94 miles in distance. The route will include the climb up [and decent] of Mount Greylock. 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 8:00-8:30am, 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 ethusiasts [like us]. ;)

https://www.fuelly.com/attachments/fo...326d4bf6c8.jpg

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.

https://www.fuelly.com/attachments/fo...d92e13b9f2.jpg

Awards: This event will conclude about noon, and our plan is to proceed to a local restaurant [TBA] for lunch and awards.

To register for this event: Please contact Steve Mauk at (518) 279-3040 or via email: stevem [at]maxbmwmotorcycles[dot]com. Or just simply reply to this thread with your name, year/model car or motorcycle.

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

Re: Tri-State Fuel Economy Championship 9-18-11
 

I should participate in this as it is in my neck of the woods. Dunno if I can be arsed to compete with all those fancy aero mods, tho. Is there a tire pressure limit for this event? :D

Re: Tri-State Fuel Economy Championship 9-18-11
 

Hello VX, no aero mods are necessary, but there are always one or two who put more effort into these 'for-fun' gatherings. It would be great if you could join us. There is no tire pressure limit per say, as none will be checked. All individuals present are responsible for whatever they may choose to do, and to obey all local traffic laws of course.

If you decide to join us, please send me an email [in post 1] so I can get you on the list.

Cheers,

Mike

P.S. You are fortunate to have an event like this locally. They are far a few between!

Re: Tri-State Fuel Economy Championship 9-18-11
 

Speaking of lists, here is the current one as of today:

Gas Cars:

1. Ron Kienhuis, 2001 Subaru Forester - Long Island, NY

2. Gabrielle Isenbrand, 1993 Honda Civic Del Sol S - Esperance, NY

3. Ken Snowman, 1990 VW Jetta [gas] - Springfield, VT.

4. Mike Kamm, 1991 Nissan Sentra SE-R - Averill Park, NY

5. Will Meredith, 1998 Honda Civic EX - Binghamton NY

6. Ernie Yue, 2001 Ford Focus - Mechanicville, NY

7. Jake Mangini, 2008 Suzuki SX4

8. Caleb Pocock, 2009 Honda Civic Si

Diesel/Hybrid:

1. Jonathan Bartlett, 2005 VW Passat wagon automatic - Sterling, MA

2. Louise Kodela, 2000 Honda Insight - Williamstown, MA

Trucks:

1. Carter Willey, 1980 Iveco Zeta 100 [diesel] - Esperance, NY

2. William Lum, 2006 Dodge Ram 2500 [diesel]

Motorcycles under 700cc:

1. Steve Mauk, 2011 BMW G650-GS - Williamstown, MA

2. Bob Zeliff, 2010 BMW F650 twin - Bridport, VT

3. Bruce Lemeiux, 2009 BMW F650GS - Pownal, VT

4. Doug Morrisson, 1964 BMW R27 - Chester, VT

5. Joe Warner, 2010 BMW G450X - Danvers, MA

6. Andrew Phillips, 2010 BMW G450X - Dofftown, NH

7. Rebecca Cooke, 2010 BMW F800ST - South Hampton, MA

8. Diane Wiley, 2008 BMW G650X Country - Valley Falls, NY

9. Zac Wiley, 2010 BMW G450X - Brookfield, CT

10. David Dardaris, 2007 BMW F650GS - Ballston Spa, NY

Motorcycles over 700cc:

1. Jeff Frisch, 2011 BMW 1600 GTL - Troy, NY

2. Tim Lukowski, 2011 BMW S1000RR - Cohoes, NY

3. Brian Becomb, 2010 BMW S1000RR - Pownal, VT

4. Max Schling, 2011 BMW F800ST - Rensselaer, NY

Some of the guys are bringing powerful bikes to see what they are capable of in economy driving mode. The S1000RR is currently the most powerful production street motorcycle at 193 h.p., but I'll bet it can still get 50 mpg.

Re: Tri-State Fuel Economy Championship 9-18-11
 

I have two updates on this event. Some of the roads that Steve had planned for the 94 mile route were washed away by Irene. So he went back out and re-designed the course. I asked him to add a few more miles as we usually run just over 100 miles or so. Steve says that the updated course measurse out at 105 miles.

https://freightyardpub.com/wp-content...ured-img-1.png
Also, the name of the restaraunt we will have our lunch and awards at was announced today. it will be at the Freight Yard Restaurant & Pub located at 1 Furnace St. #3, North Adams, MA 01247

https://freightyardpub.com/wp-content...7/home-img.png

Re: Tri-State Fuel Economy Championship 9-18-11
 

Is the course be posted on google maps somewhere? I'd be nice to see the course before hand.

Re: Tri-State Fuel Economy Championship 9-18-11
 

No, it's not posted anywhere yet. Steve hasn't typed up the new route info and emailed it me yet, but promises to do so in the next day or two. I'll send it out to all who have registered as soon as I get a copy of it.

Mike

Re: Tri-State Fuel Economy Championship 9-18-11
 

how will fuel economy be reliably measured?

Re: Tri-State Fuel Economy Championship 9-18-11
 

As in the four previous events I've been involved with, we will employ the "fill and refill" method. To avoid errors caused by uneven ground, trapped air in the tank, etc, all vehicles will be filled and refilled at the same pump, facing the same direction each time. On the non OBD-II equipped [pre-'96] cars, the fill will be to the spring loaded unleaded fuel flap for best accuracy. For people with OBD-II cars, who might be worried about possible evap system problems that overfilling may cause, we can employ the slow fill and one click method. If using the one click method, the vehicle must take a least one gallon at the morning fillup, 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. We've only had one creative person do this in the past but he admitted it afterwards. Generally, participants are not trying to cheat. They are all there to enjoy the event and get the most accurate results possible. Just as in the A.M.E.C. events, I will be the fill and refill guy at this event for the cars.

Re: Tri-State Fuel Economy Championship 9-18-11
 

Cool, thanks for clarifying.
Any chance you could add me to the registration list a few posts above? You can put Amherst / Great Barrington, MA for my town.

Re: Tri-State Fuel Economy Championship 9-18-11
 

Seems they have a time limit to edit posts here? I can't edit you into the original roster above but yes consider yourself registered. Welcome aboard. I received the route instruction attachment via email today and can forward them, but I don't have an address for you. Mine is mikek ([at)] icerace ([dot)] com. Send me a note and I'll get them to you asap. :)

Mike

Re: Tri-State Fuel Economy Championship 9-18-11
 

Route instructions have just been sent out to all registered drivers. See you all on Sunday!

Mike

Re: Tri-State Fuel Economy Championship 9-18-11
 

I'm realizing this activity is just too unrealistic without an odometer. Navigating is one of the things I hate the most, and this would just end up being a big waste of time because I would spend all my energy trying to make the correct turn instead of trying to drive a certain way. One mistake and who knows how many miles I would have actually driven. :-/ So, sorry I didn't show up.

Re: Tri-State Fuel Economy Championship 9-18-11
 

No problem Jason! Thanks for letting me know. :)

Mike

Re: Tri-State Fuel Economy Championship 9-18-11
 

Tri-State Fuel Economy Championship Results

The first ever Tri-State Fuel Economy Championship went off under perfect weather conditions on September 18th, out of Williamstown, MA. The theme of the event was "Cars vs Bikes" and Steve Mauk of Max BMW Motorcycles, organized the roster of 17 motorcycles. Although the event was open to any motorcycle, only two non BMW bikes came out to play. One was a Kawasaki KL 250 and the other a Harley Davidson Street Glide. On the car/truck side of things we had 9 entries.

In prior A.M.E.C. economy run events the best that a motorcycle was able to achieve [Ernie Yue's '08 Kawasaki Ninja 250] was 73.06 mpg.

https://www.fuelly.com/attachments/fo...c9828eb217.jpg
However the record books [and the cars] were overhauled by Steve Mauk's 103.65 mpg figure, riding a completely stock 2011 BMW G650GS.

https://www.fuelly.com/attachments/fo...0f131e67a4.jpg
Steve [on the right] is over six feet tall and he mounted a pillow on the tank to rest on as he crouched as low as possible for the full 105 miles of the course, which wound it's way through the Berkshires of MA, continuing though portions of VT and NY. Needless to say he was a bit stiff after getting off of the bike! You can hear it in his voice in the event video link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5HMFc92Ax54. The award is being presented by Max BMW's Ben Stratton.

https://www.fuelly.com/attachments/fo...0b8e4cf483.jpg

Mount Greylock was the biggest challenge for all of the participants, but especially for the cars, as their mass necessitated using engine braking to keep their brakes from overheating down the long narrow decent.

https://www.fuelly.com/attachments/fo...b126948701.jpg
Jim Stoddard rode BMW's brand new 1600cc touring bike, the 2011 K1600GTL with its 1649cc inline-six, and managed to get 59.55 mpg with it. He didn't even remove the bags or top case!

Jonathan Bartlett topped the Diesel/Hybrid class with a stellar 79.38 mpg figure in a borrowed '98 VW Jetta TDi. Now that's impressive. I wish I had a picture of the car. There was nothing visible done to it!

https://www.fuelly.com/attachments/fo...5447b497d4.jpg
Steve handed out awards to all other participants.

https://www.fuelly.com/attachments/fo...cee4edb70e.jpg
My 1991 2.0 liter Sentra SE-R with lots of duct tape and choroplast on board. I was rewarded with more than double the factory highway rating of 29 mpg, with a new personal best of 76.12 mpg.

https://www.fuelly.com/attachments/fo...b2dc6617b5.jpg

https://www.fuelly.com/attachments/fo...d3166b0ce5.jpg
Our friend Hobbit was there with his 2004 Toyota Prius

More event pictures can be viewed here: Fuel Economy Contest - MAX BMW - Andrew Phillips

Motorcycles under 700cc:

1. Steve Mauk, 2011 BMW G650-GS [single] - 103.65 mpg

2. Bruce Lemeiux, 2009 BMW F650GS [single] - 95.02 mpg

3. Gregg Templeton, 2002 Kawasaki KL 250 Super Sherpa - 88.60 mpg

4. Fred Jones, 2009 BMW F650GS [single] - 80.09 mpg

5. Joe Warner, 1964 BMW R27 - 76.58 mpg

6. Jeff Parker, 1967 BMW R50/2 - 64.97 mpg

7. Andrew Phillips, 1968 BMW R60/2 - 64.93 mpg

8. Michael Conway, BMW - 50.70 mpg

Motorcycles over 700cc:

1. Chris Benda, 2010 F650GS [twin 800cc actual] - 75.485 mpg

2. Max Stratton, 1967 BMW R60/2 - 72.514 mpg

3. Ben Stratton, BMW 2010 R12R - 71.575 mpg

4. Max Schling, 2011 BMW F800ST - 70.328 mpg

5. Jeff Frisch, 2006 BMW R1200RS - 67.093 mpg

6. Rick Butterfield, 2010 BMW R1200GSA - 50.823 mpg

7. George Yonnone, 1992 BMW K100RS - 49.203 mpg

8. Steve Remslow, 2012 Harley Davidson, Street Glide - 49.065 mpg

Gas Cars:

1. Mike Kamm, 1991 Nissan Sentra SE-R - 76.12 mpg

2. Ken Snowman, 1990 VW Jetta [gas] - 53.51 mpg

3. Gabrielle Isenbrand, 1993 Honda Civic Del Sol S - 49.05 mpg

4. Ron Kienhuis, 2001 Subaru Forester - 36.01 mpg

Diesels/Hybrids:

1. Jonathan Bartlett, 1998 VW Jetta TDI diesel - 79.38 mpg

2. Hobbit, 2004 Toyota Pruis - 70.6 mpg

3. Arthur Evans, 2000 Honda Insight - 68.27 mpg

4. Louise Kodela, 2000 Honda Insight - 62.2 mpg

Trucks:

1. Carter Willey, 1980 Iveco Zeta 100 [diesel] - 24.28 mpg

Re: Tri-State Fuel Economy Championship 9-18-11
 

Other than the tire pressures up to the sidewall posted max of 44 psi nothing was done.

Here's how it looked when the prior owner listed it for sale in 2009. The roof racks and bumper stickers have been removed, and 3,670 more miles have been put on the odometer, but not much else looks to have been changed.
https://picasaweb.google.com/10484589...95869110218482

Re: Tri-State Fuel Economy Championship 9-18-11
 

Mike, I'm so glad you're still at it, I just looked over the past few events, very nice. I was at Economy Run II, but have been out of the area since.

I finally got back in the area and see you just ran and event, very cool, hopefully I can make next years.

Any idea why you ended up with so few car entrants? I'm just surprised since the other Economy Runs were such a success.

Keep up the good work.

Re: Tri-State Fuel Economy Championship 9-18-11
 

Thanks Chris!

The biggest reason for the small car count was short notice. The event was announced only 30 days before the event and most people already had other plans in that very prime time of the year. Plus we had a few drop out the day before. There were plenty of bikes because the organizer works at Max BMW and asked everyone who walked through the door if they'd like to participate.

Check this out, the stock looking [gas] Jetta that got 53.51 mpg in the event has really stepped up his game:

https://www.fuelly.com/attachments/fo...46939c9ee7.jpg

We plan to go out and run the original course through the southern Adirondacks [that you ran on with us a few years ago] in a couple of weeks. And he wants to beat my Nissan this time.

There's a thread about it here.

Mike

Re: Tri-State Fuel Economy Championship 9-18-11
 

Ok, this is only in good fun, but as a fuel-consumption and fuel-efficient conscious community, shouldn't this be discouraged rather than condoned??

I mean, we are wasting gas to prove how much we can save it!!

Oh the irony !!!! :D

Re: Tri-State Fuel Economy Championship 9-18-11
 

Well overall we are car enthusiasts and AMEC is racers so at least they're using less gas than the typical competition. Then again though if you can drive around getting the 118MPG that CRX did last year at this event, you can do a few events a year and drive across country and still probably use less fuel than typical americans.

Cool Mike, yes I remember the VW, he was a cool guy and did very well the year I went too. I'm gonna look over the thread now but are you going to use your B210 or your Sentra? I love that first route we did, I wish I had the Festiva that time, I just wasn't able to get it inspected until a few weeks later due to bald tires. I did get 50MPG out of it on my daily commute for the 6 months after though before moving out of the area.

I thought about another Festy but they just are not safe enough for the retards around my normal commute here and I wanted more space and less rattly box, so I've got a year to get my clean SW2 dialed in before your next event, I have high hopes for it though.

Re: Tri-State Fuel Economy Championship 9-18-11
 

This is nice! Eco-friendly activities must be promoed. By the way, the Toyota Prius hybrid is not just for eco-friendly hipsters any more. In fact, there is a healthy history of Prius racing. Events like the 2011 Prius Cup are just one reminder that there are Toyota Prius race cars out there. Even hypermilers need to push the throttle once in a while. Resource for this article: Toyota Prius Cup moving hybrids into the sports car realm