Insight FE record attempt: good luck Dan! (krousdb)
 

For those of you who may not follow the discussion at CleanMPG, a formidable group of dedicated hypermilers including Dan (krousdb) is assembling in Kansas this week and weekend to take part in a marathon feat of driving in a Honda Insight 5M that will surely go down in the record books.

https://www.cleanmpg.com/forums/showthread.php?t=2025

Good luck to Dan and everybody involved! (Bring some good driving music - you'll need it!)

I can't wait to see how far past 100mpg they will go.

Oklahoma
 

It's Oklahoma, but close enough. So will there be a grand finale' or something? This is kinda close to where I live.

RH77

Whoops, right you are Rick. Some of the participants may have been coming in via Wichita. Thus my confusion.

Far enough from me as to be kind of moot, anyway. :)

No biggie.
 

No big deal, just a clarification. I get Manitoba and Saskatchewan mixed up all the time too. So I suppose I've missed most of this? I'm stuck in Little Rock and Tupelo, MS until Friday.

RH77

Im like 10 minutes from Oklahoma. If I could only drop everything and visit.

We should make a pool! I'm hoping ~150mpg@40mph. I suppose they could pulse lower, but as the average speed approaches 20mph it becomes purely academic, which a record is I suppose. Anyway, pool? :D

Im flying into Witchita Friday evening and will be driving Saturday and Sunday. 150+ MPG is the target as long as the winds don't get too bad. Anyone near is encouraged to stop by. The hotel is on tonkawa.

Possible
 

Sweet! I bet I could make it down Sunday (wedding reception Saturday night :( ). I'll have to run it by the Department of Time Management "Wife".

-RH77

krousdb that is awesome!! Good luck

Don't you live near NC?

rick, will you be taking I-35?

Below is the latest results I could find on the marathon. These results were posted at 9:05 am today.

They have to use metrics to know what they are getting since the Insight tops out at 150 mpg.

Anyone know what the average speed (not counting driver switches/stops) is? Can't find much in the cmpg thread.

I-35 or US-71
 

That's a good question. I live on the SE side of KC, so when I drive to Tulsa, I take US-71 down to Joplin, then I-44. To the Ponca City area, then it would be US-60 over through Bartlesville to Ponca.

I visit Bartlesville, OK once a month for work and I use my GPS for the best route. It takes me a different way every time. I punched up Mapquest and it took me down I-35, so I have to backtrack a little up in KC.

The short answer is probably I-35. Will you be going?

RH77

It mentioned a couple of times in the thread that they would be somewhere around 25 mph.

Yeah, I saw the guestimates. I was hoping they had timed some of the laps so we could compare the measured average speed to the measured mpg.

If i go i need to make this a dual trip to also see weatherford, ok (wind turbines)

I close on my new house today in Clayton, NC, just south of Raliegh.

Hey guys,
If you look at the first post in the thread it gives the time spent driving for each lap. The average speeds have been between 17 and 23 mph, I think they are using P&G between 15 and 45 mph. Note that the thread I hyperlinked is different from the one at the top of this thread.

Dennis

So is that a P&G between 5th and 4th or what?

Howdy

I was up in Tonkawa today. It was on the cool side and wind howling from the n/nw. It seems they are ave. about 20 mph. There not getting into the battery. Almost all ICE.

I got to me Wayne, Bradlee, Randall... I look forward to meeting Bob on sat. I didnt get to spend near the time I wanted to with them today. Was alot of driving from Okmulgee to Tonkawa for jst 30 or 40 mins. of visting time. I hope to spend most of sat. up there.

I took the Accord today. Had to take it to the dealer in Bartlesville for some warrenty work concerns. As it turned out I didnt even get that done. I did hit $250.00 on a quarter bet in a Osage Casino on the trip back. :)

I also managed a 39 mpg ave. in the Accord today. The trip ended up being just under 400 miles with some running around in Tulsa included in that number.

I will be taking the Civic on Sat. when I make my return trip. I fully expect a 50+ mpg tank on that trip. Wayne hasnt driven a r-18 Civic yet. So we are planing to follow the Insight for a lap or two and see how the Civic does.

Thanks Dennis. They seem to be at ~160mpg@20mph average, which is good... But slow. It'd be nice if they used what's commonly considered to be a practical range, something like 40-50mph average, since 20mph is very close to bicycle speeds and most people would be impressed if they managed obscene mpg at semi speeds, well... slower than semi speeds. When they're going this slow, why not drop down to (hopefully) ~200mpg@5mph average? I mean, the press blurb probably won't mention speed, and breaking the 200mpg barrier would seem like the thing to do after breaking the 100mpg one.

Mileage Update
 

Here is the latest I could find on the Insight record attempt. They seem to be hanging onto 168 mpg or so. :woot:

How long is this going to take? At the speeds they are going is seems like it will go for 2 more days.

They figure that they have used 9.97 gallons after travelling 1689.9 miles. I'm not sure, but I think an Insight holds ~13 gallons. Dan? Anyone?

Just got back
 

Well, I just got back from the event. These Insights are truly a marvel of technology. I was able to drive one for the first time today - it's really unlike anything i've driven. Having the manual transmission, auto-stop, and a 3-cylinder ICE made it a very cool drive. On an informal run around town, I was able to get around 75 mpg!

I think they have a couple more days remaining to get tank in -- they plan to let the vehicle run out of fuel completely, which should take another 240 miles. With an average speed of 15-20 mph, this could take a while.

The winds were truly brutal -- about 10-mph steady, gusting to upwards of truly straight out of the South. It made my trip in the Integra a struggle going down, but reducing the speed to 60 resulted in 40.3 mpg. Coming back, I improved that by 3 and cruised a little faster at 64-65.

Above all, congrats to Dan and the rest of crew for their concentration, stamina, and skill. Getting nearly 200 mpg is unreal. I think the team's average stands around 168 mpg at this time.

:thumbup: :thumbup: :thumbup: :thumbup: :thumbup:

RH77

Do you realize that they are only using around 1.5 gallons a day! :D

That's some ****ing crazy hypermiling.

Now, if it were a Daihatsu UFE-III, you wouldn't need to hypermile it and would still get 200+ mpg. And it can seat not 2, but 3 people.

Yeah, I had the UFE-II, and only got 176. JK

What's a UFE-III?

RH77

Wayne's filling method is good for 14 gallons.

https://www.automobilemag.com/auto_sh..._side_view.jpg


https://www.automobilemag.com/auto_sh.../0511_ufe-III/

I take it they are just running really slow and pulse and gliding a lot to get this great mileage? Is there any point in doing this?

Pretty much. If you look at the data you can see they were hanging around 150mpg@20+mph, but now that they're in the 170mpg range they're only averaging ~15mph. I think they should go for 200+mpg@3-5mph, the news media won't report that they were out behind the car, pushing it. ;)

It's more like...
 

As I understand it, since the Insight is now "dead" (meaning that Honda is no longer going to manufacture them), this was kind of a "farewell" and "let's see what she'll do". It's also a good excuse to get the hybrid FE people together. I went down as it was close and to absorb some driving advice.

Anyways, most runs get a push-off from members running at full-tilt. The all-you-can-eat buffet at the local diner fueled that "Gas" on Sunday :o

RH77

????? Seriously? I figured MAYBE 2 gallons MAX in the fill tube over the 10.6 gallons but I've never filled it to the rim to confirm my suspicions (OK, once last week was the ONLY time I did fill to the rim and then out onto the paint :o ).. I've read time and time again it is a gallon and change in the fill tube.

Gotta love the teamwork rh77. :D
I wonder why people would be bummed about dropping the Insight, since Honda's supposedly going to drop it's drivetrain in the Fit sometime next year since two seaters generally don't sell well unless they're pickups or convertibles... I mean, the two seater design is kinda pointless unless the manufacturer has 'em in series so the CdA is cut in half, as is seen in the crappy mpg the smartcar has for it's capacity/size.

Ah, it's not the Fit that's going Hybrid, but a whole new car.

Methinks it will resemble the Fit though.

Has the news media reported on this MPG marathon yet?

That would be perfect if they improved on the Insight's IMA and put it in a 4-seater. It's a really great-driving setup (especially as a manual, but I'm afraid the CVT will be thrown in).

Also, I haven't heard any media attention on this -- just a lot of curious Oklahomans for now :p

Regarding the teamwork, I think my arse is good for at least 15 mpg :cool:

RH77

Really, when did they say no-go to the Fit hybrid? The CR-V hybrid got dropped, but I've haven't heard any change in the Fit.