Who says you can’t go fast, cheap? Have a look at this!
Can’t wait to catch some coverage on speed channel over the weekend. Le Mans has always been the place where the vision of future car development is seen. My 60’s E-type was the direct descendant of the Le Mans winning D-type of the 50’s. So by the teens we’ll all be driving fast, yet economical and eco-friendly veggie oil-burning cars perhaps?
Oh wait, I already am! The future is now! 🙂
Speaking of Diesels and my foolish countrymen who refuse to use them, sell them or buy them… have a look at this. I happen to own a Dodge 1500 RAM pickup… that is not a Diesel. I wish it was, but it isn’t. The wife bought this as a tow vehicle for her (damn) horses, and I will admit it is handy to have around when hauling something is required. It usually lives out in the barn where the veggie oil fuel system runs, and very rarely gets driven. We’ve had it for 7 years and maybe put 15k miles on it. I brought it to work this week because we needed to haul some stuff needed for our datacenter expansion and I attempted to replicate Clarkson’s feat while driving what is basically the standard American vehicle… a truck-chassis based, non-aerodynamic, mid-sized V-8 powered, slush-gearbox, gas guzzler. I drove it to work, then around town on errands, and home. The highest I let it rev was 2000 RPM, and that was on a very steep uphill grade in West Seattle… the normal rev range was 1200-1700 RPM, cruising on the freeway @ 55 or 60 MPH (in the right lane only, like a decent human being should at this speed! {for my British and antipodean readers, that would be the left lane… aka the “slow lane”… a concept that Americans outside of Montana are completely unaware of… grrrr) I maintained a steady 1500 RPM… and used the cruise control whereever I could.
I did not run the tank dry, but just down to half. When I refilled the half-empty tank last night, it cost me $54.10(!) and I had only run it 165 miles. Just over 11 MPG.
Jesus H. Krist on a pogostick! I have NO IDEA how the average American family can afford to drive these Tahoes and Explorers?!?! This is insanity. I buy about ~5 gallons of Diesel fuel a week from the pump, and burn about ~5 gallons of my own home brew, and rack up over 450 miles doing it. AND I drive around with a lead foot most of the time.
Next week, I’ll track for you how much fuel I burn, and what the costs are to me to do it, while driving as I do “normally”… then I’ll try another week and drive like I did in the truck, with maximum fuel savings in mind, and document the results. Should be interesting.
Here is another metric of how dumb my countrymen can be… most of them will be watching NASCAR make nothing but left turns while I’m watching Le Mans. sigh.
It is a bit weird, isn’t it. What’s even more astonishing is that that fuel economy hasn’t changed in YEARS. My ’68 Ford with a 360 V8 and slushbox gets between 12 and 15 MPG depending on what I’m doing with it. That’s 40 years ago, cast iron everything, 2 valves per cylinder, yadda, yadda. I find it extremely difficult to believe that 40 years of engine technology hasn’t produced an engine with similar output but with way better fuel economy.
downunder we understand about how you drive on the wrong side of the road Chuck…. it is the different sized gallon that is the confusing bit!