Economy Run III was a huge success, and I want to thank all who participated. I would especially like to thank Mark Long and Dave Burnham who assisted me in administering the day's activities. Last year's event average for
all vehicles was 49.56 mpg. I thought that was pretty good. This year's average? How about 64.12 mpg!
Here are the results:
Gas class
1. Chang Ho Kim - 1989 Honda CRX HF - Maynard, MA
118.1 mpg
2. Darin Cosgrove - 1998 Pontiac Firefly - Ontario, Canada
106.12 mpg
3. Ben Jones - 1991 Honda CRX - Hanover, NH
82.54 mpg
4. Mike Kamm - 1977 Datsun B210 - Averill Park, NY
77.04 mpg
5. Will Meredith - 1998 Honda Civic EX - Binghamton NY
64.62 mpg
6. Richard Vedder - 2000 Ford ZX2 S/R - Johnstown, NY
59.09 mpg
7. Eric Hoefer - 2008 Honda Fit - Guilderland, NY
47.27 mpg
8. Robert Smalls - 1996 AWD Subaru Legacy - Buffalo, NY
46.64 mpg
Diesels and Hybrids
1. Martin Deschenes - 2000 VW Jetta TDI - Quebec City, QC
90.43 mpg
2. Matt Herring - 2009 Toyota Prius - Boston, MA
75.91 mpg
3. Hobbit - 2004 Toyota Prius - Boston, MA
74.28 mpg
4. Dan Mandle - 2004 Golf TDI [Vegetable Oil] - Potsdam, NY
63.41 mpg
5. Dave Burnham - 1991 Jetta Diesel - Delanson, NY
61.18 mpg
Historic class
1. Bill Clark - 1957 Metropolitan Hartop - Endicott, NY
44.64 mpg
2. Jonathan Bartlett - 1969 Saab Sonett V-4 - Sterling, MA
44.26 mpg
3. Jonathan Schaller - 1968 Saab 96 - Hamilton, NY
37.96 mpg
4. Ron Kienhuis - 1972 Citroën SM - Long Island, NY
32.20 mpg
5. Carl Germain - 1950 Studebaker Champion Business Coupe
27.37 mpg
Motorcycles/Scooters
1. Vlad Saakyan - 2003 Suzuki Svs650 - Niskayuna, NY
62.28 mpg
Darin Cosgrove, of Ecomodder.com drove his little Pontiac Firefly [think Geo Metro] in from Canada. He was the last participant to top off after the run. Get this, he only used .98 gallons of fuel for the 104 mile run, and that wasn't good enough to win!
Some of the Historic cars with their drivers in attendance.
This was Will Meredith's 1998 Honda Civic EX. There were more aero modded cars this year than ever!
The red Saab 96 belongs to Jonathan Schaller. Jonathan filled the slot of
a last minute cancellation and we're sure glad he was able to come out.
The biggest surprise was Chang Ho Kim's '89 Honda Civic HF [
High
Fuel] effiency model that had the wildest aero modded front end that anyone's ever seen. He was the overall mpg champ with 118.1 mpg with
Nokian Hakka R low rolling resistance winter tires on it!
I am very pleased to show you the winner of the Historic Class of Economy Run III. This is Bill Clark's 1957 Metropolitan Hartop. This car has spent the last ten years in either a trailer or in the Norwich museum so when he started driving it there were some problems. Lot's of them. He worked tirelessly until every detail was taken care of. What he ended up with is a car that is now running better than it has in the last 33 years. His goal was 37 mpg [last year's number with his convertible]. How did he do? Well his attention to detail in car prep and his driving earned him an impressive 44.64 mpg and a first place in class. And that was on bias ply tires folks! Well done Bill.
Here we can see Vlad Saakyan on his 2003 Suzuki Svs650. He was the only bike that the weather did not scare away this year. Vlad rode carefully and kept his revs below 4,000 in sixth gear on the course. He logged 62.28 mpg with his 650cc sport bike. Behind him in this picture is overall high mpg man Chang Ho Kim in his '89 CRX HF. Check it out, he had every body seam sealed off with painter's tape. He had to climb through the window to keep the seal intact while stopping to pick up his card at the check point.
More check point action. At the furthest point in the 104 mile loop, we had every driver stop and pick up a card. This proved that they drove the entire distance and did not take any short cuts. If you look closely, you can see Chang in his yellow shirt, picking up his card at the base of the
stop sign.
This is Carl Germain gettting out of the oldest car in competition. His 1950 Studebaker Champion business coupe was able to achieve very impressive 27.37 mpg. It is a fantastic example with just 35,000 original
miles. This is a big car with a 160 cubic inch straight six flathead, a three speed overdrive transmission and 4.56 gears!
From the driver's seat of Ronny's Maserati powered Citroen SM. With their 3 liter V-6 engines sporting three two barrel Weber DCNF carburetors, these 3,500 lb. grand touring cars generally only get about 15 mpg. Ronny
got more than twice that at 32.20 mpg!
Topping up Ben Jone's CRX. Ben's car has a later Civic VX lean burn vtec[e engine swapped into his car coupled with a tall geared HF transaxle for even further fuel economy benefits. He had a fantastic result of 82.54 mpg.
Richard Vedder appears to be passing Ronny here, as he is on his way to his best ever result of 59.09 mpg in his 2000 Ford ZX2 S/R.
And here's a rather unassuming looking contestant right? Looks can be deceiving. Last year's events proved that pound for pound, diesels rule the roost for economy. This is Martin Deschenes 2000 VW Jetta TDI. Martin drove 7 hours one way, from Quebec City in Canada to run at our event. He clearly has the long distance award. Soft spoken Martin is a very knowledgeable and talented hypermiler. How do I know? Because he won the Diesel/Hybrid class going away with 90.43 mpg! Our previous record for a diesel was 71.55, set by Jonathan Bartlett in his TDI Passat wagon last year. Nice job Martin!
For those wondering what my '77 Datsun B210 was able to muster after the flurry of activity in my garage all month, how about a solid 77.04 mpg! Not too shabby for a carbureted car. There's more left in it too. I'm not done yet.
During the awards under the pavillion, we had each driver get up and tell us all about their cars. This was really interesting as we got to hear a little about each driver's car and what their mods were. This is Matt Herring. He had the best Prius mileage at 75.91 mpg and finished second in the Hybrid/Diesel class.
We tried to line the cars up for a group shot but there were too many. Here's one batch of them. Talk about diversity eh? There are 1950's carmixed in with hybrids!
Here's another grouping. There were still others as well. This event will be hard to top. The roof was blown off all of the previous records.
Mike