Dave isn't on Greenhybrid. We will be posting progress reports here as well as some other forums.

It's a Wonderful Day for Science!

I'm here now! I thought I was a member here from when this group first started up, but couldn't seem to log in, so I just registered again with the handle "NVIROCAR", which is also my vanity plate.

Dave Bassage

Nice job Dave! I look forward to learning more from you here.
--Walter

Glad to have you, Dave. Good luck on Friday... pressure's on with HBO!

Visit my newly-acquired website, Volconvo Debate Forums!

Welcome dave

Keep us updated on the trek.

Thanks for the warm welcome, all. I know that Dan and Wayne are quite active here, so they'll also keep everyone updated on progress related to this weekend's marathon.

As to the pressure being on, Jason, I got quite a taste of that when I did the NPR interview. It was 97 degrees and I had a local WVPR reporter riding along to tape my side of the conversation as I listened to Jeff Young on the headset and tried to duplicate the driving style we'll be using this weekend. The AC was off and the windows rolled up to both maximize mpg and eliminate any extraneous noise for the recording. By the time we finished both of us in the car were sweating profusely.

I felt like I'd bungled the interview as my brain felt like mush and it seemed like my driving, thinking, and talking had all suffered equally. The 81 mpg I reported sounds pretty good but the evening before I had driven the same course and scored multiple 100 mpg five minute bars. I actually contacted Jeff and offered to repeat the interview, sure I'd made a mess of it, but he assured me he had plenty of good tape, and sure enough he managed to splice together enough of my more coherent and humorous responses to make me appear far more together than I felt at the time.

I'm looking forward to the HBO presence, as it will help us achieve one of our three goals - to spread the word about what these great cars are capable of and how to get the most out of them. Our other two goals, of course, are to get the maximum possible mpg and miles out of a single tank of gas and to have fun doing it!

The biggest challenge for me will be to drive at the same level as Dan, Wayne, and Rick, all three of whom have considerably better records than I do. My personal best tank of 71 mpg sounds good compared to a lot of drivers, but pales in comparison to what my teamates have accomplished. We do plan to stay flexible on the shift assignments as we see how we each do on our first shift or two in order to keep the better drivers behind the wheel the most, and we'll make every effort to assure that we both start and end with Dan behind the wheel, as this whole thing was his idea to start with and he both discovered the course we'll be using and refined the strategy needed to consistently score 100+ mpg laps on it.

And please bear in mind that the true athlete in this marathon is the Prius. We'll just be helping her be all she can be!

Good to be here,

Dave Bassage

I wish you Godspeed - er. never mind the speed part!

I hope you get to 100mpg and the result is positive for hybrid publicity. Hope the message is something like: "Dave got 100mpg - you can get 50-60mpg on your work commute".

61.5mpg lifetime - 82mpg in recent months

Best Run >
www.cleanmpg.com

"fanatic" is what the lazy call the dedicated

Now that the TDF is over, this marathon is the next best thing going :-)

There is one small part of me, though, that is worried what the one-liner public take-home message will turn out to be. It seems way too easy for the uninformed to conclude that hybrids are cars for people who want to drive funny at 35 miles per hour. I know Dave has followed the discussion on Prius-tech started by Julian Edgar bemoaning 'unnatural' driving becoming a Prius identifier. If he cannot understand the merits of refining driving techniques, what is a mildly interested but ignorant neighbor going to think ?

I guess my hope is that the impression comes off positive -- facts aside.

Good Luck Dave, Wayne, Dan, Rob, Rick -- and whoever else joins the party !

R2-E2, 2G Prius.
Highway/City/Husband/Wife MPG: 56.5, as of 12/2005, 26K miles

Jac Nasser, Ford President: "We are planning to launch a hybrid version of
this car [P2000] within this year [1998]. We will also make FCEV available in
2004."

I dissagre EricGO. Most people's focus won't be on how they did it but on what they achive. When someone says they are going to try for a 100mpg tank you dont focus on hey they are doing strange things to get it. Of course they are or everyone would be getting 100mpg tanks. The focus is on the mileage. I believe people will look at the car as one of the players in the attempt. It will get recognition just as the drives will. The way the drivers will be driving will be inconsequential to average Joe.

My hydroponics experiment

You ever notice how hard it is to lip read cartoon characters?
"Crazy is what the sane call Delta Flyer"