A.M.E.C. Economy Run II - Fonda, New York 10/5/08
 

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Greetings fellow hypermilers. For those of you located in the northeast, the Adirondack Motor Enthusiast Club A.M.E.C. will be holding a Fall Foliage "Economy Run" coming up this October 5, 2008.

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A little history: A.M.E.C. held it's first Economy Run back in 1954. Now 54 years later with record high fuel prices, the club decided to bring the event back. Our members created a new course and the event took place this past August 10th. It was very well received and was thoroughly enjoyed by all who participated. Results can been seen here. It was a good dry run to make sure everything went smoothly and that our laptop excel program worked properly to calculate the results. We enjoyed it so much that we have planned an "Economy Run II" and this time would like to open it up to like minded individuals who would like to join us. To keep it easy to manage and fun we will limit registration to the first 20 entrants.

Here are the details:

What: Fuel mileage contest through the southern Adirondacks of NY. The route will be on some really nice scenic and challenging roads and will run 106.3 miles in distance. Your “economic” driving ability will be tested. Cars will be filled with fuel by an AMEC official and then weighed on electronic scales. Small ramps are employed for easy on and off of the scales. There will be a time limit of three hours to complete the event. Any street legal vehicle is allowed to participate, [including motorcycles].This event will run rain or shine.

Where: The starting spot will be at the Fairway Oil gas station on Route 5 in Fonda, NY. [directions below].

When: Sunday, October 5th, 2008. 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. (They also don’t use ethanol, if that makes a difference to anyone.)

Cost: $10 per vehicle

Awards include:

1. Best overall mpg for gas cars

2. Best overall mpg for diesels and hybrids

3. Best ton-mile per gallon [TMPG] Car weight in pounds divided by 2000 times miles driven divided by gallons consumed. A handy calculator is here.

4. Best carbureted mpg

5. Best miles per dollar. [Based on the actual cost to travel the 106.3 miles. For example, we had a diesel VW Jetta get 56 mpg and a Dodge Avenger get 48 mpg. Because the diesel fuel was about a dollar more per gallon than the gasoline, the Avenger won this contest.]

Note: If we get more than one motorcycle, we will add a class for them.

Awards: This event will conclude about noon, and our plan is to proceed up the nearby Checkers Out Go-Kart track for lunch, trophy awards, and optional indoor go-kart races if you so desire. Checkers Out Speedway is an indoor go kart track open year round, and is located about ¾ of a mile south of Johnstown, NY, on NYS Route 30A. Physical address: 2299 State Hwy 30A Johnstown, NY 12905. Track phone: 518 736-4630

Directions: to Fairway Oil gas station: Take NY Thruway Exit 28. After the toll booth, turn left onto Riverside Drive. Then turn right onto South Bridge Street and go over the bridge. On the other side of the bridge is a traffic light. You can see Fairway Oil and Gas on your left. Turn left onto Route 5 and enter the station.

To register for this event: Please contact Mike Kamm at (518) 674-0520 or via email: mkamm [at ] juno [ dot] com. There is also a message board thread regarding this event on the A.M.E.C. message board here.

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Registered driver's list as of 8-25-08

1. Dave Burnham - 1991 Diesel VW Jetta
2. Dick Vedder - 2000 Ford ZX2 S/R
3. Mark Long - 1997 Dodge Avenger
4. Mike Kamm - 1977 Datsun B210 mpg
5. Claude Hutchings - 1999 Saab 9-3
6. Ernie Yue - 2008 Kawasaki Ninja 250cc
7. Ronny Kienhuis - 1972 Citroen SM or 1992 Subaru SVX
8. "Bestmapman" [Clean mpg forums] 2007 Toyota Prius, Cincinnati, KY.
9. "JPS000" - 2008 Toyota Prius
10. Al Walker - [Clean MPG] - 2004 Toyota Prius - Boston, MA
11. Brian Wilsey - 2003 Mazda Protege [2.0]
12. Tom Moeller - 1994 Mazda Miata - Saratoga NY
13. Carl Germain - 1950 Studebaker Champion Business Coupe
14. Bill Clark - 1960 Metropolitan convertible - Endicott, NY
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Only 6 spots left!

Re: A.M.E.C. Economy Run II - Fonda, New York 10/5/08
 

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Registered driver's list as of 9-20-08

1. Dave Burnham - 1991 Diesel Jetta - Delanson, NY
2. Dick Vedder - 2000 Ford ZX2 S/R - Johnstown, NY
3. Mark Long - 1997 Dodge Avenger - Staatsburg, NY
4. Mike Kamm - 1977 Datsun B210 - Averill Park, NY
5. Claude Hutchings - 1999 Saab 9-3 - Saquiot, NY
6. Ernie Yue - 2008 Kawasaki Ninja 250cc - Mechanicville, NY
7. Ronny Kienhuis - 1972 Citroen SM or 1992 Subaru SVX - Long Island, NY
8. Jud Engels [Clean mpg forums] 2007 Toyota Prius - Cincinnati, KY.
9. "JPS000" - 2008 Toyota Prius
10. Al Walker - [Clean MPG] - 2004 Toyota Prius - Boston, MA
11. Brian Wilsey - 2003 Mazda Protege - Amsterdam, NY
12. Tom Moeller - 1994 Mazda Miata - Saratoga NY
13. Carl Germain - 1950 Studebaker Champion Business Coupe - Syracuse, NY
14. Bill Clark - 1960 Metropolitan - Endicott, NY
15. Jonathan Bartlett - 2005 Passat TDI wagon[Biodiesel] - Sterling, MA
16. Pam Subik - 2004 Jeep Grand Cherokee - Mayfield, NY
17. Tom Compoli - 1981 VW Rabbit - Schenectady, NY
18. Chris Werner, 1991 Ford Festiva - Troy, NY
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20.

This event will be completely full shortly. What I will do is add 3 more spots for cancellations and no shows.

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Re: A.M.E.C. Economy Run II - Fonda, New York 10/5/08
 

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This event was a big success and full results are HERE. This picture was taken at the checkpoint. This heavily modified RX-7 got the worst mileage of the entire field at only 21.45 mpg. The average for the entire meet was an impressive 49.56 mpg though. The Datsun B210 behind it got 61.53 mpg! The stock Miata got 41.17 mpg. The beautiful '60 Metropolitan got 37.86.

More pics can be seen HERE.

Re: A.M.E.C. Economy Run II - Fonda, New York 10/5/08
 

Thanks!

It looks like a fun ride, well organized and I appreciate the follow-up posting. I recognize the names of friends and encourage whatever it takes for folks to get together and meet 'in real life.'

GOOD JOB!
Bob Wilson

Re: A.M.E.C. Economy Run II - Fonda, New York 10/5/08
 

Cool. Thanks, Mike. Looks like the scenery (leaves changing) was pretty, too.

Re: A.M.E.C. Economy Run II - Fonda, New York 10/5/08
 

You're welcome guys. This event was really a lot of fun and also a great day out with like minded people. I only wish there were a few more events like this in the northeast. If you think about it, they really don't require that much work to put on. You'd think other clubs would offer these. You could even skip the weighing of cars and the Ton-Mile category and then you wouldn't even need the scales. My thought was to have a winter event like this and after the fill up send each car before it's had a chance to cool off. I love winter driving........http://img.runboard.com/img/default_...cons/happy.gif

Re: A.M.E.C. Economy Run II - Fonda, New York 10/5/08
 

I kinda like the metrics but don't get terribly carried away with them. Any excuse for a ride is my point of view. Still I was curious about some of the folks who came in a few minutes over the time limit. Do they get 'points' deducted or some sort of weighting penalty put on their score?

I've only read about 'road rally' events that require maintaining strict time past navigation points. Was that part of your goal or what you'd all started out with?

It occurs to me that wireless, way-point systems might be used that would 'clock' the times of different participants. This would automate the way-point judges, a labor intensive part of the road rally.

One last suggestion, perhaps the duct tape, cardboard radiator blocks could be discouraged for more permanent configurations? I'm using a 'water noodle' but have been assembling the parts to make an automated, radiator intake block that would work 24x7. Your event would be a great way to give an advantage to those who do the extra work to make something more like an after-market solution.

All in all, great photography and it sounds like the kind of laid back event I would enjoy.

Bob Wilson

Re: A.M.E.C. Economy Run II - Fonda, New York 10/5/08
 

No points were deducted Bob. [I explain below]. Bryon's goal for the time limit was two-fold. The first was that he didn't want people going 30 mph in a 55 zone and creating a problem. The second was because our awards were scheduled at a Go-Kart track and restaurant immediately afterwards at 1:00 pm. We had a block of time reserved for our group. It worked out perfectly. For fun, many of us enjoyed a 50 lap go-kart race afterwards. Even Hobbit was out there getting sideways!

As for why a few of us were a few minutes late, here's the reason:

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Chatting too much during the mandatory stop we had to make at the furthest distance from the start. We all had to get out and pick up a card from that location to prove we did not shortcut the route. That's a good suggestion Bob, thank you. Truth be told, I am the only one who did any temporary aero mods to his car. The tan Protege in the first picture was mine [in the August event] and the B210 is also mine from the October event. No one else gave aero improvements any effort at all.

Cheers,

Mike