Tour De Sol Summary
 

Hi,

I found this nice synopsis:

http://www.evworld.com/view.cfm?sect...sid=11911&url=

Maybe next year.


Bob Wilson

Re: Tour De Sol Summary
 

That sounds a little negative.

Wayne did great !

Re: Tour De Sol Summary
 

Sometimes schedules work out and sometimes they don't. Richard was there with his UPS experiments and I really wanted to talk with him about some technical details.

So when your Prius provides house power, do we call it "Plug-out" versus "Plug-in"?

Indeed! The Insight worked well too. Did he drive is solo?

Bob Wilson

Re: Tour De Sol Summary
 

Nope.
I was with him the whole time. I drove about 300 of 1000 miles on the Monte Carlo Rally and 50 of 200 miles in the high efficiency competition. When not driving I had the full time job of navigator. I thoroughly enjoyed learning to drive the Insight. Not bad for my first time.

Re: Tour De Sol Summary
 

Hey Dan, clearly your results were hampered by the weather. You guys did over a hundred mpg in the Prius. Do you think the Insight or the Prius would be the mileage king if driven in the same conditions? I've always thought that the Insight would come out on top but those results you guy got in the Prius seem hard to beat.

Re: Tour De Sol Summary
 

I usually like to take a break after 3-4 hours. Is that how you'all paced it? I assume you drove straight through with a target arrival window?

Bob Wilson

Re: Tour De Sol Summary
 

We chose the Insight because of the higher speeds on the high effieiency run. The time limit worked out to a 40 MPH average. The Prius looses it's advantage over the Insight at that average speed. The Insight was the clear choice in this year's Tour. Not one Prius driver participated in the high efficiency run.

During the Prius marathon last year, Rick Reese tried his Insight on the marathon course. I think he eeked out 100+. I got the feeling that it was not sustainable for hundreds of miles however. Rick could say for sure.

Re: Tour De Sol Summary
 

Since it was my first time driving the Insight, I needed some time to observe Wayne's technique. During the Monrte Carlo Rally, I drove when I would do the least amount of damage, when the rain was lighter and traffic was light. In the High efficiency run, I drove the last 50 miles which was pouring down rain on the highway. Since we were running late and faced a time penalty, I was driving 60-65 in hard rain which dropped the FE significantly. But it was better than the penalty which was 0.3% for each minute late.

Re: Tour De Sol Summary
 

That is for sure. My tests suggests the worst possible Prius speed seems to center around 42-43 MPH. In fact, speeds 39 to 50 mph inclusive are pretty much a forbidden zone in my driving. Speeds of 38 mph and below and 51 MPH and above are good. But the Prius is not the only hybrid knocked out of this competition. Without a payload componet, even Honda Civics are out of the performance range. But if "seat-miles" were used, the Prius and Civics would be back in the running.

In aviation air racing, there are a number of different racing classes broken down into:

• biplanes
• formula 1
• sport
• unlimited

There are two vehicle specific "stock" classes:

• T6
• Jet L-39

They did this because the economics of racing just unlimited didn't make sense. First came Formula 1 and later, the other classes. Each class meant to attract contestants and let the sport continue.

Tour de Sol apparently has one Insight only competition and become an Insight only rally. When I looked at the Tour de Sol rules several months ago, I realized there was no Prius contest. It is a Tour de Insight which is obvious from the photos and results. Giving out "glad you showed up" prizes to non-Insight hybrids is a bit like winning Miss Congeniality ('Did I smile pretty enough?')

Someone pointed out that "Maybe next year" sounded "sounds a little negative" to a rally where the rules only allow Insights to win. Heck, if it weren't for Hobbit and the unannounced Richard showing up, the rest of the rally would have had the appeal of a 2,000 mile round trip.

No, I doubt I'll ever make it to Tour de Sol. The distance and absence of a fair contest for Prius, Civics and other five seaters shows it doesn't make sense. There is only one vehicle that meets the rally rules and when it goes out of manufacture, the number of potential contestants will go the way of "Unlimited" air racing.

Bob Wilson

Re: Tour De Sol Summary
 

According to one of the judges, the intent behind the 2006 course was to show off the scenery in the area, and no consideration was given to how different hybrids would perform. I think now they realize the mistake.

The event coordinators have asked us (Wayne and myself), Hobbit and others to join them in a conference call in a few weeks to discuss opportunities for improvement of the 2007 TDS. I can personally guarantee that this issue will be addressed. Hobbit had a great idea where there would be several routes to choose from. Each optimized to different hybrids. If the logistics could be worked out, I see that as a good solution.

At least the coordinators are reaching out for our input. IMO they would like to make this an all inclusive event for next year.