Fuel "economy" in hpde

[dradernh]

Originally Posted by RFB

I usually catch up to and nip at the heels of the supercars between 3 and 4.

It is worth noting that the reason the really cool iron gets caught by twins, Miatas, etc. is that their drivers' abilities and aggressiveness is frequently inversely proportional to the cost and/or performance envelope of their cars. Typically, anyway.

The exceptions can be incredibly impressive. A few years ago, I very briefly traveled the fastest section of Monticello Motor Club's track with a Ferrari F430 Challenge car. The owner had experienced top-level coaching and had the ability to get the most out of that as well as a good deal of what that car had to offer. He started out as a dot in my mirror on the long 3/4-mile straight, rocketed by me before the kink, and was gone before I reached the end of the straight. He was doing 167 into the braking zone before turn-in. Very cool!

On another occasion I was at Mosport with 6th Gear out of Toronto. There were only 12 cars there that day, and three of them were supercars with drivers who could drive. It was my first time at the track, I had some coaching that day and was getting around pretty well, but due to the closing speeds of the hotshots on the WOT sections it was necessary to check my mirrors at every opportunity. That's the only time that's happened.

[RFB]

Originally Posted by dradernh

It is worth noting that the reason the really cool iron gets caught by twins, Miatas, etc. is that their drivers' abilities and aggressiveness is frequently inversely proportional to the cost and/or performance envelope of their cars. Typically, anyway.

The exceptions can be incredibly impressive. A few years ago, I very briefly traveled the fastest section of Monticello Motor Club's track with a Ferrari F430 Challenge car. The owner had experienced top-level coaching and had the ability to get the most out of that as well as a good deal of what that car had to offer. He started out as a dot in my mirror on the long 3/4-mile straight, rocketed by me before the kink, and was gone before I reached the end of the straight. He was doing 167 into the braking zone before turn-in. Very cool!

On another occasion I was at Mosport with 6th Gear out of Toronto. There were only 12 cars there that day, and three of them were supercars with drivers who could drive. It was my first time at the track, I had some coaching that day and was getting around pretty well, but due to the closing speeds of the hotshots on the WOT sections it was necessary to check my mirrors at every opportunity. That's the only time that's happened.

Investment syndrome often prevents the risk of pushing a supercar, especially on corners.
With the twins, they don't make enough horsepower to hurt themselves, and 3 or 4 hundred angry horses unleashed by a small driving error don't suddenly put the car in the wall before you have time to save it.

Winter sadness around the corner up here - looks like a few months of reliving past races, boo hoo .




CERBERUS

[CSG David]

The WRX on the other hand gets really good gas mileage. LOL

[dradernh]

Originally Posted by RFB

Winter sadness around the corner up here - looks like a few months of reliving past races, boo hoo .

No, no, no - no worries: http://www.torontomotorsportspark.com/raceway/

It's open all winter, inexpensive, and a great place to practice car control at low to moderate speeds. I've been there in the summer, and in the winter when it was a combination of dry, wet, snow, and ice - definitely the best combination of winter conditions unless you want pure winter driving conditions. In that case, just wait.

If you go off, in all but one place you just slide around a bit, come to a halt, and then drive back onto the course. The track is flat as a board, and the only wall is at pit-out.

There's also a skid pad off in a corner of the facility - kind of rough pavement, IIRC, but again, another place to practice slow-speed car control and just plain have fun. You can do the same out in the main parking lot, although the last time I was there in the winter a chain link fence jumped out and slapped the front of my car, requiring a new bumper cover. I think I was going 5 MPH.

During a summer visit, I used the short route between the track and the skid pad area as a place to figure out how to stop my car in the shortest distance possible. I got some cones from the track manager, established a spot to begin braking, and ran a series of 70-0 MPH tests. In my race car, I got the following results:

3/4 ABS = shortest,

Full-on ABS = 6' longer than 3/4 ABS, and

Threshold-of-ABS braking (the technique most frequently taught in DE classrooms) = 15' feet longer than 3/4 ABS.

I'd be interested to know what results the twins would produce in a similar non-winter dry conditions test with whatever track tires and braking components the owner runs.

[Campo]

I've typically been getting about 7 mpg at the track. this weekend will be our first event on E85, so I'm anxious to see how that goes. I'm expecting about 4-5 mpg.

[mav1178]

Typical weekend:

Leave LA
Arrive at Buttonwillow (with about 1/3 tank used)
Empty entire tank (down to fuel light) before 4th session of day (around 60-80 miles on the track if I'm lucky)
Leave track, fill up, go home

-alex

[phastafrican]

7.1 mpg at Daytona on pump 93 and stock tune. 13 lap race, 3.56m, wide open for >80% of each lap.

[midcoma]

NCCAR track
No engine mods, 235/40R17 Direzza ZII

Tank 1
172.7 miles on tank, at least 165 on the track - 10.7mpg

Tank 2
109.6 miles on tank, at least 103 on the track - 10.1mpg

I got 37.2mpg on the way home though.

[BRZZZZZZZZZZ]

19-19.5L/100KM stock everything powertrain wise at Castrol in Edmonton Alberta.

[Sleepless]

Stock power... 10ish MPG

[Campo]

Originally Posted by Campo

I've typically been getting about 7 mpg at the track. this weekend will be our first event on E85, so I'm anxious to see how that goes. I'm expecting about 4-5 mpg.

Well I was way off. 7.8 mpg on E85 last weekend. I was in a pretty slow group with lots of traffic though.


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[Captain Snooze]

Originally Posted by DarkSunrise

Wouldn't want to have fuel starvation, especially with how sensitive our cars are to detonation.

*Raises hand*
Ummm... I don't know what I'm talking about here but I would have thought that given the amount of software engineering that goes into a modern car that this wouldn't be an issue. I mean it's not like a carbuerettor running low on fuel. I would have thought it would have been a case of running properly or not running at all due to lack of fuel.

[CSG Mike]

Originally Posted by Captain Snooze

*Raises hand*
Ummm... I don't know what I'm talking about here but I would have thought that given the amount of software engineering that goes into a modern car that this wouldn't be an issue. I mean it's not like a carbuerettor running low on fuel. I would have thought it would have been a case of running properly or not running at all due to lack of fuel.

If you starve, you run lean...

The ECU is not that quick.