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From coast to coast, the squeeze is on. A country dependent on inexpensive oil makes the hard transition to the higher prices at the pumps. (http://www.hd.net/danrather_videos.html)

http://www.cleanmpg.com/photos/data/501/John_Flory_-_Lightfoot_behind_the_camera.jpgDan Rather - Dan Rather Reports - June 3, 2008

CleanMPG's John Flory (Lightfoot) has an excellent interview with Dan Rather Reports

Starting at 15:50 and running to 19:20 - They do not come much better than this. -- Ed.

From the gas guzzlers to the gas obsessed. You are about to ride along on a commute here in Connecticut with a driver who is consumed with consumption. He sometimes gets in his car over 100 mpg.

Dan Rather: It’s 09:30 in the morning in Essex CT and John Flory is giving us a class in the art of the commute.

John Flory: This is a little bit of a downhill and I pick up a few mph.

Dan Rather: He is not trying to set the record for getting to work quickly, he is trying to set the record for getting their on the cheap. Flory has a 68 mile round trip commute. Most American’s with a daily drive like this would burn through a tank of gas in a week. Flory, coasts on a tank for a month.

John Flory: A really good tank of gas would be over 1,000 miles on a tank so that is about 10.8 gallons give or take.

Dan Rather: Do the math. That’s about 100 mpg.

John Flory: It just takes regular.

Dan Rather: Flory calls himself a hypermiler. Meaning he has adjusted his driving so that he can conserve every drop of gas possible. Flory owns a Honda Insight Hybrid. But there is more to hypermiling than that.

John Flory: You don’t need to own a hybrid to be a hypermiler. It applies to all different kinds of cars, trucks, you name it. The methods are slightly different for different kinds of cars and you kind of have to figure out what works for you on your commute and your vehicle.

Dan Rather: Here according to Flory are the basics of Hypermiling.

John Flory: First things they generally recommend is just slow down. Another thing they recommend is put more air pressure in your tires up to the point … the recommend maximum sidewall pressure that’s listed on the side of the tire and what that does is you waste less energy in flexing the tire and you get better coasting, the car rolls better.

Dan Rather: Flory is always conscious, hyperconscious of everything going on both inside and outside his car. From Air Conditioning.

John Flory: That kills your mileage.

Dan Rather: To traffic lights.

John Flory: I know that this light ahead in the evenings is a very short light but now in the middle of the day it is going to be a little longer so I allowed for that.

Dan Rather: Flory even tries to keep his windows rolled up so the air rushing in doesn’t cause drag. And he keeps his foot off the brake.

John Flory: And I am trying to maintain speed through this corner because I do not want to lose momentum. You do not want to be unsafe, but as much as possible you want to conserve your momentum in the turns so you try to drive the turns as fast as reasonable.

Dan Rather: But fast certainly isn’t the way Flory drives during most of his commute. You can often find him in the right lane driving 45 in a 65.

John Flory: You have to adjust your whole mentality to “I want you to pass me” and that’s hard at first but you know, please, “Go by”.

Dan Rather: On this day Flory clocked his morning commute at an impressive 103 mpg average. Close to his record! But for this gas guru, it’s still not enough.

http://www.cleanmpg.com/photos/data/501/Lightfoot_-_102_9_mpg_morning_commute.jpg
On this day, John clocks 103 mpg :)

John Flory: Each day I learn a little bit more and I am able to do a little bit more so I have been learning for two years with this car and I am still improving… http://www.hd.net/danrather_videos.html

http://video.google.com/googleplayer.swf?docid=5531407665135250263&hl=en
Why so high? America & the price of oil - Video

wow, what a great report. and no offhand comments from the reporter either. good job!

Thanks Laurie. They were nice not to use some of the stupid things I said.

I brought up the d-word and explained in detail why we don't do it and recommend against it and how it keeps coming up in reports. I guess that convinced them not to talk about it.

It's very weird driving along with video cameras suction-cupped onto the car, a van trailing along behind, and someone in the passenger seat firing questions at you. Makes it hard to focus on hypermiling, and at times my speed dropped below what I normally shoot for. So I was very surprised to pull that mpg under those conditions. Long-distance pre-coaching from Wayne helped a lot.

Great interview John. You really showed how common sense and practical hypermilling is.

That's a great interview (and a great show as a whole!)

Full-size: http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=5531407665135250263&hl=en

Excellent job! You deserve a round of applause and a hearty "thank you" for making mpg-conscious people look great! Way to go!

That was a great show. I thought John's part was sounded fine and got the point across..

Lightfoot, that was a very good job you did. While some like to paste the "extreme" moniker on us, you came across very calm, very measured, and very intelligent. That will certainly go a long way to countering the inappropriate criticisms we often get. So, thanks for taking the time to do this, and for doing it well.

Absolutely Amazing Stuff! You should be proud, I know we are! Thanks

Great job John! Presented with a calm, knowledgeable (sane) assurance.

It was nice to see Dan Rather present it as John did and not with a canted twist.

Good job at the interview. It was nice to see all of the benefits of hypermiling rather than it being overshadowed by drafting semi's.

Very nice indeed! You came across great with no ill remarks towards hypermiling.

Excellent work, John. :)

Fantastic showing, John! :D:thumbs_up:

Wonderful John!

Awesome interview John! We don't get that positive level of coverage very often.

Excellent video John, and nice Insight too. I wish I had one.

John,

My belated: "Great Job!" :)

I saw most of the show at last....seeing an Insight dash with the instant mpg over 100mpg was a pleasant and familiar sight - not to mention the MIMA Assist/Charge display.

Thanks for the positive comments, I feel better about it now!!

@delta flyer: I didn't talk about MIMA because I didn't want them thinking that some modification was absolutely essential to get those results. It's definitely extremely handy for my type of driving, but I think I could come close (with a lot more work!) just keying for FAS. Feeding in more regen to get the SOC above background charging would not be possible, of course.

I sure wish mfrs would build in features that would make FAS and other methods easier.