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Hi All:

___What is the Tour Del Sol?

18th Annual Tour de Sol: May 10–14, 2006 in Saratoga Spa State Park, NY. (http://www.cleanmpg.com/forums/showthread.php?t=722)

http://www.cleanmpg.com/photos/data/501/Tour_Del_Sol.jpg

___We will be updating the thread as the test drives are completed and then live once we begin the drive across the country. The scoring for the competition is 30% weighted on the cross country drive so we cannot rest on our laurels for even a second! The launch will begin after a topped off fill from the Shell station on the corner of Rt. 113 and Rt. 53 in Braidwood, IL. on early Wednesday morning - May 10th.

___And now the particulars of the Tour … I want to give my sincere thanks to Bradlee Fons of the Milwaukee Hybrid Group (www.Milwaukeehybridgroup.com) for loaning us his automobile. We had planned on taking Dan’s Prius II but when it was discovered the 200 mile challenge was at speeds > 40 mph, we knew we needed an Insight. A few calls to Eric Powers and Bradlee and the trade was set. I think I got the better end of the deal with the Insight as Bradlee, his wife, and Justin are stuck with the semi-lux Accord. I hope they use all the power equipment and NAVI features to their hearts content all the while we are battling the iFCD in their #1 Insight (they have 2 and a Prius II on top of that!) while heading over 1,000 miles almost due east to the event.

___I picked up Bradlee’s Insight 5-speed just this afternoon for the first of many short drives before Dan Kroushl (Krousdb) and I head out to Saratoga Springs Spa, NY. Bradlee’s Insight is named NFREinbach and her First Drive under my tutelage turned out pretty decent. His Insight is currently setup with a WAI and radiator block. I still have to receive the entire rule set but from what Dan and I have read so far, both mods are allowed to be installed legally while still qualifying in the non-modded Insight and std. hybrid category. Bradlee’s Bridgestone RE92’s are still at 46/48 and our max limit is 44 cold so I will have to drop those back a bit before we actually launch. A small negative is that his Insight’s RE92’s have less then 200 miles on them :( This one item is probably going to hurt Dan and I the worst as the week progresses. Any temps < 65, rain, or strong head and/or side winds will hurt even worse so we are simply going to have to roll with whatever nature throws our way.

___And onto the First Drive. I pulled out of Bradlee’s drive just North West of Milwaukee with Trip A and B reset. She allowed me a 92.8 mpg showing at the 10 mile mark, 100.3 at the 14.4 mile mark, and I saw a high of 104.x at the ~ 25 mile mark. Winds were a steady to gusting 10 - 15 mph from the rear to direct side for the first 20 miles, 10 - 15 mph straight down the windscreen for the next 20 miles, 15 - 20 mph straight down the windscreen for the next 10 miles, and then back down to 5 - 15 mph straight down the windscreen for the last 17.7 miles. Temps ranged from 68 - 72 degrees F for this first drive before launch. How did she end up with the new RE92’s and the stronger then what I had hoped for headwinds? A nice 102.2 mpg after 67.7 miles! I cannot complain about that First Drive under those conditions and I can only hope this is a good sign of things to come.

http://www.cleanmpg.com/photos/data/516/05-07-2006-Tour_Del_Sol_Initial_Test_Drive.JPG

___Good Luck

___Wayne

i wish you can stick a camera in your Heads Up Display for a segment so i can watch your acceleration pattern.

Good luck to the both of you! Be sure to list your strats and other members who uses something we haven't learned? I wish there was a spectator fliming the whole thing, that would be awesome.

Hi All:

Test Day #2

___Although not a great run by any means, we found out some things just before she received her new Oil fill as well as after … I won’t tell you where the RE92’s pressure’s actually were but let’s just say they were far beyond anything anyone in this group including me has ever tried. Bradlee and I had a good laugh after that one as his tire installer must have read the gauge wrong by at least 100% :D They are now back down to 44#’s so as to meet the maximum requirement of the Tour Del Sol rule committee.

___Ok, tires are out of the way, what else?

___Next … Our pre-challenge packet did not arrive in the mail today for both the Monte Carlo-style Rally & Fuel Efficiency Competition. Dan and I are still at a loss as to the 200 mile challenge route and roads as well as the particulars of what needs to be completed at the starting point for the trip out and the 200 mile challenge. With that, Nancy Hazard (NESEA – Tour Del Sol coordinator) did contact me so that we will receive the documentation electronically via E-Mail. I hope it is in my In-Box right now in fact ;) She also passed on the technical director’s name (Jim Dunn) who overseas the Tour Del Sol rules committee I belive. Because Bradlee’s Insight is equipped with a WAI, I asked Jim if it was OK to leave it installed given it is a simple pipe to draw air from the rear of the block near the CAT vs. the front of it. This was not considered an overt mod so it was allowed. Any type of secondary/tertiary propulsion and/or control of that propulsion is what sets the flags so we are ok with Bradlee’s setup as is. One more issue knocked out of the way …

___Jim Dunn also owns an Insight and was a little surprised when he asked about where our final fill will be thinking we would fill up in Pittsburgh and our FE numbers would be based off that final and shorter segment? I said we were planning on leaving with her topped off out of North Central Illinois and arriving into Saratoga Springs NY. on the same tank as its only about 1,000 miles. He didn’t know what to say after that one ;) I placed a lot of undue pressure on Dan and I knowing we will need at least a 90 mpg average to hit that goal. With yesterday and today’s test runs, I think we have a good shot at it anyway?

___And the bigger issue we are/were busy working through today … If you look at the gauge cluster pic of yesterday’s test drive, take notice of the SoC (far right lit meter). What I was seeing over that lengthy segment was the SoC stuck at ~ 13 of 20 bars for almost the entire drive. Fluctuations of 1 bar + or – was all she was allowing. This is not normal SoC behavior for an Insight while running a mostly highway distant segment in my experience. My own Insight used to run 19 of 20 bars about 99% of the time and would climb back to 19 of 20 with as little as a 1 - 1.5 mile highway segment from let us say 17 or 18 bars if there was a bit more around town driving involved before I shut her down the previous night. 13 of 20 bars was totally normal to Bradlee because he has never seen anything different in fact. With this oddity, I felt it was in all of our best interest to have the Battery checked while at the Honda dealership while she was receiving her Mobil1 0W-20 oil change. The tech discovered that the small OEM 12 V is in definite need of replacement on Voltage alone. Oh boy? All Honda dealerships replace the Insight’s very lightweight OEM unit with a std. Civic battery that weighs more then double and is hugely oversized in Cap and Current capability. I asked both Dan and Tom to call a few local Honda dealerships in their locale to see if one might have the small OEM battery rather then the large Civic one. So far, no luck :( So all is not lost however as I may just pick up one of the oversized $81.00 Civic Batteries anyway. With that, I thought I would cycle the 144 and 12 V Pack to see if any memory could be removed. Believe me, I was grasping at straws. What I did was jack the Insight up to 65 and 70 + mph for about 20 miles all the while getting slammed by a 15 + mph headwind. I drafted where I could to help slow the FCD’s descent but it was indeed a painful experience. I took the SoC down to ½ to see forced charging begin all the while running the stereo w/ a CD at a higher volume, fan at max, interior light’s on, exterior light’s on, and my PDA based GPS drawing from the small 12V accessory socket. The FE sucked as she was sitting at just 69.x after that first 20 miles but I was desperate for a solution … And being on the phone most of the afternoon trying to come up with a 12V OEM made me leave about 15 minutes later then I had planned ;) In any case, after that SoC run down and with 2 or 3 regen cycles while slowing for slower moving traffic, her SoC finally started to rise and rise it did! She came up to 20 of 20 bars in fact! Insight’s do not normally run at 20 of 20 for a number of reasons … She stayed at 20 of 20 for the next 25 or so miles until I hit one of the daily Chicago 15 + mile traffic tie-ups. I hit my halfway point at the I-294 and I-55 Interchange sitting at 92.3 mpg. Not bad considering the higher speeds to begin with but the 15 mile crawler was going to be a challenge. Because we cannot use a FAS during the Tour Del Sol, I was practicing bringing her into AS at 19 mph or below whenever it was required. It was required a lot since it took me over 50 minutes to clear those 15 miles … When she would not drop out in AS, I did force it (6X’s by me count) because I do not believe in wasting fuel and I hope we will not run into this kind of traffic nightmare during the run across the country nor in the 200 mile challenge? 6X’s in dead slow traffic was probably worth an extra .5 - 1 mpg. I finally cleared the nightmare with 19 of 20 bars and with her sitting at 93.0 mpg’s. The head wind was getting stronger the closer I was to work so I took my warm up route only from the opposite direction. She was sitting in the high 95’s when I felt it necessary to take refuge on the frontage roads from the stronger gusts. I traveled the frontage roads in the 25 – 35 mph range which helped deal with the wind but the stop/starts every 2 miles or so took another bar off the SoC by the time I arrived at work. 18 of 20 is a lot better then 13 of 20 so let us hope she will pick up that single tick tomorrow morning as I hit the highway on the way home?

___Temperatures ran from ~ 67 - 70 degrees w/ 10 to as high as 20 mph headwinds the entire way. The result was not a great segment by any means but I thought it was pretty good given the circumstances. In fact, I am beginning to think Bradlee’s Insight 5-speed may have an edge over and above my old one? It will be interesting to see how she performs when I finally see a tailwind with the adequate temps? This should be tomorrow morning barring the rain that is also expected :(

___Sorry about the pic below but that is about the best my Cel phone could produce tonight at 2X digital zoom.

http://www.cleanmpg.com/photos/data/516/96_8_MPG_97_6_miles.jpg

___Phil, I doubt you would get anything out of seeing the Insight in action given she is a totally different animal then any non-hybrid you or I would drive by a fair margin. You really do drive Insight’s differently and I cannot think of anything but another hybrid that any of these techniques would help that much? DWL inside of Lean burn is where the Insight lives and dies and there really is nothing else quite like it ;)

___Good Luck

___Wayne

Hi All:

___Weather conditions for the drive out courtesy of Dan. Not a good omen with light to moderate head winds all the way to PA. Not that this wasn’t entirely unexpected so we will just have to deal with it :( At least we should miss the rain and the temps are better then what I have driven in all week from about 12:00 noon on tomorrow.

Weather for Braidwood
6AM, rain, 57F, E2
7AM, Mostly Cloudy, 58F, ENE2
8AM, Mostly Cloudy, 60F, ENE3
9AM, Cloufy, 61F, ENE3

Weather for South Bend
9AM, Rain, 59F, SE4
10AM, Cloudy, 60F, SE5
11AM, Cloudy, 63F, SE6
12PM, Cloudy, 65F, SE5

Weather for Toledo
11AM, Cloudy, 66F, SE8
12PM, Cloudy, 68F, SE9
1PM, Cloudy, 68F, ESE10
2PM, Cloudy, 68F, ESE10

Weather for Cleveland
1PM, Mostly Cloudy, 75F, SE13
2PM, Mostly Cloudy, 75F, SE14
3PM, Mostly Cloudy, 75F, SE15
4PM, Rain, 74F, SE15

Weather for Youngstown
3PM, Mostly Cloudy, 74F, SE10
4PM, Mostly Cloudy, 76F, SE11
5PM, Mostly Cloudy, 75F, SE12
6PM, Mostly Cloudy ,75F, SE13

Weather for Wexford
5PM, Mostly Cloudy, 73F, SE10
6PM, Mostly Cloudy, 74F, SE11
7PM, Cloudy, 73F, ESE13
8PM, Rain,70F, ESE9

___Test Day #3 and I received that tail wind … I will post more this evening as I was stuck in a 1 hour - 4 mile back up which took her down from 102.2 to 97.5 mpg at the 52 mile point before the climb back over the last 47 miles.

http://www.cleanmpg.com/photos/data/516/Day_3_104_1_MPG_99_0_Miles.jpg

___The Tour Del Sol coordinator, Nancy Hazard sent us all the documentation so that is the last thing we needed …

___Good Luck

___Wayne

Hi All:

___A little about the traffic in and around Chicago the last few days :(

http://www.cleanmpg.com/photos/data/516/05-09-06_1039-1.jpg

___The pic above is of the 4 + mile - 1 hour back up at the I-55/I-294 Interchange just West of Chicago yesterday morning. That was nothing compared to last night. I will only mention it took over 3.75 hours to get to work and the segment was a paltry 91.1 mpg. I can only hope we do not run into that kind of nightmare today when it really counts ...

___I will be heading to the local Shell and attempt to get the attendant to sign some of the Tour Del Sol paperwork and then we will be ready for departure. Let’s hope for an 09:30 launch or thereabouts. I will be E-Mailing Tom pics from the Cel phone as the day progresses …

___Good Luck

___Wayne

I notice Wayne is in the LEFT LANE!

Of course, it becomes irrelevant as speed -->0mph.

But still, a hybrid in the left lane: brain...about to...explode...
:)

Just got this in from wayne. This is the first picture from the commute from IL to NY for the Tour Del Sol. Wayne pumped in 12.431 gallons which he expect to easily be enough to get half way accross the country ;)

He said that getting the paperwork signed by a gas attendant was quite difficult and he had to go to several gas stations. Finaly he ended back up at the original gas station and they had a shift change or something and the new person was willing to help them out by doing the stuff that needed to be done (check the tire pressures and make sure the trip odometers were reset, etc) and signing the form. I think Wayne needs to do something nice for this attentdant when he gets back to IL ;)

http://www.cleanmpg.com/photos/data/516/05-10-06_1047.jpg

But still, a hybrid in the left lane: brain...about to...explode...
:)
You'd be going insane if you saw my trip back last weekend. I was *passing* people on two lane roads. And I still got 55.7 MPG on that tank. Eat watts, slowpoke! :D

Another picture just came in. Looks like its going to be a "fun" ride.

http://www.cleanmpg.com/photos/data/516/05-10-06_1139.jpg

I just got off the phone with wayne. It looks like it will be about 2 miles to the indiana border and hopefuly freedom from the stop and go he has been facing. The milage seems to be okay at over 100mpg.

He is going to try to do hourly pictures.

Lets hope he can pick it up from here.

http://www.cleanmpg.com/photos/data/516/05-10-06_1141.jpg

Good news or bad news, you make the call ;)

http://www.cleanmpg.com/photos/data/516/05-10-06_1159.jpg

Does Wayne smoke? It's very cloudy inside that car :D :D

Its over cast and the picture is from a cell phone

There must be a weather front inside the car then :D

100 Miles out and still doing okay. Probably suffering with a headwind.
Not the best day in the world to be doing this sort of stuff. But at least its not the middle of winter with snow falling ;)

http://www.cleanmpg.com/photos/data/516/05-10-06_1321.jpg

Rain!

http://www.cleanmpg.com/photos/data/516/05-10-06_1446.jpg

Err. I mean RAIN!!!!!

http://www.cleanmpg.com/photos/data/516/05-10-06_1454.jpg

It's been tough going but the numbers are still okay.

I hear the rain is pretty much over and in a few hours he may be getting a slight tail wind if I am interpreting weather.com right.

Be glad you guys got out of the Illinois region today.
Chiago's forecast sounds similar to Madison, Wisconsin's.

Chicago forcast for Thursday:
Rain and wind. High near 55F. Winds WNW at 25 to 40 mph. Chance of rain 80%. Rainfall possibly over one inch. Winds could occasionally gust over 50 mph.
You wouldn't have done well in those conditions.

wouldn't the wnw winds be a tail wind?

Hey ,yeah. You're right.
Hmmmm. That would've been interesting. Tail wind with lots of rain. Would they have canceled each other out? We'll never know.

200 miles in to the trip. The milage still isn't suffering "too" bad dispite the rain.

http://www.cleanmpg.com/photos/data/516/05-10-06_1646.jpg

This is impressive!

This story started on a road trip of my own. Embarassed by (1) not responding earlier to some of the impressive results here, (2) hypermiling towards Kansas on I70 out of Denver (goes from 5,300 feet to 2,000 - cheating a bit but the speed limit is 75mph :eek: )

This hypermiling thread is like running with some elite marathoners at Fort Collins Colorado this Sunday - taking things to a level I aspire to....

I'm amazed!

206 miles into it and the fuel gauge is still maxxed out.

Great job guys!

Thanks for the updates.

250 miles out. Looks like he has his headlights on now.

http://www.cleanmpg.com/photos/data/516/05-10-06_1809.jpg

I just got off the phone and the rain and headwinds are murder. The FCD dropped below 103 as I was on the phone with him.

Looks like there will be rain on and off tomorrow but there is hope the wind will let down.

Mileage is continuing to drop as he is battling rain. He is at about 101 right now.

350 mile update. Things seem to be holding up over the last hour or so. Not sure how the rain is doing. I hope the wind has stopped by now.

http://www.cleanmpg.com/photos/data/516/05-10-06_2016.jpg

This are getting slightly better. Up another .2mpg

These numbers just blow my mind. It's not like there is a tail wind with temps in the 80s. There have been headwinds since the start of the drive and varying degrees of rain. I am amazed

http://www.cleanmpg.com/photos/data/516/05-10-06_2025.jpg

how does this man do it, I don't know.


He's an inspiration to us all! I wonder how's dan doing as well.

man 355 miles and full gas gauge..... unbelieveable..... just wow..

I just got a call. After a 500 foot climb or so the fcd dropped down to 101.0 There is still periodic rain. Because of the vapor recovery fill the first tick has yet to come off of the gas gauge. It is expected that in about 50 miles or so the fuel gauge will finaly report some fuel is being used ;)

I'm hoping to hear good reports in the next 50 miles of the gauge starting to increase as the hills are passed and hopefuly the rain lets up.

This stuff is unreal. I want lean burn!

Figure he gets 50mpg in his accord which is probably rated about 35mpg. So in a car rated 60mpg wouldn't it make sense that he would get about the same percentage increase ;)

Dan is good too, I can't wait to see what he does when he takes his turn at the wheel.

Sad news.

Another downpour. The car has dropped to 100.8. The has to be the toughest drive of all the competitors.

http://www.cleanmpg.com/photos/data/516/05-10-06_2207.jpg

Here is a pic I created of the weather being fought.

http://www.cleanmpg.com/photos/data/516/3L.jpg

Well, at 431 miles the first tick finaly came of the fuel gauge.

Just got off the cell with Xcel (Wayne). Here is an update. At the time he was talking to me he was at (101.9 MPG) driving at a speed of 45 to 48 MPH. He just drove out of a Very Strong Storm with High Winds and Severe Rain. He had to drive with the Emergency 4-Way Flashers on and slow up to see where he was going. This lasted for somewhere around 100 Miles or so. When he called me it was misting rain only and he was finally gaining back his FE and as I just Posted he was back to (101.9 MPG) . I think as best I remember he had stopped 5-times and had driven for 8-Hrs. We did not talk long because he was getting into heavy traffic and had to pay close attention to what he was doing. He did mention that he had his right set of tires over the Ridge and was trying to not get run over. So we finished our conversation and update on his travels so far and I have reported them as "Accurate" as I remember the Facts from Xcel (Wayne).

Also I just rememberewd that he had remarked that while in Chicago and the beginning of this endeavdor he was at 105.0 MPG until he drove straight into the Storm Front.

Thanks for the update Terry. I've been on the ridge with Wayne and I can see it now in my mind. GO CLEANMPG TEAM!

GaryG

Tom B. just had time to look at the Map you Posted on the trip.

Thanks for the Map. I did not really know where he was headed, now i do. :D

Thanks-Again: :)

i wonder how long in hours has he covered? man what a tough competition! isn't dan driving right now?

Hi All:

___We may have lost this battle but there is another day yet to win the war. Hopefully a much better one ;)

http://www.cleanmpg.com/photos/data/516/DSCF1256.JPG

___There are 2 Tour Del Sol attendees that are about ready to collapse so all I can say is we never gave up. We will try and keep Tom and Terry updated as the day progresses so wish us luck!

___Good Luck

___Wayne

Dan will drive tomorrow I think. Wayne left around 10 or 11am I think. Apparantly he stoped driving for the night at 12:24am. Not exactly sure on that so take it for what its worth.

wow so I wonder what the standings are.... no one can match up to Wayne sweet!!! I'm hanging out with the best of the best hehe.

So dan was in the car the whole time? Hm ill go check the rules again.

edit: whoa there's cash prizes! man i'd wish i can compete, sounds like fun!

What a run!!!!

I would have already been mashing the throttle and working for last place.

AMAZING they are plumb AMAZING!!!!

cash prizes. mmmm. Can't be many HAH drivers interested in this stuff...maybe I could've won me a car payment.

Should've looked into this earlier- the 47mpg minimum is a no-brainer, though the % equivalent of their 100mpg is 53 for me. That would be a challenge. Unlikely a HAH could win, though, since P&G isn't and option.

Looks like they are out on the road. The numbers aren't promising, but hopefuly they can bring them up a bit.

http://www.cleanmpg.com/photos/data/516/05-11-06_0753.jpg

After about 2 hours it looks like the numbers went up a tiny bit. They must be hitting lots of mountains.

http://www.cleanmpg.com/photos/data/516/05-11-06_0947.jpg

I just checked the weather. There are 21mph headwinds pretty much the whole way. And some rain is in the forecast.

The FCE is bouncing between 98.7 and 99.1 if I recal correctly. They are in for another rough day. But at least for now it is sunny.

Well, another picture just in. Looks like the wind is realy bad.

http://www.cleanmpg.com/photos/data/516/05-11-06_1103.jpg

Arrrg. Still dropping.

http://www.cleanmpg.com/photos/data/516/05-11-06_1339.jpg

And dropping....

Still fighting head winds. The head winds seemed to have lightened up, but no telling when they will pick up again. There are 2 more mountains to go over and it is hoped that each mountain takes a little less of the mpg than the one before.

ETA of their arrival is 7:00pm eastern.


http://www.cleanmpg.com/photos/data/516/05-11-06_1520.jpg

Well, they had to get off the highway to get away from the super heavy winds. They started driving on a rural route 5 I think.

The winds where so strong they had to downshift to 4th gear just to keep speed.
http://www.cleanmpg.com/photos/data/516/05-11-06_1834.jpg

Well, they made it. They recieved 96.5. The rural road may have saved them a bit. It got them out of the wind and they think they could have brought it up a bit more if they had a few more miles.

Pictures of the final reading to come soon.

Wayne just called and said he is very excited. Not so much for what they did for mileage, but because the tour del sol has lots of great cars and technology to look at.

They are going to go out and try some of the route early tomorrow morning and they should start the official driving around noon or so.

Here is the picture as it sits in the lot after the trip awaiting for tomorrows competition

http://www.cleanmpg.com/photos/data/516/05-11-06_2104.jpg

Wayne if you read this thread, here's the word on how Jackmpg did.

From a one pic (http://community.webshots.com/slideshow?ID=550276917&key=yFSnuu) on his site he wrote in the caption
We did a dry run of the Drive in Rally on Tue. May 9th and the real thing on Wed.

Then on this pic (http://community.webshots.com/slideshow?ID=550276917&key=yFSnuu) it shows the gauge with 85.3 miles, 91.2 mpg. Below it is this caption,
"Mpg on the practice Drive in Run. Catskill mountains got rough near end. Actually finished with 81.3 mpg. Official Rally finished with 82.7 mpg which is good for mountain driving. Drove at 60 to 65 mph"

so much for the practice run, i hope wayne goes up on top!

That wasn't a practice run it counts for part of the score.

First update of the day. Wayne called. They were just approaching the starting line. The mood is grim. The guys did a 100 mile test run and were only at 70mpg. The need to get about 85mpg or so to qualify. It is cold there and there may be some rain and winds.

They need all the help they can get. Hopefuly there will be happier updates as the day goes on.

I've got one word for him:

California
:D

Well, Its rough. Looks like they managed to bring up the mileage a bit, but the big hills are still to come.

http://www.cleanmpg.com/photos/data/516/05-12-06_1502.jpg

Looks like they have lost a little ground.

http://www.cleanmpg.com/photos/data/516/05-12-06_1635.jpg

Gained a little back. But the worst is yet to come.

http://www.cleanmpg.com/photos/data/516/05-12-06_1726.jpg

I got a call on my cell on the way home. They are 20miles from finishing and are stuck in a trafic jam. The should be finished soon.

Looks like things are picking up.

http://www.cleanmpg.com/photos/data/516/05-12-06_1839.jpg

But wait whats this.... OH NO!

http://www.cleanmpg.com/photos/data/516/05-12-06_1840.jpg

And what looks to be the final result.

http://www.cleanmpg.com/photos/data/516/05-12-06_1918.jpg

Lets hope it holds up for them.

Good luck guys!

They may have pulled it off. They ended up with 87.1 and They think the nearest competitor was at 80mpg. They may loose some mpg as a penalty for being late so its not official yet.

I proclaim them winners!!!! I couldnt have done that for love or money. Hero's they are!!

Well, I've tried to call him, but I think his cell batteries are dead (he was running out last I talked to him). They are probably doing some award thing or possibly schmoozing with everyone. Oh well. We will hear all about it when he gets back to his house on Sunday.

They have to be the winners. I mean really, who can hypermile better than Wayne?

Dan could give him a run for the money...Oh wait. Dan was his team mate ;)

Its official. Wayne just got back from the verification run with the judge. He had to get within 15% of their official score. Wayne had to do 73mpg or so and achieved 79. Hey, guess what the weather was... DOWNPOUR!

Wayne wanted me to make mention of how well Bradlee's Insight performed. Thanks Bradlee! Wayne realy appreciates what you did for him. You car performed admirably. Now I think you have something else to add to your sign "This car was Grand Champion at 2006 Tour de sol!"

Wayne can't wait to post the details of the route. As said earlier, it was a monster.

i knew wayne woudl be teh WINNNAR!!!!!!!! even with all the rules and limitations he still smashed those competitors! well done well done, even without driving an insight for a very long time he still had the touch.

more power to the mpg!

It would be very very cool if we could get our hands on the list of how entrants did in each category. Give us a benchmark to see if we here truly are freaks.
We really need some context to put Wayne's numbers in.

If I remember right, I thought they posted some sort of grid with that info afterwards.

They have last years results. They will post the results soon for this year.

yes stats would be awesome! where can i find last year's results? doesn't seem to be on the site.

http://www.nesea.org/transportation/tour/2005Championship_Awards.php

http://www.bestrateofclimb.com/montecarlo-results.htm

Hi Everyone;

Here is a Pic. of Wayne (xcel) driving back from PA in the Honda Insight.
He said he was just sitting back relaxed and doing his thing.
I think he will Post this Evening if he gets back in time.
This is not bad (FE) for a {BEGINNER} :D

Pic was sent to me On-My-Cell-Phone:



http://www.cleanmpg.com/photos/data/500/Waynes_travels_from_Tour_Del_Sol.jpg

What are we going to do with this "GUY" ? :p

See you when you get back, Wayne. :D

This is more than likely the: (Very-Last-Pic) of Waynes Return Trip.

http://www.cleanmpg.com/photos/data/500/Wayne_running_low_on_Gas.jpg

http://www.cleanmpg.com/photos/data/500/Wayne_running_low_on_Gas.jpg

Wayne, on the "Very-Last-Bar" of Gas: :D
He is Wild And Crazy, but that's why we love (In-A-Macho-Way) him.
Gas 1-Bar Showing & Low-Gas-Tank-Lit. :p

I saw that Mike Dabrowski posted that he got 73 MPG with his MIMA modified Insight. He also had extra batteries with a fifth wheel for boost. He said the extra weight had a negative effect because of three were quite a few long hills on the Tour's route.
Mike said "I got Behind Dan and Wayne at one point, and followed them. Dan was driving. The slow gradual starts from the stop lights, and the flashing emergency lights with slow climbing on the hills proved that it all comes down to patience, and skill at keeping that MPG bargraph as high as possible.
That was a nice visual. I can't wait to hear from Wayne.

interesting... i wonder which gear they were in while trying to climb that hill and emergency lights eh... sounds like another trick up my sleeve!

congrats! i wonder if they won the 10000 pot?

Hi,

I think I took second place to Wayne and Dan in the competition (93.7 and 80.1 for 84.2 mpg combined). Everything you've read is right. The course was pretty tough on everyone...especially the weather. (big nasty hills, rainy rush hour traffic, etc.) The final results will be interesting to read once they are published.

Regardless, they drove an excellent race and soundly beat us by 5.7 mpg (4.9 if you count our time penalties) And that includes mistakes that we all made.

One of the highlights of the competition was meeting and talking to the experts and comparing notes to what they were doing. It was also interesting to drive the "confirmation" route with the same judge. We had very similar techniques except Wayne "lugged" away from lights more and drove slower on the smaller roads. Driving on the highway was about the same. (I mostly drive in l/km mode and keep it between 2 and 4.)

-John

http://www.invisiblegold.com/data/about/tourdesol/trophy.jpg

PS: You can read the blog that I wrote about the trip at www.invisiblegold.com/about/tourdesol

First, I want to say congrats to you. As you know coming in second to Wayne (and Dan) is almost something to be proud of. I sure wish the weather would have been more cooperative. Do you think there would have been some 100 mpgs turned in if the weather was better? Or was the route just too tough?

Congrats to all those that participated. Waynes driving style is impressive. I wouldn't say "lugged" so much as tries to accelerate as slow as possible and safe.

I just had supper with him and he was telling me what a wonderful group of people he met up there. He said at times it was frustrating and it was a little dissorganized but he had a lot of fun.

I expect there was a little bonding going on between all you guys having had to fight the same enemy. If I didn't know better I'd suspect the organizers paid the government to seed a few clouds for the race just to make it more difficult ;)

Everyone competing is a hero in my book for just being able to survive the route.

Way to go all!

Hi All:

___All I can add is a few pics and some commentary but most has already been posted. Let say that it sure is good to be home as that was a very long 5 days and 4 nights.

___I have to thank so many people but first I want to add that Dan drove well over 600 miles of the Drive in and the 200 mile challenge so it was indeed a team effort and I could not have done it without him. Not only is he a logistic magician, he has the right foot control of a pianist and patience not comparable to anyone I know. Truly the calmest individual you or I will ever meet and I am so glad he joined me for the 2006 Tour Del Sol ordeal and “ordeal” is being kind. Tom did an excellent job helping with weather and temps in real time as we needed them as well as offering encouragement while Dan and I were battling some of the worst spring weather conditions I have ever driven in. He was our real time weather man and oh boy did we need him during the continuous rain storms on Day 1 and after about 200 - 250 miles of the 20 -25 mph headwinds on day 2! Terry, thank you for the funny anecdotes whenever we connected as it made the long days that much easier to deal with :D

___I also want to thank Andy Roberts and Doug Schaefer of the YaHoo - Prius_Tech/Prius 2G groups for creating elevations maps of the various routes to the Tour Del Sol as well as the course itself in less then 24 hours after our electronic documents arrived. They were like our 3rd and 4th passenger seat Navigator’s!

___Well, here are a few more …

___This is how lightly you pack for a cross country FE challenge. Yes, we had soap, toothbrush, toothpaste and deodorant but Dan wondered if I was going to let him take anything else ;) We did have HybridFest 2006 and Milwaukee hybrid group material in the small trunk as well as an array of PDA based GPS HW, Cel phones, and a digital camera. Notice the mats were removed and I was using paper mats from the Honda dealership. Every ounce counts when climbing the hills and mountains of Pennsylvania and New York.

http://www.cleanmpg.com/photos/data/516/Traveling_Light_for_a_3_day_Challenge.JPG

The Shell Gas Station attendant at launch, Marjorie. Getting someone to sign off on the multiple data inputs was more then I could have hoped for from just about anyone? Thank you Marjorie!

http://www.cleanmpg.com/photos/data/516/Margerie_Gas_Station_Attendant.jpg

___A few elevation details of the course … The tough part about this is we were climbing at anywhere from 25 - 65 mpg depending on the steepness of the many slopes but because we could not FAS down the backside, we had to use Regen for Fuel Cut to bring the pack up and then coast for the rest of the ride down when and where applicable. Anyway, this is from the start and what we had to climb right out of the box. As usual, there was a stop light at the base of the first small climb and of course we got stuck there ;)

http://www.cleanmpg.com/photos/data/516/TDS_Map_Start_Detail.jpg

___The next pic not only includes a climb out to almost 1,450 feet, it was in the beginning of this section where me blew a turn and traveled over 2.5 miles past and then 2.5 miles back to get back on course for a total of about 10 minutes. When we passed our turn, we were at 88.0. After the turnaround and climb back out, we were at 87.4 mpg’s :( We sure wish the Tour Del Sol officials would have given us the 10 minutes back as it would have removed our 3 to 6 minute penalty but they said those are the rules. For next year’s course no matter what they create, we will not make that mistake as we will have a completely clear idea as to the courses twists and turns well beforehand. We can only hope they will have marked the course with simple arrows at these splits or Y junctions as I call them …

http://www.cleanmpg.com/photos/data/516/TDS_Map_3_Detail.jpg

___As to the questions posed here, I hope the following will suffice.

GoNavy, that traffic jam pic was taken right after a toll booth at I-55 and I-294 just west of Chicago proper and the far left was for cars with I-Pass. So much for a transponder helping out in that nightmare ;)

Sledge, I was just learning what the cel phone pics were worth. Looking at how cloudy the initial pics were, they are not worth much ;)

HawkGT647, I knew I had a vapor recovery fill from the station as it was a 12.4 something fill IIRC. I could have probably placed another gallon in there but I figured 80 mpg would be the absolute bottom knowing what we were going to face over the next 2 days and ~ 1,000 miles to go.

Who in their right mind would take a pic of a gasoline fillup? I know of a few guys that did ;)
http://www.cleanmpg.com/photos/data/516/Maybe_a_2_5_gallon_vapor_recovery_fill.JPG

GaryG, it was raining so hard at points and without the ability to use A/C to defog the windows due to FE concerns, we were wiping them off manually!

GoNavy, when they would not allow our WAI and limited to just 44#’s in the RE92’s to climb the equivalent of 6 degree slopes again and again and again with 2 people in the car, rain for ~ 30% of the route, cold temps, higher speeds due to the time constraint, I could not imagine how anyone could match 40% above EPA combined in anything? We fought the drive in and the course like we have never fought anything in our lives. Every tick of the iFCD meant a change in throttle position and there was a change on almost a continuous basis.

Eric, Tom and Terry relayed what you had posted and it was actually scary when all we could muster was a lousy 76.x in a heavy rain the only chance we had to take the first 50 miles into the 200 mile course. I was truly worried but with the insight (no pun intended ;)), it gave us a gauge.

Tarabell, I am working on that California part. Then again, San Francisco’s hills cannot be much better then those hills/mountains we were being slammed with in the NY area either!

Eric, I can think of more then a few ;) Every time we would pull over w/ E-Flasher’s for Mike and his nephew to go around, they would do the same. It took an 18-wheeler, a P/U truck, and a long light to bring back some distance between us. When they caught back up the next time, I was hard into Regen and unless they wanted to pull the brakes hard, I think they had to go around? Sort of like NASCAR in reverse so as to keep our secrets ;)

GoNavy, Mike D. just posted the official press release with the categories over at IC but there was no list of the individual FE results. Maybe later? Here is what was linked: The Tour de Sol Reports, 2006 (http://www.autoauditorium.com/TdS_Reports_2006/)

Phil, we used every gear during those monster climbs!

John, it was great to meet you and I hope Dan and I see you again in the future. Don’t forget Hybrid Fest 2006 out in Madison, WI. this July as there will be many new people to meet with like minded ideals.

Eric, if the temps were in the mid 70’s with no rain and sunny, we could run 60 #’s +, WAI’s, FAS, D-FAS, and draft on the highway, and we did not have a time constraint, 100 mpg’s should be possible but those climbs at 30 mpg’s or less in many cases cannot be made up for with a FAS from the other side at infinite mpg’s. The best you can do is a double the rate of the climb over twice the distance of that climb. I would like to take that challenge in perfect conditions but when is NY going to have perfect conditions in mid May? It was an absolutely ridiculous course to try and get 100 mpg’s but it might be possible if everything were aligned perfectly? Those climbs were absolutely horrendous imho.

___Everyone knows about the competition’s conclusions but there was a lot more to the event then just the Drive in Challenge and the Monte Carlo Style Rally. I will post those later today …

___Good Luck

___Wayne

Congratulations Wayne!

At first this seemed to have something to do with the Honda del Sol. :o Getting past my ignorance, there is still a lot of reading to get this to completely sink in, but I'm impressed to see the number of events. The recent trip from Dallas to Fort Collins, Colorado gives me additional appreciation for the effect of rain, hills, mountains, and even altitude. Also, getting above 85mpg on a 5-speed Insight over an extended run is not easy even under ideal conditions. For me, "extended" is 25 miles. :o

The hill climbing should be borrow the name of a notorious incline at the end of the grueling Boston Marathon - "Heartbreak Hill". While it would not be exhausting to a hypermiler, it could easily be heartbreaking.

I'd be happy to be at this just to have a personal record and glean from what others have done.

Well done, Wayne!