Economy runs used to be a big thing up until the 60's. Both in Europe and in North America.
In America the big one was the Mobil Economy Run, it ran from 1936-1968. To win the Mobil Economy run was a great honor among the American car manufacturers as these consumption figures came from proper road use, something all motorists could relate to, rather than running cars on a rolling road in a perfect environment like today.
What is interesting about the preparations is how strict they were. A manufacturer couldn't produce a special works car for the event. Instead the organizers, the United States Auto Club (USAC) went into a dealership, bought the cars, inspected them to make sure they were truly stock and then sealed the hood and chassis to prevent any manufacturer tampering. Then the fuel tank was disconnected and a special tank installed in the trunk to enable accurate, consistent refueling to take place. Only after all this had taken place could the car manufactures supply the driver, who was a specially trained individual. Even so, on the run the driver was accompanied by an official observer to make sure the rules were complied with.
There were as many as eight different classes for cars governed by weight, engine size, body style and even price, and for many years the results were calculated using a complicated theory involving the weight of the car and other factors. Rather than just a simple miles per gallon calculation. This favored the traditional old American saloon, the lumbering V8 dreadnoughts. But in the late 1940's the change was made to simple mpg calculations, and this tipped the scales in favor of the more "compact" cars. Cars like AMC Ramblers and Studebaker Larks. In 1959 an AMC Rambler recorded 25.2 mpg on that years run from Los Angeles to Kansas. AMC domination was so total that they were almost banned from the competition, so badly did they beat the big three automakers. But instead they were put into a separate class with Studebaker.
During the boom years of the economy run people would line the streets to watch the cars pass through. But public interest eventually waned, less and less people turned out to watch and in 1968 the manufacturers informed the organizers that they just weren't interested anymore. The event folded just like that.
Nowadays, the spirit of the economy run is carried on by a class of motorist called hypermilers, who even in these days of energy efficient hybrid vehicles, try to eke out every last mile per gallon out of their cars. I'll freely admit I've often tried to do that with the cars I've driven.
Being fascinated by the economy run and its history, it seemed quite natural to want to extend this to putting on an economy run. Clarence Westberg at the Twin City Rally Club has mentioned the idea a few times over the years, and as I'd had great success with my Navigating near Nowthen Rally earlier in the year, I felt good about presenting something new to the Twin Cities rally community.
But how to organize one? I wasn't interested in any event that involved complicated equations to get the result. So a simple mpg calculation was in order. I got in contact with Peter Baker who runs the highly successful Cotswold economy drive in the UK who was kind enough to give me some pointers about how to proceed. I presented the idea to the members at a TCRC meeting. It was met with unanimous approval. I was good to go.
I'd been planning the idea for a while and already had the rally route worked out. But doing a pre-check had been stymied for several weeks by road works and closures around the mid point of the route. So I planned an alternate route, and what do you know? The closed roads opened up! There was still road works going on so I decided that Lorrie and I would pre-check the amended course.
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| Some Tulips and notes. Changes are being made. |
For example, less than half a mile from the start point, Google maps indicated a right turn on Baldwin street, except that the sign listed the turn as 189th street. It didn't actually become Baldwin until a left turn just down the road. Then on top of that, even though the map showed the entire street as Baldwin, as we drove along the road, each time it went through a right angle turn the name changed. I'm used to that out in the boonies near Princeton. But I was surprised to see that in town. That alone made for three extra instructions in the first mile and a return to the start of the pre-check as we'd got lost...
We started again, got out of town with no problems. Then as we were about to make a turn on a side road left I saw the road was gravel. There were to be no gravel roads on the economy run. I tried to make amendments to the route on the fly and we got lost again. So we turned around and headed back to town to start again!
Third time lucky? Not really. Sixteen miles in and I was looking for 109th street when I should have been looking for 189th. This time we backtracked to a turn, reset the odometer and carried on. This time we got through with no mistakes, all the way to the end of the rally. A few more instructions need to be added but the course is good I think. You'll experience different road conditions. You'll sit at traffic lights and stop signs. You'll be able to cruise on some main roads, as well as tackle back roads with sharp curves and some slopes. All in all it will provide a rounded driving experience.
The exact rules are still being ironed out, but the event will start and finish with supervised refueling. When you register you will predict your what your miles per gallon will be over the event. At the final refuel we will calculate your mpg and the most accurate prediction will be the winner. There may well be hidden observation controls and perhaps even speed checks along the route to keep you on your toes too.
I'm excited by the idea and I hope road rally enthusiasts in the Twin Cities will be too.
