wildhorses wrote: It would be cool to see a fuel economy test as part of the $2010 challenge - that would even the playing field for some of the cars with less HP...
That would only hurt the big motor guys really. The small engines using turbos to stimulate displacement would still get good (better than oem) gas mileage.
I was going to mention Jack, but someone beat me to it.
He also purchased my fire-breathing bike motored Seven to contrast with his turbo-diesel car. In fact, the insurance settlement he got after being hit in the diesel allowed him to buy my Seven and repair his own.
In reply to modernbeat:
Who ended up with your BEC? That was a pretty lustworthy ride.
I attended the kick-off party for the Berkeley-to-Vegas high-milleage run (A number of people finished btw) and it was a collection of nuts, geniuses and all-around individualists. Most of the vehicles were decidedly half-baked, but it was still fun.
kreb wrote: In reply to modernbeat: Who ended up with your BEC? That was a pretty lustworthy ride.
Jack McCornack, the owner of Kinetic Vehicles and builder of the 100mpg Kubota Turbo Diesel Locost.
http://www.kineticvehicles.com/index.html
But, Jack is selling it on. Seems he only thought he needed a fire-breather for PR work, and certainly doesn't need a competition vehicle.
http://locostusa.com/forums/viewtopic.php?f=40&t=6100
Check this thread, http://www.ffcars.com/forums/showthread.php?t=249591&page=4
It might be on the way from Factory Five! I really wish I could find out more about this car!!!
It's easy: Build a Locost, use a 50 hp turbo diesel, and put a smooth body on it. Jack's diesel Locost got ~70 mpg - so that's a hard data point. Add the body and I bet it would hit 120 mpg. If I've got the strength to do another project that's exactly what I'm going to build next.
[edit] Hmm, I thought sure it only got 70 mpg and not 100 as mentioned above, but seem to recall that the 70 mpg was at 70 mph, so could be.
These kids in Philly are doing a tdi in a factory five GTM kit. with batteries and electric motors. they built it for the x-prize challenge.
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