I hereby move that, in recognition of these superior achievements, each of the five Prius Marathon Pilots should receive a vanity license plate in their state of residence. This will cost some money, and my check will be sent to whomever we can stick with the task of organizing the effort. Who's with me? And what might the plates say? One possibility is 110 MPG, or whatever the final number turns out to be. Hard to imagine that this would already be taken, in any state. I kinda like the idea that all 5 plates would say the same thing.
Actually, the latest word, and it was just a brief statement from an exhausted Dan, was that he was finding that actually taking advantage of accelerating up hill was most efficient. Also, I bet the battery SOC stayed in the 3-6 bar range the entire time. I haven't asked, but they'd never sustain a glide and a total ICE on time in the 28% range if the SOC got into the pink.
I can't wait for the debrief. I expect that some of the questions about strategy are going to be answered once and for all. The increase in mileage at the end of the tank matches my experience and makes me wonder if they should have removed the passenger seats and spare tire etc. for weight reduction before they started.
I disagree with removing the seats or spare tire. My take is that this is a test of a factory Prius on a regular road. This is a real life situation as opposed to the modified cars on the salt flats. While I will accept the removing of the cargo cover, mats, etc a normal driver would not drive around without a spare tire or rear seats. They have done phenomenally well. Just amazing. I'm sure it will make the local news (which I'll never see) and the HBO footage (which I'll also never see). I'm hoping that print media are there and haven't gotten bored and gone home because it's taking them longer to "run out of gas" due to the higher mileage. If the print gets it, it will eventually end up on the internet and I'll be able to read that. Of course the accounts here will be better and more accurate. But I'd still like AP to post it and read it on YahooNews. I wonder now if any Honda or Ford drivers will try similar marathon runs?
Now what would have been very funny if HBO and the media would have started following them when the low fuel light came on. I can see it now. "We have just got word that the low fuel light is on. We will follow them with a camera crew so all of the viewers can see this outstanding feat!. 4 hours and 3 film loads later, The camera crew driver looks back at the crew and says "your not going to believe this but were out of gas" Then you can see the prius pulling off into the distance as the SUV slows to a stop and everyone has a blank look on their face.... now thats what I would call PRICELESS LOL
yeah, I'm with you. Of course, I doubt there are many normal drivers out there pumping their worn out tires up to 60 psi either and 0w20 isn't exactly what I would want in my engine. I still agree with you though, since it would be included in the news story that they stripped down the car to save weight.
Oh OK Then they look over their shoulder "hey theres a BP station lets push this thing in and fill'r'up". $60 later the rush and catch up "alright we still got the shot whhheeew that was close" 4 more hours and a pit stop for more film. "hey you don't want to hear this but we're out of gas again" "how many gallons does that car hold? I give up lets wait till its out of gas anyone hungry?"
Final numbers: 1397 miles! 109.328 MPG! 12.78 gallons!</span> The gang is at Dan's house celebrating! They promised to provide the details later tonight, but haven't been on the computer yet! BTW, Dan purposely tried to run out of gas the last lap after all the records had been secured. Imagine that -- too much of a good thing! Congratulations, team!
I would like to post this entire discussion on my website for posterity to go along with the articles written about the marathon. Is this the correct link? http://priuschat.com/forums/1-vt10705.html...er=asc&&start=0
Hey guys and gals- do you think you could drive that course and get that FE? I would certainly like to try. Maybe next year we could have a little competition, eh? Four man teams to see which team can go the furthest (although you would have to accurately measure and give each team the same amount of fuel - which may be easier said than done). Maybe it could be based on FE alone? What do you think?
A rally for Prius drivers like Sturgus (sp?). Congratulations to all of you! I wish I could have been there. When will the Academy of hyper driving start!
Post Gazette has already posted the follow-up story. Hybrid drivers complete run for record breaking mileage 2 days, 1,400 miles, 110 mpg 1 tank "The men -- Kroushl of McCandless, Bassage of Walton, W.Va.,, Wayne Gerdes of Chicago, Rick Reece of Greenville, S.C., and Bob Barlow from Fredericksburg, Va. -- drove continuously, stopping only to switch drivers every four hours like a NASCAR crew. Their journey was chronicled by an HBO film crew, who recorded their every moment, even a brush at a local BP station where they were run off the property because only CBS affiliates could film at the station. And Barlow, the lawyer in the group, was pulled over by police yesterday at 2 a.m. because he was driving too slow. In order to achieve extreme fuel economy, the team primarily used a gas-saving technique called pulse and glide. It's a form of coasting that involves releasing the gas pedal, then pressing it slightly again to disengage the electric motors. And as they glide, the drivers glance at a built-in screen displaying vital statistics like average miles per gallon. "It's like playing a video game," said Bassage."
These figures show average speeds of about 30 mph. I'd like to see how much pit stop time consumed, and total time not in motion. Just curious.
Reading that just gave me goosebumps like you wouldn't believe it! Congratulations to all on the team. I second the idea for a Sturgis style Prius Cruise-In. How about an annual event to the site of this record-shattering event?
