146 MPG!

My friend Alan Smith and I had just finished riding our motorcycles on a round trip on the twisty back roads between Livermore to Patterson. It was fun and now it was time to measure how we performed fuel efficiency-wise. Alan used .893 gallons to travel the 106.7 miles for a 119.5 mpg. This was an excellent result for his lightly modified Ninja 250. Now it was my turn. I carefully topped off the tank and found I had used only .728 gallons to go the 106.7 miles. 146.6 mpg!! It was the best I had done since I had started competing in fuel economy competition. I was ecstatic!

So, how did I do it? The short story is that I used aerodynamic streamlining, taller gearing and advanced riding techniques to accomplish this. The longer version is that this was result of 2-1/2 years of researching, testing and refining my efforts as a fuel economy competitor. Gasoline is a limited resource and its getter more expensive all the time. Our nation's dependence on oil from foreign nations where some of their citizens use their profits to fund terrorism causes many national security problems. I decided to do my part to help converse natural resources, help protect our nation from our enemies and save lots of money. I have been successful in my quest but a single person has a limited impact on some big problems. That is why I choose to share my experiences so that others can join our fight to overcome these challenges. I'll post what I'm working on and will be happy to answer questions about getting about how you can get great fuel economy from your car, truck or motorcycle.

On Oct.17 I'll be competing in the Las Vegas Vetter Challenge so I'll be doing some testing and maintenance on my streamlined Ninja 250 in preparation for the ride to Las Vegas and the 300 mile event. I haven't had an overall win yet in the Vetter Challenge series but I've had some strong performances in 6 events ; finishing 2nd overall and the best gasoline- powered in the 2012 Mid-Ohio Vetter Challenge ( 119 mpg) and 4th overall in the 2013 Mid-Ohio Challenge ( 130.7 mpg). The competition is fierce; many of my competitors have more resources than me but I have earned their respect as a serious contender. It should be interesting and a lot of fun.

I also extend my hypermiling efforts to driving my car.  It’s a 2000 Jaguar S-Type with a 3 liter V6 engine; a sporty luxury car.  It is rated by the EPA to get a 19 mpg average.  I have been able to average over 28 mpg for over 100k miles and get a best tank fill average of 36.6 mpg.  I have been able to do this by using efficient driving techniques, excellent maintenance and some simple modifications.  The average motorist struggles to match the EPA fuel economy rating for their automobile, imagine going 30% to 50% more miles for every time you refueled your car.  For example; a person drives 12,000 miles per year in their car which gets 20 mpg, using 600 gallons of gasoline at a cost $3.85/gallon for a total of $2310.  If they could improve their fuel economy average by 30% to 26 mpg, they would use only 461.5 gallons for a savings of $533/ year.  Is this worth it? I certainly think so; over the years I’ve saved thousands of dollars compared with a person who drove the same mileage over that time period. As in most things, we can always improve if we are willing to make the effort.

I hope you have found my story to be interesting and I look forward to hearing your comments and questions on how we can go farther on every gallon of fuel.